Columbus, Ohio

Columbus is the capital and largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio, the state's third largest metropolitan area behind Cincinnati and Cleveland, and the fourth largest city in the American Midwest. It is the county seat of Franklin County, yet the city has expanded and annexed portions of adjoining Delaware County and Fairfield County. Named for explorer Christopher Columbus, the city was founded in 1812 at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers, and assumed the functions of state capital in 1816. The city has a diverse economy based on education, government, insurance, banking, fashion, defense, aviation, food, logistics, steel, energy, medical research, health care, hospitality, retail, and technology.

Once known as a cowtown, modern Columbus is an emerging global city. It is home to the world's largest private research and development foundation, the Battelle Memorial Institute; CAS, or Chemical Abstracts, the world's largest clearinghouse of chemical information; NetJets, the world's largest fractional ownership jet aircraft fleet; the University System of Ohio, headquartered in the Uptown District, the nation's largest comprehensive public system of higher education; and The Ohio State University, the nation's largest campus.

The New York Times in 2007 dubbed Columbus a Midwestern-style capital, Forbes Magazine in 2008 ranked the city as the no. 1 up-and-coming tech city in the nation, and BusinessWeek in 2009 named the city as the best place to raise a family in the country. The city was ranked by Money Magazine as the 8th best big city in the U.S. to live in 2006, and a top ten city by Relocate America in 2010. In 2007, fDi Magazine ranked the city no. 3 in the U.S. for cities of the future, and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium was rated no. 1 in 2009 by USA Travel Guide.

In 2008, MarketWatch named Columbus as the 7th best place to do business in the nation. In 2010, the city had four corporations named to the U.S. Fortune 500 list including Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, American Electric Power, Limited Brands, and Big Lots, with Cardinal Health located in the Columbus metro area suburb of Dublin, along with a metropolitan area GDP of $90 billion. Major foreign corporations operating or with divisions in the city include Germany-based Siemens and Roxane Laboratories, Finland-based Vaisala, Japan-based Techneglas, Inc., Tomasco Mulciber Inc., and A Y Manufacturing, as well as Switzerland-based ABB Group and Mettler Toledo.

The population was 711,470 at the 2000 census. The city's population is relatively high due to its large territory with over 212 square miles (550 km2) being incorporated which explains why the Columbus metro area is relatively small and much smaller than both Cleveland and Cincinnati, the largest metro area in the state. In 2008, Columbus was the 16th largest city in the United States, with 754,885 residents, but only the 32nd largest metropolitan area, the fourth largest city in the Midwest, and the third most populous state capital in the U.S. 2008 estimates indicate that roughly 116,000 of the city's residents are foreign-born, accounting for 82% of the new residents between 2000-2006. According to the U.S. Census, the metropolitan area has a population of 1,773,120, and the Combined Statistical Area (which also includes Marion and Chillicothe) has a population of 1,982,252. Columbus is located within 550 miles (890 km) of half of the population of the United States.

(source:wikipedia)