The US Census has released 2024 county and metro population estimates. The estimates generally show a further continuation of the post-pandemic recovery in the numbers. In fact, older estimates have also been revised upwards. Let’s break down the numbers.
Metro County
2020 Census
2023 Population
2024 Population
Delaware
214,123
232,732
237,966
Fairfield
158,920
165,630
167,762
Franklin
1,323,819
1,338,903
1,356,303
Hocking
28,056
27,567
27,429
Licking
178,517
183,540
184,898
Madison
43,848
44,668
45,531
Morrow
34,944
35,583
35,927
Perry
35,412
35,577
35,682
Pickaway
58,551
61,064
62,158
Union
62,790
69,765
71,721
As you can see, all counties but Hocking grew in both the 2020-2024 and 2023-2024 periods. Most of the estimates were improvements over the 2023 version, as mentioned. For example, Franklin County’s estimates population in 2023 was 1,326,063, but the 2024 version for 2023 was revised to 1,338,903, indicating growth was significantly stronger than originally estimated.
Franklin County continued its very long run of being the top county in the metro for total growth.
The Census has just released 2019 city population estimates. These estimates are good for July 1, 2019. Let’s take a look at how Columbus compares to other cities in Ohio.
In 2010, 4 Columbus metro communities were in the top 30. By last year, 6 were, with more poised to enter the list in the coming years. This represents the Columbus region’s growing influence in the state and how its share of the state’s population continues to increase.
2018 to 2019, Columbus had 12 cities in the top 30, a lower number than the average of the decade. This is not necessarily indicating a slowdown in growth within the metro, however. The final year before a decennial census, population estimates tend to be used for final adjustments. This means that if a city is thought to have been estimated too high or too low through the decade, the final estimate year is adjusted accordingly and not necessarily according to true growth. The point of estimates is to get a snapshot of the population at the time of the estimate, but they are constantly being changed every time a new estimate comes out. This usually leaves the final estimate year as showing the slowest growth. This was true for 2008-2009 as well.
Out of the 101 communities of any size in the Metro, 81 of them have either steady populations or estimated growth since 2010. Most of the 20 that have shown declines are very small communities in the Appalachia counties of Perry and Hocking, the furthest removed from Columbus’ influence.