Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
While Columbus certainly has a lot of sprawl around and outside of 270, there are plenty of nice urban neighborhoods near downtown. The Short North, German Village, Victorian Village and Old Towne East come to mind. Throw in older suburban areas like Bexley, Grandview, Clintonville and Old Arlington, and metro Columbus has more than a few old areas with character.
OSU and the State Government do help Columbus with growth, but Cardinal Health, Nationwide, The Limited, AEP, Huntington, Hexion, Ohio Health, Abercrombie, etc. also have something to do with it.
As for diversity, Cleveland is probably the most diverse in the state, but to say it's far more diverse is a stretch. I'd venture that Columbus and Cincinnati are gaining more new immigrants in Ohio than Cleveland.
I've become a strong advocate for, and an outspoken cheerleader for Columbus, as I presently call this beautiful city home.
However, I am a native of Cleveland ... I find that Cleveland most definitely has more "worldliness" or world class clout. Cleveland is much more cosmopolitan, it has spacious and leafy enclaves of extreme wealth such as Shaker Heights, Hunting Valley, Moreland Hills & Bratenahl, just to mention a few.
Cleveland also has some extremely blighted areas on the near east side, but gentrification is happening in these areas at an accelerated rate.
I just find that Cleveland offers far more cultural amenities, a TRUE BIG CITY FEELING and has a much more alluring physical landscape with rolling hills, valleys and gorges and the ever beautiful Lake Erie.
Columbus has vastly appealing inner city districts and neighborhoods, however, I find the suburbs of Columbus to be a bit "cookie cutter" or bland.
Columbus has it's own distinct merits and positive attributes, but I must say that in my heart, I will always prefer Cleveland.
Cincinnatti is not really a personal option for myself, although it also offers some solid attributes.
Last edited by JohnDBaumgardner; 06-07-2010 at 07:45 PM..
Reason: x
- Public Transportation -- Cleveland by far
- Airport -- Cincinnati
- Education -- Columbus
- Economy -- Columbus
- Good neighborhoods -- Cleveland with the slight edge
- Affordability -- Cleveland and Cincy
- Skyline -- Cincinnati
- New Developments -- Threeway tie (all have some very cool projects going on)
- Food (Major category) -- Cleveland (iron chef, ethnic neighborhoods)
- Cultural diversity -- Cleveland
- Population growth/decline -- Columbus growth/Cleveland Decay
- Parks -- Cincinnati metro, Cleveland metroparks close second
- Professional sports teams -- Cleveland has all three plus arena football and AHL hockey
A century ago, Cincinnati was probably the most dominant city in Ohio. A century from now, trends may be suggesting that Columbus will be number one in the state.
Right now, it simply isn't a contest: Cleveland is clearly on top in most categories. It remains the cultural capitol of the region, and functions far more as an economic center than do either Columbus or Cincinnati. Cleveland's economic area (EA) is nearly the size of Cincinnati and Columbus combined. It is the 16th largest EA in the country, and was just (barely) surpassed by Seattle in 2009.
From The BEA definition:
"BEA’s economic areas define the relevant regional markets surrounding metropolitan or micropolitan statistical areas. They consist of one or more economic nodes —metropolitan or micropolitan statistical areas that serve as regional centers of economic activity—and the surrounding counties that are economically related to the nodes. These economic areas represent the relevant regional markets for labor, products, and information. They are mainly determined by labor commuting patterns that delineate local labor markets and that also serve as proxies for local markets where businesses in the areas sell their products. In less populated parts of the country, newspaper readership data are also used to measure the relevant regional markets."
Here are the 20 largest Economic Area populations as defined by The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
1 New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA 23,290,689
2 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA 19,716,406
3 Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City, IL-IN-WI 10,531,781
4 San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA 9,715,968
5 Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV 9,279,882
6 Boston-Worcester-Manchester, MA-NH 8,341,507
7 Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 8,073,237
8 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, GA-AL 7,630,834
9 Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD 7,047,877
10 Detroit-Warren-Flint, MI 6,915,601
11 Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, TX 6,798,653
12 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, FL 6,252,464
13 Minneapolis-St. Paul-St. Cloud, MN-WI 5,271,904
14 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ 4,939,644
15 Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia, WA 4,682,642 16 Cleveland-Akron-Elyria, OH 4,592,908
17 Orlando-The Villages, FL 4,464,397
18 Denver-Aurora-Boulder, CO 4,131,266
19 St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL 3,389,150
20 Indianapolis-Anderson-Columbus, IN 3,389,007
Columbus- is the cleanest, safest, but most sterile ( compartively, not absolutly) and growing
Cleveland- most vibrant, most dangerous, quickest shrinking, most character
Cincinnati- in the middle for everything
So in conlusion Cincinnati is everthing moderate.
Between the three, Cleveland hands down. 5Lakes summed it up well. Regarding air service, which he/she didn't answer, CLE is the strongest. Cincinnati's airport (which is in Kentucky) is a former hub of Delta and they've dehubbed the city and have been reducing flights like crazy. CLE, though, is currently a hub for United--the world's largest airline--and will likely stay that way as CLE is a MUCH stronger market than Cincinnati ever was (based on business and population). Cleveland is the largest metro area in the state with 4-5 million people--so with that you get a good variety and diversity of everything from people to food to employment. Also, if it means anything to you, CLE is the only one of the three with rail transit service.
To my post above, I'll address your specific areas:
- Public Transportation -- Cleveland. only one with rail transit. also biggest bus network.
- Airport -- Cleveland. Hub of United Airlines.
- Education -- Columbus has OSU, but Cleveland has Cleveland State + Case Western, one of the best schools in the country (especially for engineering). CLE aslo has Cleveland Institute of Music AND the Cleveland Institute of Art--world class schools to which people travel all over the world to. (There are other schools around the city as well, such as Oberlin, one of the top rated liberal arts school in the country--about 30 minutes from CLE Hopkins Airport).
- Economy -- Columbus is stable, but Cleveland has hit a tipping point. After years of dragging, Cleveland is booming. Over $6 BILLION in investment right now in Cleveland--by 2012, the city will be growing again.Right now about 7 new hotels underway or planned downtown. Plus new convention center and other projects (aquarium, casino, etc.).
- Good neighborhoods -- Cleveland, with strong variety.
- Affordability -- all cities are the same, though the biggest money is probably in Cleveland, but in the middle range $150k, for example, could get you the same house in any of the three cities.
- Skyline -- Cleveland. Tallest buildings. And, of course, the lake.
- New Developments -- Cleveland--see "Economy" above.
- Food (Major category) -- Cleveland hands down for both quality and variety.
- Cultural diversity -- Cleveland hands down.
- Population growth/decline -- Columbus city had growth but also note that the city gained population by annexing its suburbs/Cleveland City had a decline; Cleveland metro was stable; however Downtown Cleveland actually grew and has one of the fastest growing Downtowns in the country.
- Parks -- Not sure, but Cleveland has quite a few beautiful parks on the lake which the other cities couldn't possible have.
- Professional sports teams -- Cleveland-has all three--NBA, MLB, NFL; plus arena football and AHL hockey.
I've been very curious to see how all three Big C's of Ohio stack up against one another. I've really been interested because I actually do plan on relocating to this region along with the consideration of Pittsburgh and Louisville.
I would like a comparison of these cities based off of the following criteria;
- Public Transportation
Cleveland wins this. It's really the only one with light rail, though both Columbus and Cincinnati are interested. Our governor is not a fan of public transportation, however, and that has been a severe blow to progress in both cities.
- Airport
Cleveland's is the busiest/biggest, but I don't think you'd have problems getting places with the other two, either.
- Education
Tough one. I think all 3 have better suburban schools than urban, and given that Cleveland and Cincinnati's urban population is shrinking (and with it revenue), I would give the edge to Columbus. Also, Columbus and Cleveland compete often for the #1 Public Library system in the nation. Both are almost always in the top 5.
- Economy
Columbus has the best overall economy right now (lowest unemployment, etc), and certainly the fastest growing. It was the only city of the 3 to see its GDP continue to grow during the recession. Cleveland's is still the biggest overall, but it has more or less been dropping over the years.
- Good neighborhoods
All 3 offer great neighborhoods, but it depends on what your definition is. If it's suburban, Columbus and Cincinnati both have more and nicer ones. If it's urban, all 3 could compete. Cleveland's urban neighborhoods seem to mostly be losing people. Cleveland is the most dense city overall, but Columbus has the densist neighborhoods in the state.
- Affordability
All 3 are very affordable. I don't think there is a huge difference between them.
- Skyline (*PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT A SKYLINE THREAD, Please limit the discussion of skylines to the same amount as the other topics)
It depends. I think Cincinnati wins this just because, due to limited space, it is the most dense. Cleveland's has always looked dated and older to me, and not laid out well. Columbus' is large, but spread out and not very dense. I expect that to change over time given growth, however.
- New Developments
Columbus. Cleveland has made a lot of effort to bring in new projects downtown, but they have much further to go in revitalization than the other two cities. I recently tried to make a list, similar to the one floating around about Cleveland, of development that has happened around Columbus in the last 10 years. It was easily near $20 billion, and I was not close to remembering it all. Health care in particular are getting big boosts. Two projects alone at OSU and Downtown add up to nearly $2 billion.
- Food (Major category)
All three cities have their positives and negatives with this, but I will always pick Columbus. It is truly a vastly underrated food mecca in the state. There is increasing recognition out there for this.
- Cultural diversity
The stats for the last census show that Cleveland has the most Hispanics and the 3rd highest population of African Americans. Cincinnati is the most white with the 2nd highest number of African Americans and a low Hispanic population. Columbus has the 2nd highest population of Hispanics and the highest number of AA's. It also has the fastest growing population of Asians (also largest for Asians) and Hispanics, one of only 3 cities nationwide to be in both catergories. Columbus also has the 2nd largest population nationally of Somalians and a growing number of Africans/Middle Easterners.
- Population growth/decline
Columbus has, by far, the most and fastest population growth, both in the city proper and the metro. Cincinnati is growing in its metro (less than half as fast as Columbus), but shrinking in its city proper. Cleveland is shrinking in both city proper and metro.
- Parks
The best two are Cleveland and Columbus. Cleveland because it has a National Park nearby and Columbus because it has the largest Metro Park system in the state. It has added Scioto-Audubon this year and that is located just south of Downtown... with walking trails, a climbing wall, nature center, etc. It plans to expand to nearly 150 acres and the city is asking the public for input on what else to add there. There are over 25,000 acres in the system, including Darby Creek, a state and national scenic river and one of the most pristine waterways in the country.
- Professional sports teams
Cleveland and Cincinnati both have MLB and NFL teams, which pull in a lot more weight in popularity than Columbus' MLS and NHL teams. I guess it just depends on what you like. Columbus only entered the pro-sports scene in 2000, so it doesn't have the established history.
^^ I don't know if it's just me, but the three definitely seem to look more common than different.
Also which of them would have a younger population? (Younger people)
And what are some things to do in each of these places?
Columbus is one of the youngest cities in the nation, mostly due to it having so many universities and colleges. It is also very liberal, especially compared to Cincinnati. It has a large gay population that is spread throughout. Cleveland is also liberal, but they seem to be more traditional union Democrat than progressive.
Between the three, Cleveland hands down. 5Lakes summed it up well. Regarding air service, which he/she didn't answer, CLE is the strongest. Cincinnati's airport (which is in Kentucky) is a former hub of Delta and they've dehubbed the city and have been reducing flights like crazy. CLE, though, is currently a hub for United--the world's largest airline--and will likely stay that way as CLE is a MUCH stronger market than Cincinnati ever was (based on business and population). Cleveland is the largest metro area in the state with 4-5 million people--so with that you get a good variety and diversity of everything from people to food to employment. Also, if it means anything to you, CLE is the only one of the three with rail transit service.
The Cleveland metro has nowhere near 4 million, let alone 5. Even if you throw in Akron, it's far from those numbers. The BEA stats that were posted earlier are not metro population stats.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
