2013 City Population Estimates




2013 city population estimates

Today, the Census released new population figures for cities and incorporated places. I looked at all those places within the Columbus metro area and came up with the following stats on 2013 city population estimates.

Top 25 Largest Places in the Columbus Metro, July 1, 2013
1. Columbus: 822,553
2. Newark: 47,777
3. Dublin: 43,607
4. Lancaster: 39,325
5. Westerville: 37,530
6. Grove City: 37,490
7. Reynoldsburg: 36,526
8. Delaware: 36,459
9. Upper Arlington: 34,420
10. Gahanna: 34,051
11. Hilliard: 31,012
12. Marysville: 22,396
13. Pickerington: 19,085
14. Whitehall: 18,503
15. Pataskala: 15,160
16. Worthington: 13,837
17. Bexley: 13,455
18. Circleville: 13,444
19. Powell: 12,237
20. Heath: 10,45
21. London: 9,978
22. New Albany: 8,820
23. Canal Winchester: 7,543
24. Logan: 7,146
25. Grandview Heights: 6,943

Top 25 Largest Total Change 2012-2013
1. Columbus: +12,450
2. Dublin: +710
3. Grove City: +637
4. Delaware: +534
5. Lancaster: +422
6. Hilliard: +421
7. Pickerington: +375
8. Westerville: +321
9. Marysville: +284
10. New Albany: +282
11. Powell: +258
12. Gahanna: +215
13. Upper Arlington: +183
14. Reynoldsburg: +172
15. Bexley: +163
16. Canal Winchester: +143
17. Sunbury: +109
18. London: +107
19. Pataskala: +98
20. Groveport: +88
21. Whitehall: +87
22. Worthington: +69
23. Hanover: +67
24. Heath: +63
25. Lithopolis/Obetz/West Jefferson: +35

Top 25 Largest Total Change 2010-2013
1. Columbus: +35,520
2. Hilliard: +2,577
3. Grove City: +1,915
4. Dublin: +1,856
5. Delaware: +1,706
6. Westerville: +1,410
7. New Albany: +1,096
8. Gahanna: +806
9. Pickerington: +794
10. Powell: +737
11. Upper Arlington: +649
12. Reynoldsburg: +633
13. Lancaster: +545
14. Canal Winchester: +442
15. Whitehall: +441
16. Grandview Heights: +407
17. Bexley: +388
18. Sunbury: +326
19. Marysville: +302
20. Groveport: +269
21. Worthington: +262
22. Newark: +204
23. Johnstown: +200
24. Pataskala: +198
25. Heath: +142

Top 25 Largest % Changes 2012-2013
1. Hanover: +6.74%
2. New Albany: +3.30%
3. Lithopolis: +2.93%
4. Sunbury: +2.37%
5. Powell: +2.15%
6. Shawnee Hills: +2.12%
7. Pickerington: +2.00%
8. Canal Winchester: +1.93%
9. Grove City: +1.73%
10. Dublin: +1.66%
11. Groveport: +1.59%
12. Columbus: +1.54%
13. Delaware: +1.49%
14. Hilliard: +1.38%
15. Marysville: +1.28%
16. Bexley: +1.23%
17. Lancaster and London: +1.08%
18. Midway: +0.93%
19. Harrisburg: +0.92%
20. Westerville: +0.86%
21. Brice: +0.85%
22. Kirkersville and Obetz: +0.76%
23. Milford Center: +0.75%
24. Pataskala: +0.65%
25. Gahanna and Hemlock: +0.64%

Top 25 Largest % Changes 2010-2013
1. Hanover: +15.20%
2. New Albany: +14.19%
3. Lithopolis: +11.21%
4. Hilliard: +9.06%
5. Sunbury: +7.43%
6. Powell: +6.41%
7. Grandview Heights: +6.23%
8. Canal Winchester: +6.22%
9. Shawnee Hills: +6.17%
10. Grove City: +5.38%
11. Groveport: +5.02%
12. Delaware: +4.91%
13. Columbus: +4.51%
14. Dublin: +4.45%
15. Brice: +4.39%
16. Pickerington: +4.34%
17. Johnstown: +4.32%
18. Westerville: +3.90%
19. New Holland: +3.25%
20. Bexley: +2.97%
21. Harrisburg: +2.91%
22. Obetz: +2.74%
23. Riverlea: +2.57%
24. Lockbourne: +2.53%
25. Galena: +2.45%

Trends
Average Annual Growth 2000-2010 vs. 2010-2013 for the Top 25 Largest Places
2000-2010————2010-2013——–% Change

1. Upper Arlington: +9 +216 +2,300%
2. Bexley: -15 +129 +960.0%
3. Grandview Heights: -16 +136 +950.0%
4. Westerville: +80 +470 +487.50%
5. Circleville: -17 +43 +352.94%
6. Gahanna: +61 +269 +340.98%
7. Worthington: -55 +87 +258.18%
8. Whitehall: -114 +147 +228.95%
9. Hilliard: +400 +859 +114.75%
10. Columbus: +7,556 +11,840 +56.70%
11. New Albany: +400 +365 -8.75%
12. Grove City: +850 +638 -24.94%
13. Delaware: +951 +569 -40.17%
14. Dublin: +1,036 +619 -40.25%
15. Canal Winchester: +262 +147 -43.89%
16. Reynoldsburg: +382 +211 -44.76%
17. Lancaster: +345 +182 -47.25%
18. Newark: +129 +68 -47.29%
19. Powell: +525 +246 -53.14%
20. Pickerington: +850 +265 -68.82%
21. Heath: +178 +47 -73.60%
22. London: +113 +25 -77.88%
23. Marysville: +615 +107 -82.60%
24. Pataskala: +471 +66 -85.99%
25. Logan: +45 -2 -104.44%

So by the trends, it definitely appears that most suburbs have slowed, while Columbus and its inner suburbs increased. This seems like a pretty good indication of the ongoing urban movement to me.



2012 Urban and Suburban Population Trends



2012 urban and suburban population trends

I posted the 2012 city estimates from the US Census yesterday. Within them may be an interesting trend that has long-term implications for Columbus and other cities, so today we’re going to go over 2012 urban and suburban population trends, and see how they compare.

A lot of the talk in the news in recent years has been how urban core cities are seeing a comeback of sorts. I’ve made mention of it several times, myself, with hard data located on the Demographics and Population part of this site. However, there is some disagreement between urban proponents and suburban proponents about what’s really going on, and that disagreement seems to focus mostly around if the city is growing faster than the suburbs, and if so, if that trend can be sustained.

Looking over the estimates, I noticed something that may support the urban back-to-the-city argument, at least in Columbus. What I noticed was that those villages/towns/cities that were growing tended to be clustered closer to the urban core of the metro than those that were losing population.

I first gathered the data on the Columbus metro area’s 99 incorporated places, ranging in population from 36 on up to Columbus’ 809,798. I then measured the distance between Columbus’ Downtown center and the center of all 99 places. I then broke them up into increments of about 5 miles each. Here is some of what I found.

Average Total Population Growth by Place 2010-2012 by Distance from Columbus’ Center
0-4.9 Miles: 3,962.8
5-9.9 Miles: 438.4
10-14.9 Miles: 342.8
15-19.9 Miles: 26.5
20-24.9 Miles: 148.9
25+ Miles: 10.5

What this says, is that for the most part, the closer a place is to the center, the more total average growth it’s had since 2010. While the 0-4.9 mile distance is somewhat skewed because it includes Columbus’ growth, there is also a significant drop-off beyond 15 miles from the center.

Next, I looked at all the places that saw either 0 population change or a loss during the 2010-2012 period. Again, it was separated by the distance from Columbus’ center.

0-4.9 Miles: 0 of 6, or 0.0%
5-9.9 Miles: 0 of 12, or 0.0%
10-14.9 Miles: 1 of 12, or 8.3%
15-19.9 Miles: 2 of 8, or 25.0%
20-24.9 Miles: 2 of 10, or 20.0%
25+ Miles: 21 of 51, or 41.2%

What this shows is that the further the distance away from the center, in general, the more places there were that were stagnant or lost population since 2010.

Finally, I looked at the top 15 total population increases of all places from 2010-2012, as well as their distance from Columbus’ center.
1. Columbus (obviously): +22,765- 0 Miles
2. Hilliard: +2,129- 9.9 Miles
3. Grove City: +1,257- 7.4 Miles
4. Delaware: +1,172- 23.6 Miles
5. Dublin: +1,155- 11.3 Miles
6. Westerville: +953- 12.0 Miles
7. New Albany: +783- 13.0 Miles
8. Gahanna: +580- 7.5 Miles
9. Powell: +460- 14.2 Miles
10. Reynoldsburg: +454- 9.9 Miles
11. Upper Arlington: +432- 4.1 Miles
12. Pickerington: +401- 14.1 Miles
13. Grandview Heights: +374- 2.6 Miles
14. Whitehall: +341- 6.0 Miles
15. Canal Winchester: +292- 12.7 Miles

12 of the 15 are within Franklin County. Another 2 (Pickerington and Powell) are near the Franklin County border. Only Delaware is beyond 15 miles from Columbus’ center.

So do these numbers show a real trend? Maybe. Some of the questions are: Do 2 years of data support a real trend or just a blip? Is this really an urban movement or a rural decline… or both? Is this a new/recent trend or have the numbers been changing? Those questions and others need to be answered before making a definitive statement, but if nothing else, they are a positive indication that Columbus and it’s immediate surroundings remain the metro’s (and Ohio’s) strongest population draw.