Category Archives: Columbus History

Winter 2025-2026 Running Tally

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**Here are this winter’s running statistical tally of Winter 2025-2026.

**Last Updated 12/15/2025= Updated through 12/14/2025. 

Temperatures

Average High Temperature
October: 67.7
November: 51.6
December: 32.7

Cold Season Average to Date: 54.7
Winter Season Average to Date: 32.7

Average Low Temperature
October: 46.8
November: 34.1
December: 21.6

Cold Season Average to Date: 37.0
Winter Season Average to Date: 21.6

Mean Temperature
October: 57.3
November: 42.9
December: 27.1

Cold Season Average to Date: 45.9
Winter Season Average to Date: 27.1

Mean Departure from Normal
October: +2.1
November: -0.7
December: -9.4

December 2025 through the 14th has been the 13th coldest since 1878.

Coldest High Temperature
October: 51 on the 22nd and 30th
November: 33 on the 10th
December: 18 on the 14th

Coldest Low Temperature
October: 34 on the 24th and 25th
November: 19 on the 29th
December: 4 on the 14th

Coldest Mean Temperature
October: 46 on the 24th and 30th
November: 28.5 on the 10th and 29th
December: 11 on the 14th

Warmest High Temperature
October: 85 on the 4th
November: 67 on the 5th
December: 44 on the 10th

Warmest Low Temperature
October: 59 on the 7th
November: 49 on the 15th
December: 31 on the 7th and 10th

Warmest Mean Temperature
October: 70.5 on the 3rd and 4th
November: 57.5 on the 15th
December: 37.5 on the 10th

Temperature Records
October: 0
November: 0
December: 0

Total Precipitation Days
October: 7
November: 16
December: 8

Precipitation

Monthly Precipitation Total
October: 3.88″
November: 2.32″
December: 0.84″

Cold Season Total to Date: 7.04″
Winter Season Total to Date: 0.84″

Monthly Precipitation Departure from Normal
October: +0.98″
November: -0.57″
December: -0.44″

Cold Season Departure from Normal: -0.03″
Winter Season Departure from Normal: -0.44″

Greatest Precipitation
October: 1.84″ on the 7th
November: 0.70″ on the 25th
December: 0.38″ on the 2nd

Monthly Snowfall
October: 0″
November: 1.8″
December: 10.1″

Cold Season Total to Date: 11.9″
Winter Season Total to Date: 10.1″

The 2025 cold season through December 14th has been the 6th snowiest since 1878.

Monthly Snowfall Departure from Normal
October: -0.2″
November: +0.6″
December: +5.0″

Cold Season Departure from Normal: +5.4″
Winter Season Departure from Normal: +5.0″

Greatest Snowfall
October: 0″
November: 1.3″ on the 10th
December: 5.4″ on the 13th

Precipitation Records
October
10/7/2025: Record daily precipitation of 1.84″, breaking the old record of 1.61″ set in 1998.
November
None
December
12/2/2025: Record daily snowfall of 4.7″, breaking the old record of 3.0″ set in 1936.
12/13/2025: Record daily snowfall of 5.4″, breaking the old record of 3.6″ set in 1945.

Largest Measurable Snowfalls by Date
1. 12/13/2025: 5.4″
2. 12/3/2025: 4.7″
3. 11/10/2025: 1.3″
4. 11/9/2025: 0.5″

December 2, 2025 Event

Total Snow Days
October: 0
November: 9
December: 8

Average Daily Wind Speed in MPH
October: 6.8
November: 8.2
December: 8.7

Highest Wind Gust in MPH
October: 42 on the 21st
November: 43 on the 5th and 26th
December: 42 on the 10th

Columbus Annexation History Map

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Columbus annexation history map

This interactive map on Columbus annexation history gives detailed information on every single annexation the city has done since the 1830s. Columbus annexation has been generally slowing down over the years, particularly since the 1970s, but it still happens once in a while. This map provides a great source for seeing exactly how Columbus has grown over its history.

Columbus Annexation History Map

Politics and Ohio’s Economic Performance

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Politics and Ohio's economic performance

For this post, I want to focus on politics and Ohio’s economic performance in relation to the party in power. There’s been much said over whether the economy does better under Republicans or Democrats at the national level, and I wanted to see if national politics played any role in the economic performance of Columbus and Ohio overall. Now, to put it simply, I really just looked at Bureau of Labor Statistics to see how the economy performed under different administrations. It’s not necessarily going to be a very deep analysis beyond that. In recent surveys, many user responses chose political content as something I should contribute to the site more often. While I do not want to make the site overtly political, I think there can be a balance by using a data-driven approach. This is what I used in past posts relating to politics, from Covid numbers to voting totals.

In any case, we have to determine what administrations we’re going to look at. First, the criteria is that they have to be completed adminisrations, as we will look at entire 4-year periods. The data for the BLS for Ohio goes back to 1976, but only to 1990 for Columbus itself. Therefore, for the state we will use Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush II, Obama and Trump for the state numbers, and Clinton, Bush II, Obama and Trump for city numbers. Will the state numbers follow the same patterns as the city, or not?

For this post, it’s all about Ohio.

Let’s look at the overall stats of each president. These will be Labor Force (people within the job market), Employment (people in the labor force with jobs), Unemployment (people in the labor force without jobs), and Unemployment Rate (percent of the labor force without jobs).

State of Ohio

Labor Force Data

President

Figure at Term Beginning

Figure at Term End

Net Change

% Change

Jimmy Carter (D)

1/1977-1/1981

4,781,086

5,085,673

+304,587

+6.37

Ronald Reagan (R)

1st Term

1/1981-1/1985

5,085,673

5,088,875

+3,202

+0.06

Ronald Reagan (R)

2nd Term

1/1985-1/1989

5,088,875

5,316,349

+227,474

+4.47

George H.W. Bush (R)

1/1989-1/1993

5,316,349

5,478,918

+162,569

+3.06

Bill Clinton (D)

1st Term

1/1993-1/1997

5,478,918

5,684,684

+205,766

+3.76

Bill Clinton (D)

2nd Term

1/1997-1/2001

5,684,684

5,802,000

+117,316

+2.06

George W. Bush (R)

1st Term

1/2001-1/2005

5,802,000

5,851,991

+49,991

+0.86

George W. Bush (R)

2nd Term

1/2005-1/2009

5,851,991

5,960,636

+108,645

+1.86

Barack Obama (D)

1st Term

1/2009-1/2013

5,960,636

5,705,642

-254,994

-4.28

Barack Obama (D)

2nd Term

1/2013-1/2017

5,705,642

5,791,153

+85,511

+1.50

Donald Trump (R)

1st Term

1/2017-1/2021

5,791,153

5,720,805

-70,348

-1.21

Joe Biden (D)

1/2021-1/2025

5,720,805

5,922,243

+201,438

+3.52


Total Labor Force Change by Entire Presidency
1. Bill Clinton: +323,082
2. Jimmy Carter: +304,587
3. Ronald Reagan: +232,676
4. Joe Biden: +201,438
5. George H.W. Bush: +162,569
6. George W. Bush: +158,636
7. Donald Trump: -70,348
8. Barack Obama: -169,483
Total by Party
Democratic: +659,624
Republican: +483,533

Next up, Employment.

State of Ohio

Employment Data

President

Figure at Term Beginning

Figure at Term End

Net Change

% Change

Jimmy Carter (D)

1/1977-1/1981

4,423,538

4,629,708

+206,170

+4.66

Ronald Reagan (R)

1st Term

1/1981-1/1985

4,629,708

4,633,809

4,101

+0.09

Ronald Reagan (R)

2nd Term

1/1985-1/1989

4,633,809

5,032,921

+399,112

+8.61

George H.W. Bush (R)

1/1989-1/1993

5,032,921

5,092,311

+59,390

+1.18

Bill Clinton (D)

1st Term

1/1993-1/1997

5,092,311

5,396,922

+304,611

+5.98

Bill Clinton (D)

2nd Term

1/1997-1/2001

5,396,922

5,577,863

+180,941

+3.35

George W. Bush (R)

1st Term

1/2001-1/2005

5,577,863

5,484,332

-93,531

-1.68

George W. Bush (R)

2nd Term

1/2005-1/2009

5,484,332

5,437,168

-47,164

-0.86

Barack Obama (D)

1st Term

1/2009-1/2013

5,437,168

5,279,345

-157,823

-2.90

Barack Obama (D)

2nd Term

1/2013-1/2017

5,279,345

5,489,730

+210,385

+3.99

Donald Trump (R)

1st Term

1/2017-1/2021

5,489,730

5,370,247

-119,483

-2.18

Joe Biden (D)

1/2021-1/2025

5,370,247

5,651,168

+280,921

+5.23


Total Employment Change by Entire Presidency
1. Bill Clinton: +485,552
2. Ronald Reagan: +403,213
3. Joe Biden: +280,921
4. Jimmy Carter: +206,170
5. George H.W. Bush: +59,390
6. Barack Obama: +52,562
7. Donald Trump: -119,483
8. George W. Bush: -140,695
Total by Party
Democratic: +1,025,205
Republican: +202,425

Now Unemployment.

State of Ohio

Unemployment Data

President

Figure at Term Beginning

Figure at Term End

Net Change

% Change

Jimmy Carter (D)

1/1977-1/1981

357,548

455,965

+98,417

+27.53

Ronald Reagan (R)

1st Term

1/1981-1/1985

455,965

455,066

-899

-0.2

Ronald Reagan (R)

2nd Term

1/1985-1/1989

455,066

283,428

-171,638

-37.72

George H.W. Bush (R)

1/1989-1/1993

283,428

386,607

+103,179

+36.40

Bill Clinton (D)

1st Term

1/1993-1/1997

386,607

287,762

-98,845

-25.57

Bill Clinton (D)

2nd Term

1/1997-1/2001

287,762

224,137

-63,625

-22.11

George W. Bush (R)

1st Term

1/2001-1/2005

224,137

367,659

+143,522

+64.03

George W. Bush (R)

2nd Term

1/2005-1/2009

367,659

523,468

+155,809

+42.38

Barack Obama (D)

1st Term

1/2009-1/2013

523,468

426,297

-97,171

-18.56

Barack Obama (D)

2nd Term

1/2013-1/2017

426,297

301,423

-124,874

-29.29

Donald Trump (R)

1st Term

1/2017-1/2021

301,423

350,558

+49,135

+16.30

Joe Biden (D)

1/2021-1/2025

350,558

271,075

-79,483

-22.67


Total Unemployment Change by Entire Presidency
1. Barack Obama: -222,045
2. Ronald Reagan: -172,537
3. Bill Clinton: -162,470
4. Joe Biden: -79,483
5. Donald Trump: +49,135
6. Jimmy Carter: +98,417
7. George H.W. Bush: +103,179
8. George W. Bush: +299,331
Total by Party
Democratic: -365,581
Republican: +279,108

And finally, the Unemployment Rate

State of Ohio

Unemployment Rate Data

President

Figure at Term Beginning

Figure at Term End

Net Change

Jimmy Carter (D)

1/1977-1/1981

7.5

9.0

+1.5

Ronald Reagan (R)

1st Term

1/1981-1/1985

9.0

8.9

-0.1

Ronald Reagan (R)

2nd Term

1/1985-1/1989

8.9

5.3

-3.6

George H.W. Bush (R)

1/1989-1/1993

5.3

7.1

+1.8

Bill Clinton (D)

1st Term

1/1993-1/1997

7.1

5.1

-2.0

Bill Clinton (D)

2nd Term

1/1997-1/2001

5.1

3.9

-1.2

George W. Bush (R)

1st Term

1/2001-1/2005

3.9

6.3

+2.4

George W. Bush (R)

2nd Term

1/2005-1/2009

6.3

8.8

+2.5

Barack Obama (D)

1st Term

1/2009-1/2013

8.8

7.5

-1.3

Barack Obama (D)

2nd Term

1/2013-1/2017

7.5

5.2

-2.3

Donald Trump (R)

1st Term

1/2017-1/2021

5.2

6.1

+0.9

Joe Biden (D)

1/2021-1/2025

6.1

4.6

-1.5


Total Unemployment Rate Change by Entire Presidency
1. Ronald Reagan: -3.7
2. Barack Obama: -3.6
3. Bill Clinton: -3.2
4. Joe Biden: -1.5
5. Donald Trump: +0.9
6. Jimmy Carter: +1.5
7. George H.W. Bush: +1.8
8. George W. Bush: +4.9
Total by Party
Democratic: -6.8
Republican: +3.9

Presidents Ranked by Ohio Performance Overall Per Average Rank Position
1. Bill Clinton/Ronald Reagan: 2.0
2. Joe Biden: 3.75
3. Barack Obama: 4.25
4. Jimmy Carter: 4.5
5. Donald Trump: 6.0
6. George H.W. Bush: 7.0
7. George W. Bush: 7.5

It seems pretty clear based on this that Ohio does significantly better when Democrats are in the Oval Office. They produced 5x the number of jobs and moved the unemployment rate down by an average of -1.7 points, while Republicans moved it up by an average of almost 1 point. Every single metric measured by the BLS did better under Democrats. Only Reagan really stood out for Republicans while even Carter- regularly derided as a terrible president- did better than all 3 other Republicans on the list. In regards to the two most recent presidents from both parties, Biden clearly had much more favorable numbers than Trump did in his first term.

Now, does this trend translate to the more local level? In an upcoming post, I will examine how the Columbus Metro performed

Strange Columbus- 1955 Nuclear Test Fallout

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From 1945 until an atmospheric test moratorium in July, 1962, atomic bomb testing in Nevada was so common that Las Vegas tourists would hold parties just to watch the tests from their hotel rooms. Little was known, at least in the beginning, about the effects of nuclear fallout, or just how far it could actually spread.

On April 18, 1955, during what was known as Operation Teapot, the Columbus Dispatch reported that radiation from the testing site had reached Columbus.

1955 nuclear fallout

1955 nuclear fallout

The radiation had come from the MET test which occurred on April 15, 1955. The bomb was 22 kilotons in size. The video above is from the MET test itself.

Events like this happened several times as the jet stream carried radioactive fallout across the country, and the 1955 nuclear test fallout wouldn’t be the last. It’s unclear whether this fallout had any substantial health impacts long-term, locally or otherwise, but today we understand that even relatively low doses of radiation increase one’s risk for developing cancers down the road. Luckily, these increased levels tended to last a day or two only.

2024 City Population Estimates

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2024 city population estimates

The US Census has released 2024 city population estimates. These estimates are for all incorporated places.

First, let’s look at the top 25 largest Ohio cities on July 1, 2024.
Purple cities moved up in the ranking since 2020 and red moved down.

Rank

City

2020

2023

2024

1

Columbus

905,939

920,569

933,263

2

Cleveland

372,626

364,276

365,379

3

Cincinnati

309,561

312,703

314,915

4

Toledo

270,877

265,798

265,638

5

Akron

190,408

189,142

189,664

6

Dayton

137,677

135,936

136,346

7

Parma

81,121

79,310

79,,350

8

Canton

70,743

69,230

69,211

9

Lorain

65,218

65,413

65,751

10

Hamilton

63,393

63,516

63,953

11

Youngstown

60,047

59,195

59,123

12

Springfield

58,644

58,041

58,138

13

Kettering

57,860

57,035

57,028

14

Elyria

52,668

53,181

53,604

15

Middletown

50,986

51,882

52,291

16

Newark

49,970

51,162

51,424

17

Cuyahoga Falls

51,116

50,865

50,979

18

Lakewood

50,940

49,564

49,517

19

Dublin

49,315

49,292

49,456

20

Euclid

49,689

48,439

48,421

21

Beavercreek

46,562

47,327

48,012

22

Mansfield

47,530

47,676

47,593

23

Mentor

47,442

47,000

47,113

24

Delaware

41,327

45,364

46,521

25

Strongsville

46,487

45,719

45,768

Columbus gained 12,694 residents July 1, 2023 to July 1, 2024. This was the 14th highest numeric change of all US cities at or above 20,000 in population. In doing so, it became Ohio’s all-time largest city by population in history, surpassing Cleveland’s historic high of 914,80 in 1950.

Now let’s look at all incorporated places within the Columbus Metro Area, their rank on July 1, 2024, and their total population change July 1, 2023 to July 1, 2024.
Blue places moved up in the rankings since 2020, while red moved down.
1. Columbus: 933,263 +12,694
2. Newark: 51,424 +262
3. Dublin: 49,456 +164
4. Delaware: 46,521 +1,157
5. Grove City: 44,019 +875
6. Reynoldsburg: 42,897 +1,386
7. Lancaster: 41,671 +191
8. Hilliard: 38,832 +1,202
9. Westerville: 38,612 +119
10. Upper Arlington: 36,140 +96
11. Gahanna: 35,544 +86
12. Marysville: 29,276 +821
13. Pickerington: 25,814 +546
14. Whitehall: 19,940 +41
15. Pataskala: 18,493 +113
16. Worthington: 14,649 +31
17. Powell: 14,613 +50
18. Circleville: 14,433 +210
19. Bexley: 12,793 -97
20. New Albany: 11,604 +179
21. Heath: 10,822 +70
22. London: 10,743 +193
23. Canal Winchester: 10,060 +213
24. Sunbury: +1,324
25. Grandview Heights: 9,184 +275
26. Obetz: 7,306 +287
27. Logan: 7,142 -33
28. Granville: 6,308 +23
29. Groveport: 5,867 +11
30. Johnstown: 5,356 +31
31. West Jefferson: 4,943 +454
32. Ashville: 4,758 +77
33. New Lexington: 4,463 +7
34. Plain City: 4,374 +23
35. South Bloomfield: 3,747 +241
36. Mount Gilead: 3,543 +18
37. Commercial Point: 3,221 +51
38. Baltimore: 3,089 +35
39. Lithopolis: 2,859 +143
40. Buckeye Lake: 2,575 +12
41. Richwood: 2,575 +78
42. Hebron: 2,406 +15
43. Crooksville: 2,401 -1
44. Cardington: 2,203 +102
45. Utica: 2,131 +12
46. Mount Sterling: 2,070 +35
47. Minerva Park: 1,961 +3
48. Roseville: 1,744 +0
49. Bremen: 1,520 +9
50. Somerset: 1,483 +9
51. Hanover: 1,351 +35
52. Ashley: 1,350 +25
53. Ostrander: 1,227 +25
54. Thornville: 1,093 +2
55. Galena: 1,021 +9
56. Williamsport: 1,016 +17
57. Urbancrest: 1,013 +4
58. Millersport: 993 +15
59. Pleasantville: 954 +8
60. Shawnee Hills: 939 +18
61. Milford Center: 932 +26
62. New Holland: 831 +13
63. Junction City: 723 +3
64. Amanda: 678 +1
65. Marble Cliff: 663 +30
66. Valleyview: 653 -1
67. New Straitsville: 649 +1
68. Thurston: 610 +3
69. Riverlea: 580 -1
70. Stoutsville: 580 +3
71. Buchtel: 519 +3
72. Laurelville: 505 -5
73. Shawnee: 503 +1
74. Carroll: 501 +0
75. Alexandria: 497 +2
76. Corning: 484 +1
77. Kirkersville: 479 +2
78. Edison: 443 +2
79. Hartford: 413 +2
80. Sugar Grove: 408 +0
81. St. Louisville: 365 +1
82. Murray City: 335 -4
83. South Solon: 330 +2
84. Harrisburg: 314 +3
85. Rushville: 305 +1
86. Magnetic Springs: 302 +9
87. Marengo: 281 +1
88. Midway: 273 +2
89. Tarlton: 266 +5
90. Fulton: 251 +3
91. Unionville Center: 235 -3
92. Lockbourne: 232 +0
93. Gratiot: 217 +1
94. Chesterville: 200 +5
95. Darbyville: 189 +2
96. West Rushville: 164 -2
97. Glenford: 163 -2
98. Hemlock: 147 +0
99. Sparta: 123 +0
100. Brice: 101 +9

90% of Columbus metro places were either steady or saw outright growth 2023-2024. These numbers are much improved from the Covid era where many places were seeing population declines, especially the larger cities and suburbs.

Columbus’ growth represented 73% of Franklin County’s total growth 2023-2024 and 84.1% of the county’s growth 2020-2024. Additionally, Columbus alone repesented 41.8% of the metro’s growth 2023-2024 and 31.6% of the metro’s growth 2020-2024.

To see the original estimates from 2023, visit 2023 Population Estimates of Columbus Area Places