Columbia is a place where college students are a big part of the character and culture of the town. Small towns have often struggled with declining populations over the past few decades, but the presence of such a large college student population has helped Columbia to fight this trend. Not only does the college population add spending and jobs to local economy, but it also contributes a very tangible, youthful energy to the town.
Columbia’s overall crime rate ranks among the lowest in the nation, making it a very safe place to live.
Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Columbia spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 18.18 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.
Being a small city, Columbia does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
The percentage of adults in Columbia who are college-educated is close to the national average for all communities of 21.84%: 19.83% of the adults in Columbia have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Columbia in 2022 was $28,077, which is middle income relative to Kentucky, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $112,308 for a family of four. However, Columbia contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Columbia is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Columbia home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Columbia residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Columbia include English, German, Irish, Scots-Irish, and Croatian.
The most common language spoken in Columbia is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Polish.
