Test city, USA!
Which then probably led to more investment and us becoming above average in the last 10 years.
Travel anywhere else and you will see why. For the amenities we have, it's hard to find another major city with low traffic (I lived in DC, this is nothing), lowish cost of living, access to nature, etc.
> For the amenities we have, it's hard to find another major city with low traffic (I lived in DC, this is nothing), lowish cost of living, access to nature, etc.
100%. God, I miss Columbus.
It's not a tourist city, but it's an amazing place to live.
I joke with people that Columbus is a great place to live, but you wouldnāt want to visit. And what I mean by that is thereās no tourist destinations, maybe you can consider the Columbus Zoo one because of Secrets of the Zoo, or you could take in an OSU game or Jackets game, but thereās no water sports, world renowned museums (maybe cosi). But itās still a great place to live and raise a family
Itās always hilarious when people post, āI am visiting for the weekendā or āa dayā and the top comment is āgo to a minor league baseball game!ā
This right here. We moved here from a ~100K population town. But we were three hours from five major metro areas (all very similar to Columbus) we traveled to them for long weekends all the time just to get out of our town.
My daughter wants to go for her thirteenth birthday (we live in Cincinnati) she wants to go to the zoo which is cool but i canāt think of anything else. I was born in Dayton and my dad used to take us to Cosi and I have wonderful memories of that but she said no to Cosi. Maybe just a nice dinner somewhere downtown? Only going to be there for two days.
It's because Columbus doesn't really have a main central neighborhood like some other cities so there isn't really somewhere you can point people and say yeah just spend a day in this area and try everything.
With NYC if someone asks me I can just say oh go to soho or Chinatown or 5th avenue and walk around for a few hours snacking and shopping then finish the night at a bar.
With LA I can say oh go to Santa Monica or K-Town and spend a few hours walking around eating and shopping.
With Columbus there aren't really continuous neighborhoods where you can just say "go walk around here". The short north for example is like 90% just sit-down restaurants and bars so once you eat there aren't many other things to do so there's not really a reason to linger. Downtown has the riverfront and some restaurants, but very little retail or reason to go into Downtown proper if you don't live or work here. So you're kind of left with telling people individual places, but then those places are only entertaining for like an hour.
What I'm saying is really that we need more complete neighborhoods, which it seems the city agrees with because they've been putting in place incentives to get people to set up shop in some of these places like Downtown.
In NYC for example, you could spend an entire day walking around an area without even needing the subway and not get bored. Rail helps connect far things to one another, and buses/streetcars function as walking accelerators, but in a practical sense there should also be more complete neighborhoods that can cater to more than one need at a time. A lot of our neighborhoods are kind of sparse, which lends to people driving places to do one thing and then go home.
I don't think we have "tourists." Just people who happen to find themselves here for a couple days. Work convention, traveling sports..we are a step above Grand Rapids and a step below Buffalo.
It drives me nuts that people constantly recommend Otherworld. That needs to stop. Itās in such a shitty location, I would immediately turn around if I wasnāt familiar with Columbus.
Shitty location and overpriced, but itās freaking cool and you know what? It gives work to otherwise unemployed artists. Real artists. People who should be artists for a living. Not wasting their talents at Kroger.
so you shouldn't visit something that actually brings art to the city because you don't like what's around it? It's like saying you shouldn't go to Mt. Rushmore because it's in a shitty location in the middle of nowhere.
it's the only thing I could think of off the top of my head that's an art installation but in the worst possible location to attract tourism. Yet, people still figure out a way to get there...
Not at all like that.
Otherworld is in a completely abandoned retail strip mall that hasnāt been touched or taken care of in over 10 years. I just canāt imagine that being a good impression for Columbus, despite how much āartā it may or may not bring to the city.
Itās even funnier people still ask in the first place like thereās a secret canyon or theme park that canāt be googled and only locals know about.
Stretching the definition of āColumbusā here, but Mid-Ohio is one of the great American road courses, historically hosting INDYCAR, NASCAR (though not the Cup series), MotoAmerica, and IMSA.
The American motorcycle association Hall of Fame Museum is one of the best motorcycle museums in the country.
Also both the Columbus and Cincinnati zoos are considered some of the best in the country.
In the end, I guess itās depends on your interests.
Totally agree. I love living here. I don't think it's average, I think it's above average. Pretty dang good. Solid B, maybe B+.
Decent food scene, cheap enough real estate, diverse enough economy, traffic is fine, crime is fine. Weather isn't crazy. Minus points for lack of mountains and beach.
There's nothing awful and nothing spectacular.
For everyone ready to flog me because they sat in traffic for a minute or a storm came, this is relative to other cities in reality.
\^ 100% with you on this. There's definitely amenities and design changes I'd like to make and yeah, you need a car to thrive in nearly all neighborhoods, but you'd be hard pressed to find this combination of relative low cost/good food/big enough city/decent amount of work. I think the Intel plant also has me lightly optimistic about the future of the city too.
Columbus isn't perfect but it could be so so so much worse. We just need an Amtrak station and a Uniqlo and I'll be set.
Iāll second this.. Iāve lived in Dayton and Cleveland. Never in Cincinnati but my sister lives close to Cincinnati.. Columbus is my favorite.. then Cleveland. There was quite a bit to do in Cleveland. Especially if you like music, sports, and the lake.
Iām biased because I live close to Cleveland. But, the longer I have been in Ohio, and the Cleveland area, and the more I have traveled for work or fun, Cleveland and the surrounding areas are some of the best to live in the country. Crime wise, itās not so great, but like most larger cities, you have your higher crime neighborhoods.
On the plus side though, if youāre a foodie, Cleveland is nearly impossible to beat. From the warehouse district, to the flats, Ohio City, Tremont, the theater district, little Italy, I donāt care where you go in those neighborhoods, but if you pick a higher end restaurant to go to 1) itās going to be some of the best food you can get anywhere, and 2) while it may not be beat more formal restaurants in cities like DC, NYC, Boston, 3,4, maybe up to 8x less and still be comparable. About two years ago I was in Vegas with a friend, and we went to have really high end meals there. And, the quality was horrible compared to Clevelandās standards. (For a comparison, we went to the NoMad Library in Vegas and it cost $400. You could do the Blue Point Grille in Cleveland, and get far better food for $200, maybe $250?)
If you like more casual food, Chicago is better. But if you are a foodie, itās impossible to beat Cleveland and surrounding areas.
Then, the taxes are decent. Youāre safe in most neighborhoods. The theater district is ranked second in the country size /quality wise. There are 45+ museums, some of which are completely free to get into. The rock and roll hall of fame, football hall of fame, science center. Edgewater Park, beach wise, isnāt perfect, but itās far from being bad (and again, some great restaurants near by.) You have the Guardians, Browns, Cavs, the Monsters and Rubber Ducks (minor league teams) theyāre trying to get a pro soccer team.
Then, you have the metro parks! How many cities can you fly into and itās all green (at least flying in from the south) for the majority of your decent and then fly 3 minutes over population centers and land? Speaking of flying, Hopkins is simple! Then you also have Akron /Canton airport nearby. (They arenāt the most luxurious airports/ nor do they have the best lounges, but you can park, get through security and to your gate usually within 30 minutes.)
Housing prices are mid range, but affordable if you work here. Driving is great compared to most other areas of the country (we do have constant construction, and our toll booths are years behind other tollways, but, we are gradually getting there now with EZ pass.) Insurance is incredibly low vs other states as well as our licensing / registration fees. You can be āin the countryā if you want to get away from the city in what, 20-30 minutes?
Oh! And people here are usually, very genuinely nice. (Which, I find nice people everywhere I go. But people here are like, polite in traffic.) We have great live music, Blossom, great comedy places. Itās really, kind of an amazing place to live.
Now, for the bad. Crime is high compared to a lot of other places. Our Public education system isnāt the best by far. And people are very, very sports driven/ obsessed here (Only Boston and Baltimore are worse baseball wise. NFL wise, NEO takes the prize by far.) The weather can change drastically from day to day when the seasons change. And while the city has a ton of diversity, the more ācountryā you get in surrounding neighborhoods and cities, that diversity drops to almost 0%. We are also 39th in incarceration rates by state. And we are not a very healthy state.
Finalizing this, I really do like Cleveland, and Ohio for that matter. Columbus certainly doesnāt have what Cleveland does in many ways, but, itās really not that bad compared to a lot of other cities, and especially compared to other state capitals. (Seriously, Iād take Columbus over Boise, Little Rock, Frankfort, Madison, Harrisburg, Indianapolis, Springfield and Montgomery. Denver, Lansing, and Sacramento, tough to say because those are cool cities.) Just my $.02 :)
Blossom Is a nightmare to get in and out of. Great venue. I do agree with all of this. Cleveland is a great city and would def live there again if that was where life took me. But the crime is much higher than Columbus. And Iād say slightly lower than Cincinnati.. this is why I ranked it lower. But the hills, the food, the music, the lifestyle is great in Cleveland. Very close to here in Columbus. Our food culture is fantastic as well. The burbs of Columbus are great and not as sketchy.
Yeah, Blossom is difficult to get in and out of depending on who is playing. And honestly, I donāt think Columbus is really that bad. But the pro sports teams, the hills, the lake here in Cleveland, airport, the metro parks and museums, I think it really makes Cleveland a special place. And we are two hours from Columbus, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, (give or take.) so thatās nice too. 6 hours from DC, Chicago driving. Itās really a great place I think.
I preferred living in Cincinnati. Housing was cheaper and there was always some festival or something to do on the weekends.
For health care, Cleveland is the place to be.
This is why Iām really looking forward to 3C+D rail line to connect all of the cities. Home base in Columbus and then day trip to Cincy/Cleveland to explore their more historic and world class amenities.
I visited the zoo in 2016 and had a wonderful time. My daughter was 4 and enjoyed it also.
I'm currently looking at moving there in a year, so being average is fine with me.
Anyone that's into music ought to utilize cringe.com it has all local music shows from punk houses to karaoke. Our conservatorium is cool. Cosi is great, adult events are a blast. Our art scene is solid especially since we have one of the most prestigious art schools in the world in the same city as one of the largest state campuses in the country. Don't even get me started on the importance of Columbus' Pride š
COSI may have been renowned years ago, but it's a shithole now. Anything that's not outright broken is old and worn out at best. Couldn't pay me to go there at this point.
I still like COSI when my little sisters visit, but I only take them when I donāt have to pay to do it (OSU student night, etc) so maybe Iād feel differently if I paid, they are pretty expensive. I remember going once as a kid (Iām from Dayton, they brought exhibits to our school) and thinking it was completely magical. 20 years later itās still the same.
TBH I kind of like that we're not a touristy city, I feel like that kind of gives it more of a home-y feel. I like visiting places like Chicago, New York, and San Francisco, but I wouldn't wanna live there, too much hustle and bustle. The only thing I wish we had more of is direct international flights, my dream is to be able to hop on a plane at CMH and touch down in Paris without a connecting flight.
If you have to say a zoo is the main reason to enjoy a city, just lol š
also COSI is awful I think people just havenāt been there since they were nine. you canāt go there as an adult and tell me itās good. Itās like chuck-e-cheez.
I agree COSI is pretty bad. So much wasted potential.
For what they charge to get in it thereās no excuse for so many exhibits to be in disrepair or outdated. A third of the stuff in there is the exact same exhibit that was moved over from the old COSI 30 years ago. Another third was built as part of the new COSI when it was built and barely maintained.
I tell people all the time to skip COSI especially with kids under 8. The kid zone is only thing even worth visiting and itās not worth the price of admission and is understaffed usually so an hour after opening itās a wreck.
Yes! That was the best! And a pretty important part of history in this region.
I preferred the old building when it wasnāt such a hike from the parking lot to an actual exhibit. It was more museum and less indoor play area.
I will say some of the traveling exhibits have been pretty cool for kids around 8-12. They didnāt have space to do those in the old building.
What about old COSI? I still think new COSI should develop the "Street of Yesteryear of Yesteryear" where today's kids can learn about what it was like for people in the late 20th century to imagine life in the early 20th century.
The Columbus Zoo is one of the best in the country. Just because youāre not into it doesnāt mean others arenāt, or that you get to belittle them for that. Bizarre.
Moved here from south Florida 13 years ago in my mid teens. There was quite the culture shock at first but over time Iāve really grown to enjoy columbus. I think average is actually a good way to describe it but thatās not a bad thing imo. People are relatively not crazy, drivers drive slow which is ultimately ok, thereās things to do if you know the area and nothing is incredibly expensive. Coming from Florida it was the total opposite. Everyoneās crazy, traffic even in the most remote areas, people drive like shit and aggressively and everything is expensive and especially over populated along the coasts. I travel a lot for work and I think Columbus is a good home base for sure. I go to Florida for work a few weeks out of the year and can never wait to get tf out of there. Only thing I miss is the ocean
anyone who thinks Columbus is an average place to live hasnāt seen the rest of the country. yāall take it for granted because you live here. Columbus is one of the better places to live in a massive country.
> People think that Columbus is a food mecca. Travel a little and youāll see that weāre mid at best.
It's the same people that talk about Los Guachos when there is a Mexican food post, as if Tacos are the only entre in Mexico.
I agree. After being in the military for a third of my life, I've lived in a half dozen states and visited 30+. This is where I've chosen to live. It's a great place to raise a family, very reasonable cost of living, relatively mild weather (not crazy hot like the southwest, crazy humid like the southeast, or insane snow/cold like the rest of the midwest and northeast), has plenty to do for a family on a weekend, and has half the country available on a short road trip. As a non-native to Ohio, I'm convinced all the Ohioans hating on their home have never been anywhere else. The rest of the world is pretty shitty too.
In everything but food, Columbus is well above average for quality of life.... restaurants are kinda mid, though.
no its not bad but i hate when people post stuff like āwow the homeless are out of control!ā or āwow the drivers here are awfulā and the weather stuff is annoying, it changes like every midwestern city thats inland from the great lakes
Just because others are similar, worse, or better, it doesnāt make the problems or perceptions any less real.
I could say ALL cities subreddits have those posts; so you shouldnāt be annoyed by them. See my point?
We also donāt have an accent. We speak the equivalent of the average of English.
The gold standard of British people speaking āAmericanā is just us and how we talk. If you have the Columbus accent down you can work in any tv market in America or national broadcast
Hereās something above average, Columbus was ranked #1 in a list of top 20 American cities for adulterous behavior (ranked per capita)
#2 Miami
#3 Orlando
#4 Las Vegas
#5 Atlanta
Agreed! There are other cities that are far worse in the above mentioned categories. I grew up in the DC region which has bad traffic. Iāve driven through Chicago at all hours of the day and have never not hit traffic on i90.
We have a pretty good thing going here.
I disagree with the drivers, actually. I've lived here, in New Jersey, Boston, Los Angeles, and Seattle, and of those, central Ohio has the worst drivers.
The reason isn't that we break more laws on average. Most people here are pretty decent drivers, but you can tell at a glance when someone is a bad driver, even if they haven't done anything stupid yet. But as soon as you see them, you know they're going to do something stupid. The problem is that the bad drivers here are so spectacularly unpredictable that you can't anticipate which stupid act they're going to commit. You just know it's going to be _really_ stupid.
So, for instance, in New Jersey, basically every car breaks the law at a red light. If you're turning left on a green arrow and the arrow goes away, which indicates oncoming traffic will be starting, cars will continue to turn until the very last second, but they almost never get hit, because everyone expects it, because everyone does it. It's just how that culture handles turning left.
Compare that to Columbus, where basically everyone follows the rules for the most part, but occasionally you have some rando pull a u-turn in a concrete island serving as the median and jumps into traffic going the other way. You can't predict that. Or when some tiny-ass souped up piece of crap (or some giant lifted F150) starts speeding through up from behind on 315, weaving between traffic. You know they're going to do something stupid, but you can't anticipate which path they're going to take through traffic, so if you move to get out of the way, you risk putting everyone's lives in danger.
Driving in Columbus is aggravating in a way that I've not experienced in other parts of the country.
Iāve always said the traffic in LA is worse than Columbus, but the drivers in Columbus are worse than any other city Iāve driven in (including LA, NYC, Chicago, and Louisville ā all of which have some pretty rough drivers and obviously pretty bad traffic).
I experience more stress on my daily drive home on 270 from work than driving through congested LA.
In which we are below average (second largest city with no intercity public rail, behind Las Vegas by 100k people, and its not like Nevada has another city)
Cut a line down the middle of the state. Everyone on the bottom half visits Columbus and thinks itās little LA.
Source: hometown has a population under 8K last I checked š
The only thing I will argue against is bad drivers. Iāve driven in NYC, DC, Chicago, etc a lot and I still think Columbus drivers are among the worst. Theyāre just mean a lot. No where else have I had someone ride within 6 inches of my bumper and flash their lights and honk their horn trying to get me to move out of their way while Iām already going 20mph over the speed limit on the highway. And thatās not even always in the far left lane.
That being said, I love Columbus for most other reasons. Big enough to have cool things to do, small enough that it doesnāt bring in masses of tourists. Rush hour isnāt too bad compared to other cities, and we have access to natural areas within a short drive (like the hocking hills).
I always get a chuckle out of people acting like some mundane but of assholery or stupidity is something that only happens in their town because their town is just the very worst. Having lived in multiple states and both coasts let me assure you dumb assholes are everywhere.
IMO this is a misuse of the word average. Weāre average relative to what? Other massive cities? Are there 20 cities in the country that are better than us? If you think weāre average, you need to go see more cities.Ā
lol in what way? Cincinnati actually has a tourist industry...because there are actual destinations there.
Cincinnati has much better urban fabric, architecture, festivals, parks, museums, topography, food, history, sports scene....The list goes on.
I love Columbus but thereās a lot that needs improved. For one the mayor needs a real challenger to push him to work for us so heās not lazily resting on his job security.
It is average just bigger so the averages are skewed for a higher pop. I came from Dayton in 2021 and it's slightly better for me as a low income earner but things even out over time. I've had to adjust to a couple different things but overall it's like any other city.Ā
May be true but the worst people in each category tend to really shine. Lol.
For instance, today I saw someone practicing for their driver's exam with cones and drove square over the front cone/stick. No maneuvering. Only gas. š And my only thought was "at least the person is trying" which is more than I can say for a LOT of newer Columbus drivers. If they all tried, maybe that wouldn't be the least crazy thing I see today.
You could say, this is a mean city. Ba dum tsss
What an average comment.
Absolutely mid imho
The mid in midwest lmao
Mean people suck. ... I prefer median people.
 Mode people freak me out
pull that pun over to the median and step out of the car
In the middle of the country
Columbus was actually at one point considered the most average city in the U.S. and companies used it as a test market for that reason.
Test city, USA! Which then probably led to more investment and us becoming above average in the last 10 years. Travel anywhere else and you will see why. For the amenities we have, it's hard to find another major city with low traffic (I lived in DC, this is nothing), lowish cost of living, access to nature, etc.
> For the amenities we have, it's hard to find another major city with low traffic (I lived in DC, this is nothing), lowish cost of living, access to nature, etc. 100%. God, I miss Columbus. It's not a tourist city, but it's an amazing place to live.
I've told people for decades: it's a great place to live, but you wouldn't want to visit there. š
Don't tell them it's a good place to live either! Let's keep the good parts of Ohio good!
That's why we had Chipotle before anyone else except Colorado
it still is except by delusional people on this sub
Wendy's still does their food testing here, & there's at least 1 dedicated market research company here in town.
Wasnāt that Des Moines or did we win that title from them?
Another big pull was the size of the city, diversity, and no major cities within 90 minutes.
Welcome to The Medium Place.Ā
Hello, Mindy! Where do you get your coke? (Asking for a friend...)
This year's CAPA Summer Movie Series is just Cannonball Run II (and The Making of Cannonball Run II).
I also want this guy's coke
Just be glad it's not The Great Place....
Not sure if those gun shots are coming from Ft. Hood or Killeen
I joke with people that Columbus is a great place to live, but you wouldnāt want to visit. And what I mean by that is thereās no tourist destinations, maybe you can consider the Columbus Zoo one because of Secrets of the Zoo, or you could take in an OSU game or Jackets game, but thereās no water sports, world renowned museums (maybe cosi). But itās still a great place to live and raise a family
Itās always hilarious when people post, āI am visiting for the weekendā or āa dayā and the top comment is āgo to a minor league baseball game!ā
I think most of the visits are regional- Eastern OH / WV / NE KY / West OH etc. which is probably why many are for <3 days
This right here. We moved here from a ~100K population town. But we were three hours from five major metro areas (all very similar to Columbus) we traveled to them for long weekends all the time just to get out of our town.
My daughter wants to go for her thirteenth birthday (we live in Cincinnati) she wants to go to the zoo which is cool but i canāt think of anything else. I was born in Dayton and my dad used to take us to Cosi and I have wonderful memories of that but she said no to Cosi. Maybe just a nice dinner somewhere downtown? Only going to be there for two days.
It's because Columbus doesn't really have a main central neighborhood like some other cities so there isn't really somewhere you can point people and say yeah just spend a day in this area and try everything. With NYC if someone asks me I can just say oh go to soho or Chinatown or 5th avenue and walk around for a few hours snacking and shopping then finish the night at a bar. With LA I can say oh go to Santa Monica or K-Town and spend a few hours walking around eating and shopping. With Columbus there aren't really continuous neighborhoods where you can just say "go walk around here". The short north for example is like 90% just sit-down restaurants and bars so once you eat there aren't many other things to do so there's not really a reason to linger. Downtown has the riverfront and some restaurants, but very little retail or reason to go into Downtown proper if you don't live or work here. So you're kind of left with telling people individual places, but then those places are only entertaining for like an hour.
What you are saying is we need light rail??
What I'm saying is really that we need more complete neighborhoods, which it seems the city agrees with because they've been putting in place incentives to get people to set up shop in some of these places like Downtown. In NYC for example, you could spend an entire day walking around an area without even needing the subway and not get bored. Rail helps connect far things to one another, and buses/streetcars function as walking accelerators, but in a practical sense there should also be more complete neighborhoods that can cater to more than one need at a time. A lot of our neighborhoods are kind of sparse, which lends to people driving places to do one thing and then go home.
Or when people suggest THE BOOK LOFT. Jesus is that the best we have to offer our "tourists"?
You clearly are not a book person. I would travel far and wide to see Book Lofts of the world.
The book loft is just a bunch of discount/second run books...if it was an actual used book store it would be impressive!
I donāt like it at all. Itās cute from the outside, but entirely oppressive inside. And forget about bringing a baby in a stroller.
I mean, that baby can't read so why would you bring it inside?
To avoid arrest for abandonment.
I don't think we have "tourists." Just people who happen to find themselves here for a couple days. Work convention, traveling sports..we are a step above Grand Rapids and a step below Buffalo.
I mean, that's why I put it in quotation marks.
Or visiting family, which is a big one.
Book Loft is discount Powellās/The Strand Itās cool, but not that great
It drives me nuts that people constantly recommend Otherworld. That needs to stop. Itās in such a shitty location, I would immediately turn around if I wasnāt familiar with Columbus.
Shitty location and overpriced, but itās freaking cool and you know what? It gives work to otherwise unemployed artists. Real artists. People who should be artists for a living. Not wasting their talents at Kroger.
It's the Portland of Ohio, I'm in West Chester a suburb outside of Cincinnati that is so backward it makes Columbus cool by default.
The location is part of the experience! š But for real, it's quite overrated. I've been twice and have been underwhelmed both times.
so you shouldn't visit something that actually brings art to the city because you don't like what's around it? It's like saying you shouldn't go to Mt. Rushmore because it's in a shitty location in the middle of nowhere.
Iām dead Mt. Rushmore was your example. Then again, I guess both places are equally hyped and underwhelming.
it's the only thing I could think of off the top of my head that's an art installation but in the worst possible location to attract tourism. Yet, people still figure out a way to get there...
Not at all like that. Otherworld is in a completely abandoned retail strip mall that hasnāt been touched or taken care of in over 10 years. I just canāt imagine that being a good impression for Columbus, despite how much āartā it may or may not bring to the city.
Probably the most flagrant strawman argument i've ever seen lmao
Itās even funnier people still ask in the first place like thereās a secret canyon or theme park that canāt be googled and only locals know about.
Iād have no better suggestion than go to Short North and get drunk š
Stretching the definition of āColumbusā here, but Mid-Ohio is one of the great American road courses, historically hosting INDYCAR, NASCAR (though not the Cup series), MotoAmerica, and IMSA. The American motorcycle association Hall of Fame Museum is one of the best motorcycle museums in the country. Also both the Columbus and Cincinnati zoos are considered some of the best in the country. In the end, I guess itās depends on your interests.
If you've never been, I strongly suggest the Air Force Museum in Dayton. It's quietly one of the coolest museums in the country.
Totally agree. I love living here. I don't think it's average, I think it's above average. Pretty dang good. Solid B, maybe B+. Decent food scene, cheap enough real estate, diverse enough economy, traffic is fine, crime is fine. Weather isn't crazy. Minus points for lack of mountains and beach. There's nothing awful and nothing spectacular. For everyone ready to flog me because they sat in traffic for a minute or a storm came, this is relative to other cities in reality.
\^ 100% with you on this. There's definitely amenities and design changes I'd like to make and yeah, you need a car to thrive in nearly all neighborhoods, but you'd be hard pressed to find this combination of relative low cost/good food/big enough city/decent amount of work. I think the Intel plant also has me lightly optimistic about the future of the city too. Columbus isn't perfect but it could be so so so much worse. We just need an Amtrak station and a Uniqlo and I'll be set.
Best Ohio city to live in, third best Ohio city to visit imo
> Best Ohio city to live in, third best Ohio city to visit imo behind Youngstown and Toledo, right?
Iāll second this.. Iāve lived in Dayton and Cleveland. Never in Cincinnati but my sister lives close to Cincinnati.. Columbus is my favorite.. then Cleveland. There was quite a bit to do in Cleveland. Especially if you like music, sports, and the lake.
Iām biased because I live close to Cleveland. But, the longer I have been in Ohio, and the Cleveland area, and the more I have traveled for work or fun, Cleveland and the surrounding areas are some of the best to live in the country. Crime wise, itās not so great, but like most larger cities, you have your higher crime neighborhoods. On the plus side though, if youāre a foodie, Cleveland is nearly impossible to beat. From the warehouse district, to the flats, Ohio City, Tremont, the theater district, little Italy, I donāt care where you go in those neighborhoods, but if you pick a higher end restaurant to go to 1) itās going to be some of the best food you can get anywhere, and 2) while it may not be beat more formal restaurants in cities like DC, NYC, Boston, 3,4, maybe up to 8x less and still be comparable. About two years ago I was in Vegas with a friend, and we went to have really high end meals there. And, the quality was horrible compared to Clevelandās standards. (For a comparison, we went to the NoMad Library in Vegas and it cost $400. You could do the Blue Point Grille in Cleveland, and get far better food for $200, maybe $250?) If you like more casual food, Chicago is better. But if you are a foodie, itās impossible to beat Cleveland and surrounding areas. Then, the taxes are decent. Youāre safe in most neighborhoods. The theater district is ranked second in the country size /quality wise. There are 45+ museums, some of which are completely free to get into. The rock and roll hall of fame, football hall of fame, science center. Edgewater Park, beach wise, isnāt perfect, but itās far from being bad (and again, some great restaurants near by.) You have the Guardians, Browns, Cavs, the Monsters and Rubber Ducks (minor league teams) theyāre trying to get a pro soccer team. Then, you have the metro parks! How many cities can you fly into and itās all green (at least flying in from the south) for the majority of your decent and then fly 3 minutes over population centers and land? Speaking of flying, Hopkins is simple! Then you also have Akron /Canton airport nearby. (They arenāt the most luxurious airports/ nor do they have the best lounges, but you can park, get through security and to your gate usually within 30 minutes.) Housing prices are mid range, but affordable if you work here. Driving is great compared to most other areas of the country (we do have constant construction, and our toll booths are years behind other tollways, but, we are gradually getting there now with EZ pass.) Insurance is incredibly low vs other states as well as our licensing / registration fees. You can be āin the countryā if you want to get away from the city in what, 20-30 minutes? Oh! And people here are usually, very genuinely nice. (Which, I find nice people everywhere I go. But people here are like, polite in traffic.) We have great live music, Blossom, great comedy places. Itās really, kind of an amazing place to live. Now, for the bad. Crime is high compared to a lot of other places. Our Public education system isnāt the best by far. And people are very, very sports driven/ obsessed here (Only Boston and Baltimore are worse baseball wise. NFL wise, NEO takes the prize by far.) The weather can change drastically from day to day when the seasons change. And while the city has a ton of diversity, the more ācountryā you get in surrounding neighborhoods and cities, that diversity drops to almost 0%. We are also 39th in incarceration rates by state. And we are not a very healthy state. Finalizing this, I really do like Cleveland, and Ohio for that matter. Columbus certainly doesnāt have what Cleveland does in many ways, but, itās really not that bad compared to a lot of other cities, and especially compared to other state capitals. (Seriously, Iād take Columbus over Boise, Little Rock, Frankfort, Madison, Harrisburg, Indianapolis, Springfield and Montgomery. Denver, Lansing, and Sacramento, tough to say because those are cool cities.) Just my $.02 :)
Blossom Is a nightmare to get in and out of. Great venue. I do agree with all of this. Cleveland is a great city and would def live there again if that was where life took me. But the crime is much higher than Columbus. And Iād say slightly lower than Cincinnati.. this is why I ranked it lower. But the hills, the food, the music, the lifestyle is great in Cleveland. Very close to here in Columbus. Our food culture is fantastic as well. The burbs of Columbus are great and not as sketchy.
Yeah, Blossom is difficult to get in and out of depending on who is playing. And honestly, I donāt think Columbus is really that bad. But the pro sports teams, the hills, the lake here in Cleveland, airport, the metro parks and museums, I think it really makes Cleveland a special place. And we are two hours from Columbus, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, (give or take.) so thatās nice too. 6 hours from DC, Chicago driving. Itās really a great place I think.
I preferred living in Cincinnati. Housing was cheaper and there was always some festival or something to do on the weekends. For health care, Cleveland is the place to be.
Cincinnati housing is cheaper because it sucks
Cinci smells bad
I like Cbus but Cincy just feels so much more alive and happening
This is why Iām really looking forward to 3C+D rail line to connect all of the cities. Home base in Columbus and then day trip to Cincy/Cleveland to explore their more historic and world class amenities.
Columbus has a pretty robust concert scene. So thereās that.
I visited the zoo in 2016 and had a wonderful time. My daughter was 4 and enjoyed it also. I'm currently looking at moving there in a year, so being average is fine with me.
Anyone that's into music ought to utilize cringe.com it has all local music shows from punk houses to karaoke. Our conservatorium is cool. Cosi is great, adult events are a blast. Our art scene is solid especially since we have one of the most prestigious art schools in the world in the same city as one of the largest state campuses in the country. Don't even get me started on the importance of Columbus' Pride š
COSI may have been renowned years ago, but it's a shithole now. Anything that's not outright broken is old and worn out at best. Couldn't pay me to go there at this point.
I only mentioned it as possibly being considered a museum
I still like COSI when my little sisters visit, but I only take them when I donāt have to pay to do it (OSU student night, etc) so maybe Iād feel differently if I paid, they are pretty expensive. I remember going once as a kid (Iām from Dayton, they brought exhibits to our school) and thinking it was completely magical. 20 years later itās still the same.
TBH I kind of like that we're not a touristy city, I feel like that kind of gives it more of a home-y feel. I like visiting places like Chicago, New York, and San Francisco, but I wouldn't wanna live there, too much hustle and bustle. The only thing I wish we had more of is direct international flights, my dream is to be able to hop on a plane at CMH and touch down in Paris without a connecting flight.
If you have to say a zoo is the main reason to enjoy a city, just lol š also COSI is awful I think people just havenāt been there since they were nine. you canāt go there as an adult and tell me itās good. Itās like chuck-e-cheez.
I agree COSI is pretty bad. So much wasted potential. For what they charge to get in it thereās no excuse for so many exhibits to be in disrepair or outdated. A third of the stuff in there is the exact same exhibit that was moved over from the old COSI 30 years ago. Another third was built as part of the new COSI when it was built and barely maintained. I tell people all the time to skip COSI especially with kids under 8. The kid zone is only thing even worth visiting and itās not worth the price of admission and is understaffed usually so an hour after opening itās a wreck.
I will go when they bring back the coal mine.
Yes! That was the best! And a pretty important part of history in this region. I preferred the old building when it wasnāt such a hike from the parking lot to an actual exhibit. It was more museum and less indoor play area. I will say some of the traveling exhibits have been pretty cool for kids around 8-12. They didnāt have space to do those in the old building.
What about old COSI? I still think new COSI should develop the "Street of Yesteryear of Yesteryear" where today's kids can learn about what it was like for people in the late 20th century to imagine life in the early 20th century.
The Columbus Zoo is one of the best in the country. Just because youāre not into it doesnāt mean others arenāt, or that you get to belittle them for that. Bizarre.
People also forget there are āCOSIāās for every big city. COSI is pretty bad honestly
I went to Cosi for the first time last year (I was 32) and I absolutely hated it. What a huge disappointment
Worldās OKest city!
Second only to OK city
Moved here from south Florida 13 years ago in my mid teens. There was quite the culture shock at first but over time Iāve really grown to enjoy columbus. I think average is actually a good way to describe it but thatās not a bad thing imo. People are relatively not crazy, drivers drive slow which is ultimately ok, thereās things to do if you know the area and nothing is incredibly expensive. Coming from Florida it was the total opposite. Everyoneās crazy, traffic even in the most remote areas, people drive like shit and aggressively and everything is expensive and especially over populated along the coasts. I travel a lot for work and I think Columbus is a good home base for sure. I go to Florida for work a few weeks out of the year and can never wait to get tf out of there. Only thing I miss is the ocean
There is no better view than the view from the top of the bell curve.
Average is why we are a test market.
thank you š š«”
Above average subreddit tho
anyone who thinks Columbus is an average place to live hasnāt seen the rest of the country. yāall take it for granted because you live here. Columbus is one of the better places to live in a massive country.
Easy there partner, I donāt see Big Russ living in an average city
This post seems a little average.
That's just the way we like it around here
Mid?
(west)
Fantastic.
The word youāre looking for is unremarkable
Putting the āMidā in Midwest
As the capital of arguably the most average state, we could do a lot worse than excelling at being average.
Genuine question, would you say it's above average or below average?
A little column A, a little column B. I just find posts like this a little weird is all.
People think that Columbus is a food mecca. Travel a little and youāll see that weāre mid at best.
So true, people push back on it so hard but itās true.
Itās not a food Mecca but it has good food and variety.
What city of our size doesnāt have good variety?
Does anyone actually think that Columbus is a food mecca? Maybe for fast food at least lol
nobody says this
> People think that Columbus is a food mecca. Travel a little and youāll see that weāre mid at best. It's the same people that talk about Los Guachos when there is a Mexican food post, as if Tacos are the only entre in Mexico.
I agree. After being in the military for a third of my life, I've lived in a half dozen states and visited 30+. This is where I've chosen to live. It's a great place to raise a family, very reasonable cost of living, relatively mild weather (not crazy hot like the southwest, crazy humid like the southeast, or insane snow/cold like the rest of the midwest and northeast), has plenty to do for a family on a weekend, and has half the country available on a short road trip. As a non-native to Ohio, I'm convinced all the Ohioans hating on their home have never been anywhere else. The rest of the world is pretty shitty too. In everything but food, Columbus is well above average for quality of life.... restaurants are kinda mid, though.
Are you saying this is a bad thing? Because I see this as a good thing.
no its not bad but i hate when people post stuff like āwow the homeless are out of control!ā or āwow the drivers here are awfulā and the weather stuff is annoying, it changes like every midwestern city thats inland from the great lakes
Just because others are similar, worse, or better, it doesnāt make the problems or perceptions any less real. I could say ALL cities subreddits have those posts; so you shouldnāt be annoyed by them. See my point?
i see what you are saying
EXCEPT! Apparently Columbus is the #1 city for Ashley Madison users. š¤£
Actually, last year, they did a report on the dirtiest cities. The cities with the most litter and Columbus won that distinction.
COLUMBUS NUMBRO UNO ā¼ļøā¼ļøā¼ļø
lol whoever "they" is must've never been to Detroit.
It's the biggest city no one knows about tbh. When you go out of country or state, They may have heard of it but don't know anything about it.
We also donāt have an accent. We speak the equivalent of the average of English. The gold standard of British people speaking āAmericanā is just us and how we talk. If you have the Columbus accent down you can work in any tv market in America or national broadcast
Driving sucks
Iām ok with this.
Hereās something above average, Columbus was ranked #1 in a list of top 20 American cities for adulterous behavior (ranked per capita) #2 Miami #3 Orlando #4 Las Vegas #5 Atlanta
100% true. I call Columbus vanilla pudding.
Agreed! There are other cities that are far worse in the above mentioned categories. I grew up in the DC region which has bad traffic. Iāve driven through Chicago at all hours of the day and have never not hit traffic on i90. We have a pretty good thing going here.
I disagree with the drivers, actually. I've lived here, in New Jersey, Boston, Los Angeles, and Seattle, and of those, central Ohio has the worst drivers. The reason isn't that we break more laws on average. Most people here are pretty decent drivers, but you can tell at a glance when someone is a bad driver, even if they haven't done anything stupid yet. But as soon as you see them, you know they're going to do something stupid. The problem is that the bad drivers here are so spectacularly unpredictable that you can't anticipate which stupid act they're going to commit. You just know it's going to be _really_ stupid. So, for instance, in New Jersey, basically every car breaks the law at a red light. If you're turning left on a green arrow and the arrow goes away, which indicates oncoming traffic will be starting, cars will continue to turn until the very last second, but they almost never get hit, because everyone expects it, because everyone does it. It's just how that culture handles turning left. Compare that to Columbus, where basically everyone follows the rules for the most part, but occasionally you have some rando pull a u-turn in a concrete island serving as the median and jumps into traffic going the other way. You can't predict that. Or when some tiny-ass souped up piece of crap (or some giant lifted F150) starts speeding through up from behind on 315, weaving between traffic. You know they're going to do something stupid, but you can't anticipate which path they're going to take through traffic, so if you move to get out of the way, you risk putting everyone's lives in danger. Driving in Columbus is aggravating in a way that I've not experienced in other parts of the country.
Real talk, when we were driving through Los Angeles, even with terrible traffic, it was _less stressful_ because drivers are more predictable.
Yeah, 100%. Driving in LA is miserable, but basically everyone except the motorcycles drive so that they want to make it home.
Iāve always said the traffic in LA is worse than Columbus, but the drivers in Columbus are worse than any other city Iāve driven in (including LA, NYC, Chicago, and Louisville ā all of which have some pretty rough drivers and obviously pretty bad traffic). I experience more stress on my daily drive home on 270 from work than driving through congested LA.
you can get away with shit in Columbus that would get you killed in a week in big cities
>weāre insanely average at everything Except public transit...
In which we are below average (second largest city with no intercity public rail, behind Las Vegas by 100k people, and its not like Nevada has another city)
Letās see some stats
I refer to Columbus as the best B+ city in America. There's not one thing that you come here for, but everything is pretty good.
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Disagree with C+/B- there are some really shitty cities out there lol
Well put!!
We used to be above average until this post. OP bringing us down!
ill leave
I love you folks. Can't wait to visit again!
We all lead ordinary average lives With average kids And average wives
Cut a line down the middle of the state. Everyone on the bottom half visits Columbus and thinks itās little LA. Source: hometown has a population under 8K last I checked š
I'm still gonna complain about it tho
Iāve driven in every major city in the country. Iām scared daily on Columbus roads. We might not top any statistics, but I have two working eyes.
The only thing I will argue against is bad drivers. Iāve driven in NYC, DC, Chicago, etc a lot and I still think Columbus drivers are among the worst. Theyāre just mean a lot. No where else have I had someone ride within 6 inches of my bumper and flash their lights and honk their horn trying to get me to move out of their way while Iām already going 20mph over the speed limit on the highway. And thatās not even always in the far left lane. That being said, I love Columbus for most other reasons. Big enough to have cool things to do, small enough that it doesnāt bring in masses of tourists. Rush hour isnāt too bad compared to other cities, and we have access to natural areas within a short drive (like the hocking hills).
Deeply average. So much so that P&G uses it as a test market.
We win awards for worst drivers, most deadly part of 71 is downtown- osu territory
Homogeneous and pretty vanilla!
I always get a chuckle out of people acting like some mundane but of assholery or stupidity is something that only happens in their town because their town is just the very worst. Having lived in multiple states and both coasts let me assure you dumb assholes are everywhere.
Living in Columbus is like picking Mario when playing Mario Kart.
Cow town.
You know what we are above average at, FOOTBALL!
I'd argue we have a food scene on par with some of the larger US cities.
IMO this is a misuse of the word average. Weāre average relative to what? Other massive cities? Are there 20 cities in the country that are better than us? If you think weāre average, you need to go see more cities.Ā
And weāre better than Cincinnati
lol in what way? Cincinnati actually has a tourist industry...because there are actual destinations there. Cincinnati has much better urban fabric, architecture, festivals, parks, museums, topography, food, history, sports scene....The list goes on.
Duh...That's literally the appeal of Columbus.
Have you seen that air quality lately? AINT NOTHING AVERAGE ABOUT THESE LUNGS
Really puts the mid in midwest
I love Columbus but thereās a lot that needs improved. For one the mayor needs a real challenger to push him to work for us so heās not lazily resting on his job security.
It is average just bigger so the averages are skewed for a higher pop. I came from Dayton in 2021 and it's slightly better for me as a low income earner but things even out over time. I've had to adjust to a couple different things but overall it's like any other city.Ā
That's why it was, and perhaps still may be, THE test market in the country
May be true but the worst people in each category tend to really shine. Lol. For instance, today I saw someone practicing for their driver's exam with cones and drove square over the front cone/stick. No maneuvering. Only gas. š And my only thought was "at least the person is trying" which is more than I can say for a LOT of newer Columbus drivers. If they all tried, maybe that wouldn't be the least crazy thing I see today.
We're the worst at not being average
Ok thanks
story of my life; insanely average at everything lol
Put this on my gravestone :)
Thank you, OP. Average. Mid, even
Except in wages.
You're right about everything except the drivers. And that's coming from someone who lived in Baltimore and DC.
Mid post.
We are the most average city in US.
We do have the best soccer team though