Columbus City Unemployment Rate: 6.0% Unemployment Rate Change since May 2012: +0 Unemployment Rate Change since January 2013: -0.8 Civilian Labor Force: 431,500 Civilian Labor Force Change since May 2012: +3,600 Civilian Labor Force Change since January 2013: +5,100 Employment: 405,500 Employment Change since May 2012: +3,400 Employment Change since January 2013: +8,200 Unemployment: 26,000 Unemployment Change since May 2012: +100 Unemployment Change since January 2013: -3,100
Franklin County Unemployment Rate: 6.0% Unemployment Rate Change since May 2012: +0 Unemployment Rate Change since January 2013: -0.8 Civilian Labor Force: 631,000 Civilian Labor Force Change since May 2012: +5,300 Civilian Labor Force Change since January 2013: +7,300 Employment: 593,100 Employment Change since May 2012: +5,100 Employment Change since January 2013: +12,100 Unemployment: 37,900 Unemployment Change since May 2012: +200 Unemployment Change since January 2013: -4,700
Columbus Metro Area Unemployment Rate: 6.0% Unemployment Rate Change since May 2012: +0.1 Unemployment Rate Change since January 2013: -1.0 Civilian Labor Force: 977,400 Civilian Labor Force Change since May 2012: +8,600 Civilian Labor Force Change since January 2013: +9,500 Employment: 919,100 Employment Change since May 2012: +7,800 Employment Change since January 2013: +18,600 Unemployment: 58,300 Unemployment Change since May 2012: +800 Unemployment Change since January 2013: -9,100
Ohio Overall Unemployment Rate: 7.0% Unemployment Rate Change since May 2012: -0.3 Unemployment Rate Change since January 2013 : +0 Civilian Labor Force: 5,750,000 Civilian Labor Force Change since May 2012: -5,000 Civilian Labor Force Change since January 2013: +10,000 Employment: 5,345,000 Employment Change since May 2012: +9,000 Employment Change since January 2013: +4,000 Unemployment: 405,000 Unemployment Change since May 2012: -15,000 Unemployment Change since January 2013: +6,000
Metro Non-Farm Jobs Total: 966,900 Change from May 2012: +12,200 Change from January 2013: +23,300
By Industry Mining/Logging/Construction Total: 30,600 Change from May 2012: +500 Change from January 2013: +3,700
Manufacturing Total: 66,600 Change from May 2012: +600 Change from January 2013: +1,600
Trade/Transportation/Utilities Total: 180,700 Change from May 2012: -1,200 Change from January 2013: -2,500
Information Total: 16,400 Change from May 2012: -200 Change from January 2013: -100
Financial Activities Total: 71,300 Change from May 2012: -200 Change from January 2013: -400
Professional and Business Services Total: 161,000 Change from May 2012: +1,100 Change from January 2013: +5,400
Education and Health Services Total: 142,600 Change from May 2012: +4,500 Change from January 2013: +3,100
Leisure and Hospitality Total: 99,700 Change from May 2012: +4,900 Change from January 2013: +11,200
Other Services Total: 35,800 Change from May 2012: -600 Change from January 2013: -400
Government Total: 162,200 Change from May 2012: -200 Change from January 2013: +1,700
One of the more interesting things the Census measures is the population from “City Hall”, or basically the metro population by distance from downtown. The metric measure population at every mile out from the center of each city’s downtown area. Since city boundaries come in all different sizes, this is a good way to compare urban populations.
I looked at the 15 largest Midwest metros for these numbers.
First, here is a breakdown of aggregate population at each mile marker in 2010. Aggregate means that with each mile added, the population within all previous miles are added together.
This is a pretty bad showing in this list. In 2010, Columbus had the lowest downtown population, or population at Mile 0, of any of the largest 15 Midwest metros.
So while Columbus’ downtown is down at the bottom in this list to start, it ends up being a top 5 within just a few miles. Clearly, though, the city needs to do better at getting people in the center.
Columbus seems to hold its own from Mile 2 through about Mile 15 or 16, and then begins to fall back as full metro populations begin to take shape.
So now we know the exact populations by distance, but what about how those are changing over time? Here are the same miles and their total change from 2000 to 2010.
The US Census released the latest population estimates for metropolitan/micropolitan areas as well as counties for the year July 1, 2012 to July 1, 2013. Here is what they found for Columbus and Ohio metros.
Columbus leads the pack, and by a lot. Some interesting notes about these numbers is that half of the 8 major metros are growing. Also of significance is that Cleveland barely lost at all, which may indicate that the losses there are slowing down.
Now let’s take a look at where the population changes for these metros are coming from.
Natural growth is a vital part of the growth picture for any place. For Columbus, it is roughly 50% of it’s total annual growth. For places like Youngstown, with more deaths than births, it just contributes to overall decline.
The 2nd most important part of the growth rate, migration, is also pretty bad for most metros. Only Columbus is seeing a decent rate of growth, particularly domestically.
One final question is… how are these metro growth rates changing over time? That’s a bit harder to answer, as metro boundaries change so often that it’s more difficult to determine comparable rates decade to decade. However, this is what I came up with.
In Part 1 of this comparison, I looked at overall metro area densities.
For tracts, I looked over the maps of all cities within metros that had populations between 1.5 and 2.5 million (based on 2010 census). I then found every tract that had a population density of 5,000 people per square mile or higher, but I tried to stay within the core city and its immediate surroundings. In most cases, this was just within the central metro county, but some cities are split between county borders and even state borders, so I tried to use an equal approximation.
First, the total number of tracts with 5,000+ densities by city and rank. 1. Las Vegas: 290 2. San Jose: 285 3. Cleveland: 211 4. Milwaukee: 198 5. Portland: 174 6. Sacramento: 168 7. Pittsburgh: 147 8. San Antonio: 118 9. Columbus: 98 10. Virginia Beach: 92 11. Cincinnati: 84 12. Providence: 84 13. Austin: 61 14. Orlando: 47 15. Indianapolis: 46 16. Kansas City: 44 17. Nashville: 21 18. Charlotte: 16
Average Density for all Tracts that have 5,000+ Densities by Rank 1. Milwaukee: 10,394.2 2. Providence: 10,163.5 3. San Jose: 10,114.8 4. Pittsburgh: 8,753.8 5. Las Vegas: 8,604.4 6. Austin: 7,981.4 7. Cleveland: 7,882.1 8. Columbus: 7,821.8 9. Portland: 7,679.8 10. Cincinnati: 7,586.7 11. Sacramento: 7,397.3 12. Virginia Beach: 7,304.1 13. San Antonio: 6,736.5 14. Kansas City: 6,703.7 15. Orlando: 6,689.5 16. Charlotte: 6,678.2 17. Nashville: 6,558.7 18. Indianapolis: 6,170.7
Average Density of Top 15 Most Dense Tracts by Rank Milwaukee: 23,786.4 San Jose: 22,225.5 Pittsburgh: 18,581.4 Las Vegas: 18,227.8 Providence: 16,701.2 Portland: 15,401.5 Columbus: 14,733.6 Austin: 13,660.0 Cleveland: 13,458.6 Cincinnati: 12,443.9 Virginia Beach: 12,396.5 Sacramento: 12,261.4 San Antonio: 9,497.6 Orlando: 8,955.3 Kansas City: 8,476.5 Indianapolis: 7,294.0 Nashville: 7,113.9 Charlotte: 6,787.5
Columbus doesn’t do too badly with these numbers and certainly better than I was really expecting. In general, it’s more dense in parts than it gets credit for being. Las Vegas stands out as the most surprising to me, but I guess the built environment there is pretty dense when you think about it, at least in the urban core that these numbers measured. Charlotte, Indianapolis and Nashville have incredibly low densities for being major, moderate-fast growing metros/cities. Columbus and Indianapolis are often called twin cities and compared regularly, but this is one area where there’s a pretty stark difference. I plan to do a formal comparison of the two metros at some point in the future.
In regards to the 5,000+ density tracts, here’s a further breakdown.
All Tracts with a Density of 25,000 or More and % of Total 5,000+ Tracts by Rank 1. Austin: 2 3.3% 2. Milwaukee: 4 2.0% 3. San Jose: 4 1.4% 4. Virginia Beach: 1 1.1% 5. Columbus: 1 1.0% 6. Pittsburgh: 1 0.7% 7. Portland: 1 0.6% 8. Charlotte: 0 0.0% 9. Cincinnati: 0 0.0% 10. Cleveland: 0 0.0% 11. Indianapolis: 0 0.0% 12. Kansas City: 0 0.0% 13. Las Vegas: 0 0.0% 14. Nashville: 0 0.0% 15. Orlando: 0 0.0% 16. Providence: 0 0.0% 17. Sacramento: 0 0.0% 18. San Antonio: 0 0.0%
All Tracts with a Density of 20,000 or More and % of Total 5,000+ Tracts by Rank 1. Milwaukee: 13 6.6% 2. Austin: 3 4.9% 3. Columbus: 3 3.1% 4. Pittsburgh: 4 2.7% 5. San Jose: 6 2.1% 6. Las Vegas: 4 1.4% 7. Providence: 1 1.2% 8. Portland: 2 1.1% 9. Virginia Beach: 1.1% 10. Cleveland: 1 0.5% 11. Charlotte: 0 0.0% 12. Cincinnati: 0 0.0% 13. Indianapolis: 0 0.0% 14. Kansas City: 0 0.0% 15. Nashville: 0 0.0% 16. Orlando: 0 0.0% 17. Sacramento: 0 0.0% 18. San Antonio: 0 0.0%
All Tracts with a Density of 15,000 or More and % of Total 5,000+ Tracts by Rank 1. Milwaukee: 32 16.2% 2. Providence: 12 14.3% 3. San Jose: 31 10.9% 4. Austin: 5 8.2% 5. Pittsburgh: 12 8.2% 6. Columbus: 6 6.1% 7. Las Vegas: 13 4.5% 8. Portland: 6 3.4% 9. Sacramento: 3 1.8% 10. Cincinnati: 1 1.2% 11. Virginia Beach: 1 1.1% 12. Cleveland: 2 0.9% 13. Charlotte: 0 0.0% 14. Indianapolis: 0 0.0% 15. Kansas City: 0 0.0% 16. Nashville: 0 0.0% 17. Orlando: 0 0.0% 18. San Antonio: 0 0.0%
All Tracts with a Density of 10,000 or More and % of Total 5,000+ Tracts by Rank 1. Providence: 37 44.0% 2. San Jose: 112 39.3% 3. Milwaukee: 52 26.3% 4. Pittsburgh: 36 24.5% 5. Las Vegas: 67 23.1% 6. Cleveland: 37 17.5% 7. Cincinnati: 14 16.7% 8. Austin: 9 14.8% 9. Nashville: 3 14.3% 10. Portland: 21 12.1% 11. Virginia Beach: 8 8.7% 12. Orlando: 4 8.5% 13. Columbus: 8 8.2% 14. Sacramento: 13 7.7% 15. Charlotte: 1 6.3% 16. San Antonio: 3 2.5% 17. Kansas City: 1 2.3% 18. Indianapolis: 0 0.0%
All Tracts with a Density of 9,000 or More and % of Total 5,000+ Tracts by Rank 1. Providence: 47 56.0% 2. San Jose: 132 46.3% 3. Las Vegas: 101 34.8% 4. Milwaukee: 65 32.8% 5. Pittsburgh: 47 32.0% 6. Cleveland: 52 24.6% 7. Cincinnati: 19 22.6% 8. Austin: 13 21.3% 9. Portland: 29 16.7% 10. Columbus: 16 16.3% 11. Nashville: 3 14.3% 12. Sacramento: 24 14.3% 13. Kansas City: 6 13.6% 14. Charlotte: 2 12.5% 15. Virginia Beach: 10 10.7% 16. Orlando: 5 10.6% 17. San Antonio: 9 7.6% 18. Indianapolis: 0 0.0%
All Tracts with a Density of 8,000 or More and % of Total 5,000+ Tracts by Rank 1. San Jose: 183 64.2% 2. Providence: 52 61.9% 3. Las Vegas: 136 46.9% 4. Pittsburgh: 63 42.9% 5. Milwaukee: 82 41.4% 6. Cleveland: 87 41.2% 7. Sacramento: 49 29.2% 8. Austin: 17 27.9% 9. Cincinnati: 23 27.4% 10. Columbus: 26 26.5% 11. Portland: 41 23.6% 12. Kansas City: 10 22.7% 13. Orlando: 10 21.3% 14. Virginia Beach: 19 20.7% 15. San Antonio: 17 14.4% 16. Nashville: 3 14.3% 17. Charlotte: 2 12.5% 18. Indianapolis: 2 4.3%
All Tracts with a Density of 7,000 or More and % of Total 5,000+ Tracts by Rank 1. San Jose: 222 77.9% 2. Providence: 58 69.0% 3. Las Vegas: 185 63.8% 4. Cleveland: 119 56.4% 5. Milwaukee: 111 56.1% 6. Pittsburgh: 80 54.4% 7. Sacramento: 83 49.4% 8. Cincinnati: 38 45.2% 9. Columbus: 42 42.9% 10. Virginia Beach: 39 42.4% 11. Portland: 71 40.8% 12. Austin: 23 37.7% 13. Charlotte: 5 31.3% 14. Kansas City: 13 29.5% 15. San Antonio: 32 27.1% 16. Orlando: 12 25.5% 17. Nashville: 4 19.0% 18. Indianapolis: 8 17.4%
All Tracts with a Density of 6,000 or More and % of Total 5,000+ Tracts by Rank 1. San Jose: 260 91.2% 2. Las Vegas: 235 81.0% 3. Providence: 68 81.0% 4. Pittsburgh: 113 76.9% 5. Sacramento: 122 72.6% 6. Cleveland: 153 72.5% 7. Milwaukee: 142 71.7% 8. Columbus: 66 67.3% 9. Portland: 113 64.9% 10. Cincinnati: 54 64.3% 11. Orlando: 29 61.7% 12. San Antonio: 71 60.2% 13. Virginia Beach: 55 59.8% 14. Austin: 35 57.4% 15. Kansas City: 25 56.8% 16. Nashville: 10 47.6% 17. Charlotte: 7 43.8% 18. Indianapolis: 20 43.5%
Top 20 Most Dense Tracts from all 18 Metros 1. 48,971.9: Virginia Beach #38 2. 48,602.1: San Jose #500902 3. 32,306.4: Pittsburgh #404 4. 31,919.9: Milwaukee #11 5. 31,627.6: Milwaukee #147 6. 29,072: Columbus #181 7. 28,922.9: San Jose #509107 8. 27,544.8: Milwaukee #164 9. 26,825.8: Portland #56 10. 25,543.1: Austin #603 11. 25,271.2: Milwaukee #146 12. 25,229.7: Austin #604 13. 25,195.3: San Jose #509403 14. 25,053.2: San Jose #503118 15. 24,925.7: Columbus #13 16. 24,882.3: Las Vegas #2996 17. 24,666.9: Pittsburgh #9822 18. 24,481.1: Pittsburgh #406 19. 24,043.4: Portland #48 20. 24,025.6: Las Vegas #2207
