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.
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
The 2024 housing market in Columbus was largely one that continued trends of the past several years- generally increasing prices, a shortage of inventory and a quick sales turnaround.
We’ll start this look back by reviewing how the overall metro area and individual county housing markets performed.
Total 2024 Home Sales in the Metro Area: 24526
2024 Home Sales % Change in the Metro Area: +3.07%
2024 Metro Area Median Sales Price: $335,555
2024 Metro Area Median Sales Price % Change: +5.34%
Both home sales and median sales prices were up in the overall metro area.
Now let’s look at individual sub-markets within the metro.
First, overall sales.
Next up, here is the median sales price data.
And finally, here are the charts for the fastest and slowest-selling markets in 2024.
If you don’t see data for the market you are looking for, vist the Housing Reports page of the Columbus Realtors site.
National county map for 2022-2023 population change.
I haven’t done an annual population estimates post since before the 2020 Census. This is because the pandemic- and political actions- screwed up counting quite a bit, and I haven’t felt confident in posting them. The 2023 county and metro population estimates have just been released., and since 3 years have gone by since the census, perhaps some of the kinks have been worked out. That said, the news isn’t all that great for Ohio and Columbus.
2020-2023 County Population Change
Prior to 2020, Franklin County was the fastest-growing county in the state by total growth. Since 2020, it’s fallen to 10th. While that may not seem that bad, only 30 of Ohio’s 88 counties have even seen growth since 2020. On the bright side, Franklin was the only major urban county in the state to see any growth at all. The majority of the 30 counties that saw growth in the state were metro suburban counties, including 8 of the 9 suburban counties within the Columbus Metro Area. Lingering effects of the pandemic are at least partially responsible for this shift, as some people sought to leave highly-populated areas, but wanted to otherwise remain close to core cities.
Another factor is likely the ongoing housing shortage. Housing just isn’t getting built in Franklin County like it was before, which is continuing to cause price increases, making the area less affordable than it used to be.
Additionally, extreme state politics may be driving some people away- or stopping them from moving locally altogether.
Still, the news isn’t all bad. The total Columbus metro population growth is gradually improving. From 2020-2021, the metro change was +7,986, 2021-2022 it was +14,560, and from 2022-2023, it was +18,205. Still a far cry from the pre-pandemic period when annual totals were 25K-30K. Hopefully, the upward trend continues through the rest of the decade.
Now that we know that overall population change, let’s take a closer look at the specific components of change since 2020.
Top 10 Counties by Natural Change 2020-2023
1. Franklin: +18,738
2. Hamilton: +4,233
3. Delaware: +2,072
4. Holmes: +1,309
5. Union: +662
6. Butler: +652
7. Warren: +650
8. Mercer: +543
9. Putnam: +86
10. Shelby: +67
Incidentally, only these 10 counties saw positive net natural change 2020-2023. That’s a terrible statistic for Ohio’s counties. Columbus’ 3 counties in the top 10 provided more natural change than all other 85 counties combined.
Top 10 Counties by Domestic Change 2020-2023
1. Delaware: +13,998
2. Warren: +7,424
3. Union: +6,011
4. Lorain: +5,969
5. Fairfield: +5,932
6. Licking: +4,592
7. Clermont: +3,117
8. Pickaway: +2,783
9. Miami: +2,433
10. Medina: +2,018
Again, Columbus metro counties- aside from Franklin- do relatively well here, with half of the top 10.
Top 10 Counties by International Migration Change 2020-2023
1. Franklin: +20,391
2. Cuyahoga: +8,557
3. Hamilton: +7,037
4. Butler: +3,551
5. Montgomery: +2,885
6. Summit: +2,593
7. Warren: +1,821
8. Delaware: +1,557
9. Lucas: +1,237
10. Greene: +839
Franklin again leads the pack and is generally doing better annually this decade than before the pandemic, the lone bright spot in the numbers.
Finally, here were the overall metro changes, both for 2022-2023 and 2020-2023.
2023 Total Metro Area Population
1. Cincinnati: 2,271,479
2. Columbus: 2,180,271
3. Cleveland: 2,158,932
4. Dayton: 814,363
5. Akron: 698,398
6. Toledo: 600,141
7. Youngstown: 425,969
8. Canton: 399,474
Columbus continues to leave Cleveland behind and close the gap with Cincinnati.
2022-2023 Metro Area Population Change
1. Columbus: +18,205
2. Cincinnati: +12,854
3. Dayton: +1,649
4. Akron: +887
5. Canton: +3
6. Toledo: -378
7. Youngstown: -679
8. Cleveland: -1,769
2020-2023 Metro Area Population Change
1. Columbus: +41,330
2. Cincinnati: +21,698
3. Dayton: +313
4. Canton: -2,106
5. Akron: -3,827
6. Youngstown: -4,707
7. Toledo: -6,100
8. Cleveland: -26,795
Columbus’ CoGo bike share system has been in operation since July, 2013. After a decade of ups and downs, the system seems to be finally hitting its stride.
As the chart above shows, total CoGo trips were generally up between 2013-2017, and then saw a fairly steep decline 2018-2019. It’s unclear what caused that decline, but everything from system disruptions to weather could have played a role. Regardless, the pandemic, protests and general chaos of 2020 didn’t seem to matter as total trips for the year rebounded strongly. After another down year in 2021, 2022 saw CoGo’s highest ridership since the system opened, and 2023 continued that trend by blowing out 2022’s record. There were an extra 33 trips per day in 2023 vs. 2022, which added up to more than 12,000 more for the year.
Hopefully, the increase in ridership will prompt another expansion of the system into new areas soon. And some actual protected bike lanes would be nice, as Columbus- to date, anyway- has been less than stellar on this issue.