Tag Archives: Statistics

Columbus Crime Plummets 2010-2014

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The FBI recently released full 2014 crime statistics for its Uniform Crime Reporting program, and the results show how Columbus crime plummets between 2010 and 2014.

Let’s take a look at some of the numbers. First up, violent crimes.

Total violent crimes between 2010 and 2014 fell 16.6%, with any single person’s chances in 100k of being a victim of violent crime falling 21%. This is a pretty significant drop in just 4 years.

Here’s an individual violent crime breakdown:
-Murders were down 15.2%
-Rape was up 28.6%. The definition has changed in this time, which may explain some of that increase.
-Robbery was down 37.7%
-Aggravated Assault was up 14.6%.

So some good and bad. The good news for assault is that it’s well under where it was just 10 years ago, and almost 50% down from its historic peak in the early 1990s. It may have just been a bit worse year in 2014 for this, as all crime totals go through spikes even during a general decline. The bad news is that rape is historically high, but because the definitions have changed for it recently, it’s hard to make a fair comparison to previous years. If the current definition was in place years ago, it’s certainly possible it would now show a decline. Or, as with assault, rape totals could’ve seen a temporary spike above the trend line. Future years will tell the tale.

Now for property crime, something that’s always been somewhat high in Columbus, possibly due to the young population age and large number of college students.

Property crime in the city has dropped 29.8% 2010-2014, even more significant than the decrease in violent crime.

Here’s the breakdown:
-Burglary dropped 40.6%.
-Larceny Theft dropped 24.5%.
-Motor Vehicle Theft dropped 29.3%.

All down in the period.

So what about 2015 and beyond? Well, indications are that crime is up for 2015 vs. last year, though there are differing theories as to why. Crime being up seems to be widespread in cities around the nation, and some of it has been attributed to a newfound national popularity in heroin. Until we see 2015’s number sometime next year, we won’t know exactly the impact. For now, we can celebrate that the city has indeed become safer.

For more on 2014’s numbers, and to check out other cities, go here: https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/



The Changing Columbus Transit Scene

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There’s been some discussion over the last few years about how driving habits are changing nationally. I’ve seen at least a few reports suggesting that overall driving is actually on the decline and has been for some time. This even while the population of the US continues to rise. A http://uspirg.org/sites/pirg/files/reports/US_Transp_trans_scrn.pdf”>new report has come out detailing the changing habits of cities, including the changing Columbus transit scene.

Percent Change in Per-Capita Vehicle Miles Traveled from 2006-2011
Columbus: -5.7%
Dayton: -0.2%
Akron: +1.2%
Cleveland: +5.1%
Youngstown: +5.4%
Cincinnati: N/A
Toledo: N/A

Columbus saw the largest drop in vehicle miles traveled, indicating that people there are driving less. Northeast Ohio all saw increases, which goes against the national trend. Toledo and Cincinnati did not have comparable numbers.

Percent Change in Per-Capita Passenger Miles Traveled on Mass Transit 2005-2010
Columbus: +1.6%
Dayton: -0.6%
Akron: -2.8%
Youngstown: -8.3%
Toledo: -28.8%
Cleveland: -34.2%
Cincinnati: -34.8%

Columbus was the only city to see an increase in its mass transit miles. Cleveland, Cincinnati saw drops of more than 1/3rd.

Change in the Proportion of Workers who Commuted by Car, 2000-2011
Dayton: -1.5%
Columbus: -1.2%
Toledo: -1.0%
Youngstown: -1.0%
Akron: -0.8%
Cleveland: -0.4%
Cincinnati: -0.2%

All 7 saw declines.

Change in the Proportion of Workers who Biked to Work, 2000-2011
Columbus: +0.3%
Akron: +0.1%
Cleveland: +0.1%
Dayton: +0.1%
Toledo: +0.1%
Cincinnati: +0%
Youngstown: +0%

Columbus saw the largest increase of all 7, although the actual changes are all small. No city measured in the US saw a change of more than +1.7%. The majority of cities were less than 0.3%.

Change in the Proportion of Workers Who Worked From Home, 2000-2011
Columbus: +1.4%
Cincinnati: +0.9%
Dayton: +0.8%
Cleveland: +0.6%
Toledo: +0.6%
Youngstown: +0.6%
Akron: +0.5%

Columbus again leads, though all cities saw increases.

Total Per-Capita Vehicle Miles Traveled in 2006
Cleveland: 8,285
Youngstown: 8,806
Akron: 9,379
Columbus: 9,956
Dayton: 10,084
Cincinnati: N/A
Toledo: N/A

Total Per-Capita Vehicle Miles Traveled in 2011
Cleveland: 8,705
Youngstown: 9,284
Columbus: 9,385
Akron: 9,490
Dayton: 10,068
Cincinnati: N/A
Toledo: N/A

Total Per-Capita Mass-Transit Miles Traveled in 2005
Cleveland: 172.0
Cincinnati: 110.0
Dayton: 64.7
Columbus: 52.6
Toledo: 51.6
Akron: 42.9
Youngstown: 17.3

Total Per-Capita Mass-Transit Miles Traveled in 2010
Cleveland: 113.0
Cincinnati: 71.8
Dayton: 64.1
Columbus: 53.4
Akron: 41.7
Toledo: 36.7
Youngstown: 15.9

% of Workers who Traveled by Car, 2011
Cleveland: 89.2%
Columbus: 89.8%
Cincinnati: 90.6%
Dayton: 91.4%
Akron: 92.5%
Toledo: 93.1%
Youngstown: 94.4%

National Rank (of 100 cities) in the % Change for those who Biked to Work, 2000-2011
Columbus: 15th
Dayton: 37th
Cleveland: 38th
Akron: 39th
Toledo: 49th
Cincinnati: 74th
Youngstown: 81st

% Change of Households with No Vehicle, 2006-2011
Akron: +2.2%
Dayton: +1.0%
Cleveland: +0.9%
Columbus: +0.9%
Cincinnati: -0.3%
Toledo: -0.4%
Youngstown: N/A

% Change of Households with 2+ Vehicles, 2006-2011
Toledo: -4.2%
Akron: -3.6%
Dayton: -2.8%
Cleveland: -2.6%
Columbus: -1.4%
Cincinnati: -1.1%
Youngstown: N/A

So what does all this data tell us? Well, for the most part, all Ohio cities are seeing car use decline in some way or another. Columbus performs strongly in car use declines and increases in at-home workers and increases in bike commuting. Mass-transit was where it performed the weakest, where it’s middle of the pack. Yet even there, it saw increases in its use.