For the first time since 2019, the all-new Columbus Foundation Community Benchmarking Report has measured how Central Ohio compares to more than 20 peer regions across more than 50 metrics and indices.

Building on more than a decade of community tracking, this newest research across a range of metrics offers a clear window to understanding how Central Ohio stacks up to comparable metro areas and gives us one of the best snapshots of where our region finds itself on this side of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The findings dive deeply into five overall categories – population vitality, economic strength, personal prosperity, lifelong learning, and overall community wellbeing.

In this first of two forums, we'll reflect on the results of the last benchmarking study in 2019 before diving deep into the findings of the first two categories: Population Vitality & Economic Strength – to see how Central Ohio measures up to its peers.

The complete new report can be downloaded here.

Featuring:

Matt Martin, Director of Community Research, The Columbus Foundation

Kenny McDonald, President and CEO, One Columbus

Padmini Roy-Dixon, Economic Development Director & Regional Innovation Officer, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission

The host is Doug Buchanan, Editor in Chief, Columbus Business First.

This forum was sponsored by The Columbus Foundation. The presenting sponsor of CMC's livestream was The Center for Human Kindness at the Columbus Foundation.

CMC's livestream partner was The Columbus Dispatch.

It was also supported by The Ellis. This forum was recorded before a live audience at The Ellis in Columbus, Ohio's historic Italian Village on November 13, 2024.