Ohio is like Illinois if Chicago was broken up into 3-6 separate cities and spread out across the state. Agree? (Columbus: houses)

[Tex?Il?]

The total population of Ohio and Illinois are not that different. (IL has a little more population at 12.8 million compared to Ohio at 11.7 million).
Ohio being a smaller state in area is actually slightly higher in population density than Illinois.

Both have similar physical geography including Great Lakes shoreline (though Ohio has more, Illinois has shoreline of the larger, deeper lake), border formed by major navigable midwestern rivers (Mississippi and Ohio, Illinois has a little of the Ohio as well), areas of vast flat cornfields, as well as hilly, partially forested upper south and Appalachian plateaus with history of coal mining (though Ohio has a MUCH larger % of the state covered in this last landscape).

Now on to the cities:

Though Chicago is a world class giant compared to Ohio's major cities, when you add up the population of the cities with over 200,000 in both states (Illinois only has one, Chicago at 2,700,000, while Ohio has four cities over 200,000 that when added up, come just shy of 2 million at 1.85 million)

One city can be more than the sum of its parts though, which obviously gave Chicago an advantage throughout its history.

What's even more interesting that at one time, each of four largest Ohio cities were among America's top cities, with superlative qualities that came close, matched or even exceeded a city like Chicago.

Cincinnati was the first city west of the Alleghenies to be big, and was the sixth or seventh largest US city from around the 1820s through the 1870s. Because of this it has an urban core, with that resembles that of east coast cities, with similar rowhouse neighborhoods (Over-the Rhine) at least in a small area than nearly any other city outside the east coast. One can walk from Fountain Square through OTR to the Clifton/University area and not cross a freeway or go through anything that resembles a suburb. OTR has on many occasions been used to stand in and substitute for Harlem/Brooklyn in multiple films. That era also was one of the most important periods for German immigration thus explaining with Cincy has the largest Oktoberfest in the country. Chicago didn't exceed Cincinnati's population until the civil war. One way that Cincinnati is very unlike many of America's top cities is that it get very conservative, very quickly once you get away from the immediate urban core, whether it is traditional German Catholics, or evangelical Appalachians. Today Cincy has a diverse economy, and while not as fast growing in population as Columbus, is certainly performing stronger than . . .


Cleveland never got even close to Chicago, but it remained the sixth or seventh largest city in the country through the 1950s and 60s. (even ranked 5th in the 1920s, and almost go to 1 million in the 40s). Because of this, it has cultural amenities such as art museums and symphony orchestras that are among the top several of these institutions in the country, that are a legacy of when it was a wealthy industrial powerhouse. In addition, the same era of a booming industrial economy made Cleveland a top destination for immigrants looking for a better life, explaining the existence of one of the best Little Italys in the Midwest, and the largest population of various eastern european ethnic groups such as Slovenian and Hungarian americans, with Polish Slovak and Ukrainian populations also being fairly large. Of course the average visitor to Cleveland might not know about any of this, and might only think that all Cleveland has to see and/or do is the rock and roll hall of fame, because they are thinking only of the cities downtown waterfront. The University circle area, home to one of the largest concentrations of cultural institutions, a major prestigious university, one of the nations top hospitals, and nearby walkable, vibrant neighborhoods, including the aforementioned Little Italy. Its located on the far east side of the city, several miles from downtown. This not only makes it go under the radar to the average visitor, it cuts off the west side of Metro Cleveland from these cultural offerings. Though the Cleveland combined statistical area is a lot bigger than that of the other 2 C-cities in the state, and have suburbs and satellite cities (that are part of a bigger democrat voting bloc - sorry, I'm not getting political, its just that voting blue is a proxy for a more urban mindset today) that sprawl further out, its the one that has consistently declined in population, and has a much smaller share of the states fortune 500 companies, whereas in the mid-20th century it was among the top US city for this.


Columbus, on the other hand, is the rising star of the three, with a younger, hipper, more liberal population due to one of the largest public universities in the nation, but also is growing in population and economy (tied with Cincy for Fortune 500 companies) and because of this has the largest current foreign born population of the three. Whereas Cincinnati and Cleveland have an ethnic heritage that is a product of when they were one of the fastest growing cities in the top seven, Columbus, while not being quite the immigrant destination as cities much larger, does have among the biggest population of Sub-Saharan African immigrants, a relative recent immigrant group. A bigger population in sheer numbers than Chicago, I'm pretty sure. It has the second largest Somali population after Minneapolis, and one of the largest Ghanaian populations in the country. Of course, Columbus being a relative newcomer in being a major city has an urban landscape that is more suburban and newer in character, with a downtown that looks like an office park with surface parking lots, and its nightlife and ethnic diversity sprawling miles to the north, which again, might make a brief visitory not as impressed.


An honorable mention goes to Ohios 4th largest city, Toledo. While Toledo doesn't hold much as far as superlatives, it is probably the city I think, that would have been the states largest city that would have grown to the size of Chicago due, if an alternative history, Ohio only had ONE major city. I say this because the geographic similarities in location are nearly uncanny. Toledo and Chicago were both built on a swamp, on the west side of Great Lake (where the snowfall is not as intense) and both were on a pivotal point along a major canal connecting a Great Lake to a great river (The I&M canal in the case of Chicago, the Miami Erie canal in the case of Toledo). Toledo for a time was the 2nd largest rail hub in the country, and Chicago became the size it is due to being the nations largest rail hub.

I will also add, that while both states have lots of great universities, Ohio has numerous liberal university towns under 50,000 that Illinois doesn't including Oberlin, Kent, Yellow Springs, Oxford, etc. Small liberal college towns may not be your cup of tea, but is characteristic of the region of the country (the Northeast) that are the nations powerhouses.


Every now and then, I am reminded of Ohio's untapped potential, diamond in the rough status, and felt compelled to say something.

Thoughts?

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ates_by_decade

[fbpeterdruker]

When you compare Ohio and Illinois, one major difference stands out - their cities. Illinois has Chicago, a huge, well-known city. But Ohio has several interesting cities, each with its own character. Cincinnati has a historic charm, Cleveland is known for its cultural depth, and Columbus is vibrant and youthful. Ohio's cities might not be as famous as Chicago, but they're unique and have a lot to offer.

[5Lakes]

In Illinois there's Chicagoland and everything else. It's also a core Midwest state dominated by flat farmland.

Ohio has distinct regions with different character. It's also bordered by southern and northeastern states, giving it more of a regional "crossroads" vibe.

Ohio is also notably less Hispanic than Illinois and you'll find more working class white people in the urban areas of the three C's compared to Chicago.

[PerryMason614]

This is a tough one because driving along I-74, all I see is farmland for miles around. Ohio isn't as sparsely populated. Indiana is probably closer to being like Ohio than Illinois is.

[bjimmy24]

Yes if Ohio were completely different from what it is, it would be just like something else.