I hear all the time how Columbus is extremely suburban (low density) in its development. But where does it actually rank with its peers? One metric is looking at exurbia, the far outer suburban areas that are largely made up of sprawl. How does exurbia in the Columbus metro compare to other places?
I looked at metros of similar size to Columbus (1.5-2.5 million).
Metro Population Living in Exurbia, 2000
1. Nashville, TN: 23.1%
2. Austin, TX: 21.8%
3. Charlotte, NC: 16.7%
4. Orlando, FL: 14.7%
5. San Antonio, TX: 12.6%
6. Indianapolis, IN: 10.5%
7. Kansas City, KS: 9.0%
8. Cincinnati: 6.7%
9. Virginia Beach: 6.0%
10. Portland, OR: 5.8%
11. Columbus: 4.9%
12. Sacramento, CA: 4.1%
13. Las Vegas, NV: 3.1%
14. Providence, RI: 2.9%
15. Milwaukee, WI: 2.8%
16. San Jose, CA: 1.1%
17. Cleveland: 1.0%
18. Pittsburgh, PA: 0.8%
Metro Population Living in Exurbia, 2010
1. Austin, TX: 32.3%
2. Nashville, TN: 27.9%
3. Charlotte, NC: 22.7%
4. Orlando, FL: 21.7%
5. San Antonio, TX: 20.3%
6. Indianapolis: 15.8%
7. Kansas City, KS: 14.4%
8. Las Vegas, NV: 10.6%
9. Cincinnati: 8.8%
10. Columbus: 7.7%
11. Sacramento, CA: 7.7%
12. Virginia Beach, VA: 7.4%
13. Portland, OR: 6.7%
14. Milwaukee, WI: 3.3%
15. Providence, RI: 3.2%
16. Cleveland: 1.7%
17. Pittsburgh, PA: 1.1%
18. San Jose, CA: 1.1%
Metro Population Living in Exurbia Total % Change 2000-2010
1. Las Vegas, NV: +389.9%
2. Sacramento, CA: +123.5%
3. Austin, TX: +103.8%
4. San Antonio, TX: +101.6%
5. Orlando, FL: +92.0%
6. Charlotte, NC: +82.5%
7. Columbus: +78.4%
8. Kansas City, KS: +75.6%
9. Indianapolis, IN: +72.9%
10. Cleveland: +58.3%
11. Nashville, TN: +46.4%
12. Cincinnati: +38.7%
13. Portland, OR: +33.5%
14. Virginia Beach, VA: +31.2%
15. Pittsburgh, PA: +28.0%
16. Milwaukee, WI: +20.8%
17. Providence, RI: +10.3%
18. San Jose, CA: +9.0%
So what these numbers show is that Columbus is actually in the bottom half of exurban population vs. its 17 peers, but is in the top half of growth in that population. As can be imagined, a large part of this growth came before the recession.
Metro Exurban Population Growth 2000-2007
1. Las Vegas, NV: +285.2%
2. Sacramento, CA: +104.2%
3. Orlando, FL: +78.3%
4. Austin, TX: +74.2%
5. Columbus: +62.0%
6. Charlotte, NC: +58.4%
7. San Antonio, TX: +56.2%
8. Kansas City, KS: +55.4%
9. Indianapolis, IN: +46.4%
10. Nashville, TN: +30.6%
11. Portland, OR: +29.1%
12. Cleveland: +27.0%
13. Cincinnati: +26.2%
14. Virginia Beach, VA: +25.7%
15. Pittsburgh, PA: +16.5%
16. Milwaukee, WI: +13.3%
17. Providence, RI: +10.9%
18. San Jose, CA: +5.9%
Metro Exurban Population Growth 2007-2010
1. San Antonio, TX: +29.1%
2. Las Vegas, NV: +27.2%
3. Cleveland: +24.7%
4. Indianapolis, IN: +18.0%
5. Austin, TX: +17.0%
6. Charlotte, NC: +15.3%
7. Kansas City, KS: +13.7%
8. Nashville, TN: +12.1%
9. Columbus: +10.1%
10. Cincinnati: +9.9%
11. Pittsburgh, PA: +9.8%
12. Sacramento, CA: +9.5%
13. Orlando, FL: +7.7%
14. Milwaukee, WI: +6.7%
15. Virginia Beach, VA: +4.3%
16. Portland, OR: +3.3%
17. San Jose, CA: +2.9%
18. Providence, RI: -0.6%
Average Annual Rate Change Between 2000-2007 and 2007-2010
1. Cleveland: +117.1%
2. Pittsburgh, PA: +45.5%
3. San Antonio, TX: +34.8%
4. San Jose, CA: +25.0%
5. Milwaukee, WI: +22.2%
6. Indianapolis, IN: +1.8%
7. Nashville, TN: +0.0%
8. Cincinnati: -5.9%
9. Charlotte, NC: -29.4%
10. Kansas City, KS: -32.3%
11. Austin, TX: -34.1%
12. Columbus: -53.5%
13. Virginia Beach, VA: -57.6%
14. Las Vegas, NV: -60.8%
15. Portland, OR: -70.3%
16. Orlando, FL: -70.9%
17. Sacramento, CA: -71.0%
18. Providence, RI: -113.3%
So there you have it. Columbus is definitely not anywhere near the sprawl king it’s often made out to be, even within its own peer group. Outside of it, there are dozens of metros with far more.