Ohio is Illinois with three smaller cities instead of one huge one. (Columbus: land, cheap)

[grmasterb]

Ohio -- As broke as Illinois, but not as corrupt.

[BelieveInCleve]

Originally Posted by 5Lakes

Comparing the Mexican population of Columbus to Chicago is laughable. In fact I bet Rockford has more Mexicans than Columbus, not to mention cities like Elgin and Aurora.

True, Columbus' metro is not even 2% Mexican, while Chicagos metro is 16%.

and you're actually right about Rockford, there are 34,000 Mexicans in the Columbus metro and 38,000 Mexicans in the Rockford metro. These are all new census estimates BTW.

Originally Posted by wrightflyer

Or Elyria, Lorain, and some of the Cleveland area.

Those areas in NE Ohio have larger Puerto Rican populations than Mexican. Lorain has the highest Hispanic/Latino % population in Ohio at 26% according to new census estimates, approximately 19% of the 26% is Puerto Rican. Cleveland and Youngstown also have large Hispanic/Latino communities, mainly Puerto Rican also.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by grmasterb

Ohio -- As broke as Illinois, but not as corrupt.

Cleveland and Youngstown did have a major mafia problem back in the day. Does that not affect present day state politics anymore?

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Is that kinda like saying Ohio is like Florida, except for the ocean and the alligators?

No its like saying that. Florida is a totally different place. The climate, environment, the entire natural landscape is completely different. Both Ohio and Illinois are midwestern/great Lake states, with Ohio bordering on Appalachian/northeastern landscape.

Ohio has the more of less the same plant/animal life and climate as Illinois. Like 5Lakes mentioned; the major differences is that hilly, forested Appalachian foothills terrain covers about 40-50% of Ohio, whereas the Shawnee Hills of Illinois, a similar landscape covers only 5-10% of the state.

That and there is a larger Great Lakes shoreline in Ohio.

[5Lakes]

Originally Posted by Tex?Il?

Cleveland and Youngstown did have a major mafia problem back in the day. Does that not affect present day state politics anymore?

A major corruption probe just went through the Cleveland political machine, so maybe that will make some difference. Up until that point, yeah, it was very corrupt.

I'm not sure about Y-Town. I remember in the late 90s about 40 mafia guys getting arrested on a big take-down. I would have to think there is still some shady stuff going on there given the history.

Ohio is not nearly as in dept as Illinois, although probably not the greatest in that department either.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by wrightflyer

Yet, even Columbus doesn't have proportionally the number of Mexican immigrants coming into the city as Chicago has. It's not a traditional Gateway City a la NYC, LA, Chicago. I'm not saying they aren't here (or in Butler County), but that they just don't make up the large influx of immigrants coming into the area. The large number of immigrants Columbus sees are Somalis, and possibly Indian and Asian minorities in NW Columbus neighborhoods. Perhaps I need to travel down W. Broad more often because this is where I believe that Latin American enclave is building steam.

While Illinois doesn't have a Dayton or Akron, it does have a couple small Youngstowns or Springfields in Perioa and Springfield. Another thing that helps Illinois is the metro's of the Quad Cities and St. Louis but especially St. Louis. Those suburbs outside St. Louis (Fairview Heights, O'Fallon, etc) help boost Illinois population as well.

Yes, Ohios metropolitan population is much more spread out in several smaller metros. Three metros between 1.5 and 3 million, and three metros between 500,000 and 1,000,000. Although Ohio has almost the same population as Illinois, (with slightly less land than Illinois) like another poster said, unfortunately the collected assets and amenities don't necessarily add up to a "very spread out Chicago" in the eyes of the world.

It is interesting what you mentioned about the hispanics, with the exception of the Puerto Rican communities in and around Cleveland, the hispanic population in Ohio is generally small. It is true however, that the immigration patterns in Cleveland were very similar to that of Chicago from about the turn of the century to th 70s when white flight and deindustrialization started to take its toll. So even though Cleveland for example has a similar southern and eastern European, and African American culture as Chicago, the hispanic population is much less, because hispanic didn't start immigrated in large numbers until later.
Likewise Cincinnati has a major German heritage because when Cincinnati was a top American city, was the era of major German immigration (2nd half of 19th century) but doesn't have the eastern/southern European heritage of Cleveland, because Cincinnati was getting passed up when those immigrants started immigrating.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by progmac

i see what you're saying...sort of. each of ohio's three Cs is culturally distinct, so considering the three to somehow equal chicago doesn't really add up. plus illinois doesn't have a dayton, akron, or toledo

Ohios three Cs may be culturally distinct, but I wonder if that simply has a lot to do with when they were booming destinations.

Cincinnati was the first major inland metropolis and was the Queen city from the middle to the end of the 19th century, but when railroads and Great Lakes industrialism took over, which is when Cleveland became the 5th largest city in the country. Then in the 70s and 80s, when deindustrialization and white flight started to have an impact, Columbus grew in a way almost like Austin, Texas. Was a relatively small city until later, when the synergy of a major university and state capital, made the city the most competitive in the post-modern/post industrial age and is now the 16th largest city.

So all three major Ohio city had the spotlight in a certain era.

[PhillytoCincy]

Originally Posted by grmasterb

Ohio -- As broke as Illinois, but not as corrupt.

Says the guy from Indiana... Just got back from meetings in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne. The roads in Indiana are terrible. I would take Ohio's way of getting things done over Indiana's.

And to the OP. I can see some of what you are saying. NW Ohio has a very similar feel to Illinois. As for the rest of Ohio, the topography is quite different. There is hills in southern Illinois, but not quite to the level and not near to the extent of what you see in Ohio. Plus Ohio has plenty of other cities in which Illinois doesn't have like Toledo, Dayton, and Akron.

If I had to compare Ohio to another state it would be maybe Missouri. I created a thread in the City Vs City section named your states twin. I picked Missouri and Pennsylvania for Ohio's "twin."

[grmasterb]

Originally Posted by Beavercreek33

Says the guy from Indiana... Just got back from meetings in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne. The roads in Indiana are terrible. I would take Ohio's way of getting things done over Indiana's.

It's a joke, for crying out loud, and much more of a slam on Illinois. You don't need attempt to lecture me on Ohio vs. Indiana. I can assure you I've spent many more years in both states than you. Besides, it's off-topic.

[Sunnydee]

I never really thought of it before, but you make some very good points. Thanks for making me think this morning.