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.
My boyfriend and I plan to move to Columbus within the next few months. We have to save some money first. We'd like to save at least $1500 as a cushion. I do have family to reside with in Carroll, OH until we can find our own place. I'm a recent college graduate. I don't expect my salary to be anything above 22,000 a year. I was wondering what are the best locations around Columbus to live which are safe. We'd rent a house or an apartment between $500-$700. I know that doesn't give much of a leverage but I know that is what I'll be able to afford. We'd like to live in an area that isn't surrounded by traffic but we know that in Columbus it's not likely we will be able to completely avoid it. Any advice would be sincerely appreciated.
You're right in that traffic is hard to avoid in Columbus, it's a very car oriented city. I'd recommend the Hilliard area, you can usually find a decent 1-2 BR apartment for around $600. It's a safe area, and there's a lot of places around.
I have to be honest with the OP. You and your significant other are probably better off looking into Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky other than Columbus. Cincinnati's job market is doing pretty good, and there is a lot to see and do in that area.
Columbus in general is not a very fun place to live. Other than the zoo, or the Short North, there's not much to do at all in Greater Columbus. Unless of course, you happen to be a DIEHARD Buckeye fan. Public transportation is a joke in Columbus. If you don't own a car, you're pretty much screwed. People in Columbus are generally rude and unfriendly.
The city as a whole is not very safe either. Basically the entire east and south sides, 95 percent of the west side (Most notably Franklinton/The Bottoms), and the majority of the north side are very dangerous, and should be avoided. There are, however, a few very nice neighborhoods within the city limits that are affordable. Clintonville on the north side, and Westgate are very decent areas. Outside the city, Hilliard is a good option. Avoid Reynoldsburg and Whitehall. Grove City is a mixed bag. Crime is not an overwhelming issue, but I have to be honest. In many areas of Grove City, chances are you'll be living next door to a meth lab.
I wish you all the best of luck in Columbus...the biggest little town on earth.
^ Agree with badguykc. If you and your boyfriend are determined to move to Columbus, fine. But, if not, why not consider Cincinnati? As mentioned above, Columbus is a car-culture city; much more so than Cincinnati. In turn, Cincinnati is a larger metro with similar blue-collar jobs, but with more cultural amenities and, obviously, more ties to Kentucky--btw, "NKY" is thriving.
You can't go wrong with either big city, but realize that there are major differences and trade-offs between Columbus and Cincinnati.
I have to be honest with the OP. You and your significant other are probably better off looking into Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky other than Columbus. Cincinnati's job market is doing pretty good, and there is a lot to see and do in that area.
Columbus in general is not a very fun place to live. Other than the zoo, or the Short North, there's not much to do at all in Greater Columbus. Unless of course, you happen to be a DIEHARD Buckeye fan. Public transportation is a joke in Columbus. If you don't own a car, you're pretty much screwed. People in Columbus are generally rude and unfriendly.
The city as a whole is not very safe either. Basically the entire east and south sides, 95 percent of the west side (Most notably Franklinton/The Bottoms), and the majority of the north side are very dangerous, and should be avoided. There are, however, a few very nice neighborhoods within the city limits that are affordable. Clintonville on the north side, and Westgate are very decent areas. Outside the city, Hilliard is a good option. Avoid Reynoldsburg and Whitehall. Grove City is a mixed bag. Crime is not an overwhelming issue, but I have to be honest. In many areas of Grove City, chances are you'll be living next door to a meth lab.
I wish you all the best of luck in Columbus...the biggest little town on earth.
Cincinnati and Columbus economies are doing better than anything in Kentucky, but Columbus has Cincinnati beat in plenty of departments when it comes to economics.
There are plenty of native Kentuckians in Columbus and they seem to be doing great for themselves. I love Cincinnati, moreso than Columbus, but everything you said about Columbus is subjective. Do you know their likes and interests? You talk about public transit like Cincinnati excels in that department? Cincy's public transit is a joke, too. You want real transit where you can travel the city and suburbs, move to Cleveland. That is a good option if you have family in Carroll County. There is more than the zoo and Short North in Columbus. And lets not act like Cincinnati doesn't have crime. In fact, Cincinnati is already off to a pretty rough start to 2014. And the mayor isn't doing much down there to make Cincinnati have a very progressive image and keeping to the Cincinnati provincial attitude. Meth labs? Read how bad the meth problem is in NKY!!!!
I have to be honest with the OP. You and your significant other are probably better off looking into Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky other than Columbus. Cincinnati's job market is doing pretty good, and there is a lot to see and do in that area.
Columbus in general is not a very fun place to live. Other than the zoo, or the Short North, there's not much to do at all in Greater Columbus. Unless of course, you happen to be a DIEHARD Buckeye fan. Public transportation is a joke in Columbus. If you don't own a car, you're pretty much screwed. People in Columbus are generally rude and unfriendly.
The city as a whole is not very safe either. Basically the entire east and south sides, 95 percent of the west side (Most notably Franklinton/The Bottoms), and the majority of the north side are very dangerous, and should be avoided. There are, however, a few very nice neighborhoods within the city limits that are affordable. Clintonville on the north side, and Westgate are very decent areas. Outside the city, Hilliard is a good option. Avoid Reynoldsburg and Whitehall. Grove City is a mixed bag. Crime is not an overwhelming issue, but I have to be honest. In many areas of Grove City, chances are you'll be living next door to a meth lab.
I wish you all the best of luck in Columbus...the biggest little town on earth.
These responses are obviously one sided and hardly paint the truth for a metro of 2 million people. Everyone will have a different reference point for what makes Columbus fun, safe and cool. Over 10,000 people per year are moving here and Columbus continues to improve. Are there unsafe areas to avoid? Yep. Are there rude people here? Yep. Does this represent all 2 million people? No!
The problem with internet forums is that people can paint a picture of a place that is completely untruthful. The only way to know, is to explore in person and get a "gut feeling" what is right for you.
For me, Columbus has been awesome and I love it. For others, it is Hell on earth. This is no different than any other city in the world.
I have to be honest with the OP. You and your significant other are probably better off looking into Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky other than Columbus. Cincinnati's job market is doing pretty good, and there is a lot to see and do in that area.
Columbus in general is not a very fun place to live. Other than the zoo, or the Short North, there's not much to do at all in Greater Columbus. Unless of course, you happen to be a DIEHARD Buckeye fan. Public transportation is a joke in Columbus. If you don't own a car, you're pretty much screwed. People in Columbus are generally rude and unfriendly.
The city as a whole is not very safe either. Basically the entire east and south sides, 95 percent of the west side (Most notably Franklinton/The Bottoms), and the majority of the north side are very dangerous, and should be avoided. There are, however, a few very nice neighborhoods within the city limits that are affordable. Clintonville on the north side, and Westgate are very decent areas. Outside the city, Hilliard is a good option. Avoid Reynoldsburg and Whitehall. Grove City is a mixed bag. Crime is not an overwhelming issue, but I have to be honest. In many areas of Grove City, chances are you'll be living next door to a meth lab.
I wish you all the best of luck in Columbus...the biggest little town on earth.
Columbus has the better economy and has for a long time now. It gained back all recession jobs losses in 2012 and is already tens of thousands ahead of that mark. Cincinnati, unfortunately, is not forecast to recover its recession jobs losses and even break even until sometime between 2015-2017.
Fun is subjective. It's kind of a worthless point seeing as how the OP never said what they enjoyed. Perhaps they find that Columbus fits all of those needs. And who are you to tell them differently, anyway? They didn't ask for it.
Just curious, but do you own a car where you live? Did you in Cincinnati?
You're pretty rude and unfriendly, considering you have done what a few others have managed to do, and judge an entire city's population, 99.9% of which you don't know and will never know. Should I assume that this reflects poorly on the entire population of Cincinnati? I won't, because I understand that people are individuals and deserve at least that much respect and consideration.
Cincinnati has higher crime rates than Columbus in almost all crime types, including violent crimes like murder.
95% of the entire West Side? Really? The west side like Grandview and Upper Arlington, which have some of the lowest crime rates in the entire county? I lived in Hilltop for 4 years. Never experienced any crime at all. And you reference Franklinton, yet it's rapidly on the rise for revitalization and will probably be the next Short North one day.
In any case, if you want to be taken seriously in your next post here, start with the facts. It's fine if you want to offer Cincinnati as an alternative. I like Cincinnati (though not as much as I do Columbus). But basing so much of your post on assumptions and frankly, disinformation, does the OP no good. Maybe they already looked at Cincinnati and decided against it. Who knows, since they didn't say. But this is basically at trash-Columbus post at the expense of actually trying to help someone who was looking for serious answers.
I have to be honest with the OP. You and your significant other are probably better off looking into Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky other than Columbus. Cincinnati's job market is doing pretty good, and there is a lot to see and do in that area.
Columbus in general is not a very fun place to live. Other than the zoo, or the Short North, there's not much to do at all in Greater Columbus. Unless of course, you happen to be a DIEHARD Buckeye fan. Public transportation is a joke in Columbus. If you don't own a car, you're pretty much screwed. People in Columbus are generally rude and unfriendly.
The city as a whole is not very safe either. Basically the entire east and south sides, 95 percent of the west side (Most notably Franklinton/The Bottoms), and the majority of the north side are very dangerous, and should be avoided. There are, however, a few very nice neighborhoods within the city limits that are affordable. Clintonville on the north side, and Westgate are very decent areas. Outside the city, Hilliard is a good option. Avoid Reynoldsburg and Whitehall. Grove City is a mixed bag. Crime is not an overwhelming issue, but I have to be honest. In many areas of Grove City, chances are you'll be living next door to a meth lab.
I wish you all the best of luck in Columbus...the biggest little town on earth.
As someone who grew up in Cincinnati and lived in the area for 23 years... if you think Cincinnati has less crime than Columbus, I've got a bridge to sell you.
As for people being more rude in Columbus, I have noticed absolutely no difference. The only real difference I've noticed is that Columbus is a little more liberal than Cincinnati.
Cincinnati is an older city that used to be one of the largest in the country, so it does have some things Columbus can't offer. But on a day-to-day basis, I honestly find more things to do in Columbus. I enjoy the bar scene and the festivals here a lot more than Cincinnati. That stuff is all subjective anyway. There is plenty to do in both cities, and if you get bored in either one, it's either because A) You're not looking hard enough/meeting the right people or B) You need to move to a larger city.
And there are tons of nice neighborhoods within the city. Victorian Village, Italian Village, Harrison West, Dennison Place, German Village, Merion Village, Berwick, Westgate, 5xNW, Clintonville, Beechwold, Old North Columbus, parts of Olde Towne East... and there are urban suburbs like Grandview Heights and Bexley as well.
Point is, you can be very happy in either city. It really is what you make of it. I didn't enjoy my time in Cincinnati nearly as much as I enjoy living in Columbus, but I'm not going to go over to the Cincinnati board and talk bad about it because I didn't make the best of it.
Too bad Grandview and Upper Arlington are not even part of the city of Columbus, which I was referring to in my post. You of all people should know that. Did you even live in Franklin County when you were there, or were you from somewhere like Marysville or Delaware County?
The only "revitalization" going on in Franklinton is when the hookers who walk Sullivant, Broad and Mound Street buy new outfits. Okay, that's not necessarily true, and that joke will probably get me warned by a moderator, but anyone who's ever lived in Columbus knows that Franklinton is hooker central.
You're absolutely right, I don't like Columbus. But tell me one thing I said about the people, the attractions, or the crime within the city limits isn't true. Of all the American cities I've lived in/visited, only Detroit depresses me more than Columbus did. Hell, even Fargo, North Dakota (a city only a fraction of the size of Columbus) has more to see and do than central Ohio does.
Last edited by badguykc; 01-27-2014 at 10:45 AM..
Reason: Problems with my mobile browser
Too bad Grandview and Upper Arlington are not even part of the city of Columbus, which I was referring to in my post. You of all people should know that. Did you even live in Franklin County when you were there,or were you from somewhere like Marysville or Delaware County?
The difference between Cincinnati and Columbus is that Columbus has annexed a lot of areas. You're talking something like 3 times the area and more than twice the population of the city of Cincinnati. The metro areas are a lot more similar in size and population, although Cincinnati's is slightly larger.
When I look at a city, I look at the metropolitan area as a whole. So if I am going to compare Columbus to Cincinnati, I'm also going to talk about Upper Arlington, Grandview, Montgomery, Madeira, etc.
Point is, the bad parts of Columbus you are using to paint a broad brush stroke also exist in the Cincinnati area. The difference is that, in Cincinnati, a lot of these areas aren't actually a part of the city of Cincinnati, but are just as close to downtown and just as much a part of the city experience. Let's see here... Mt. Healthy, North College Hill, Forest Park, Woodlawn, Lincoln Heights, Golf Manor, Norwood, parts of several townships (Colerain, Springfield, etc.)... all areas that have considerable "less than desirable" parts. In Columbus, most of those types of areas have been absorbed into the city. It's literally no different, except for who runs the public services and who you pay your taxes to.
If you're going to talk about the bad areas of Columbus, then you need to own up to the bad areas of Cincinnati. I didn't even get into the city itself... parts of Over-the-Rhine, Evanston, Avondale, the West End, Price Hill, and many other neighborhoods inside the city of Cincinnati are places where I wouldn't want to walk the streets after dark.
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.
