As promised, here are the 2015 metro area population estimates for Columbus and its regional and national peers.
2015 Metro Population Estimates Chicago, IL: 9,551,031 Detroit, MI: 4,302,043 Minneapolis, MN: 3,524,583 St. Louis, MO: 2,811,588 Charlotte, NC: 2,426,363 Portland, OR: 2,389,228 Orlando, FL: 2,387,138 San Antonio, TX: 2,384,075 Pittsburgh, PA: 2,353,045 Sacramento, CA: 2,274,194 Cincinnati: 2,157,719 Las Vegas, NV: 2,114,801 Kansas City, MO: 2,087,471 Cleveland: 2,060,810 Columbus: 2,021,632 Austin, TX: 2,000,860 Indianapolis: 1,988,817 San Jose, CA: 1,976,836 Nashville, TN: 1,830,345 Virginia Beach, VA: 1,724,876 Providence, RI: 1,613,070 Milwaukee, WI: 1,575,747 Grand Rapids, MI: 1,038,583 Omaha, NE: 915,312 Dayton: 800,909 Akron: 704,243 Toledo: 605,956 Youngstown: 549,885
Components of Metro Area Population Change As you can see, while Columbus has a middle of the road birth rate for its peers, its relatively low death rate means that it manages to be near the top of the its peer group in natural growth.
It seems that while international migration is competitive with peers in the Columbus metro, domestic migration would need to improve to truly be at the upper peer level. At the very least, it is positive.
The US Census has released its population estimates for both counties and metros for the year ending July 1, 2015. Here is a detailed look at Ohio’s counties in this 2015 county population estimates report.
From the numbers above, Columbus’ Franklin County was just below Cuyahoga last year. It is likely that, given each county’s growth rates, Franklin has now passed up Cuyahoga to become Ohio’s most populated county.
Franklin County’s natural growth rate destroys every other county in the state. It gains almost 7x that of Cuyahoga County, despite Cuyahoga having a larger population during this period, and nearly 3x that of Hamilton County.