Living in Columbus Metro

Columbus Metro is the ring of Franklin and Delaware County suburbs built around Ohio's capital and largest city, and it's currently the fastest-growing major metro in the Midwest by a wide margin -- growth roughly double the national rate, outpacing Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and especially Cleveland. Dublin (Cardinal Health's real headquarters) and New Albany (anchor of Intel's long-delayed, $28 billion 'Ohio One' chip project) are the region's most affluent, master-planned suburbs; Westerville and Worthington offer established, walkable, historic-downtown suburbs closer to Columbus proper; Hilliard, Grove City, and Pickerington are the newer, more affordable family suburbs ringing the outerbelt; and Delaware, the northernmost county seat, is itself one of the fastest-growing exurban counties in the state. What genuinely unifies the region beyond Columbus's own gravity is Ohio's local-income-tax patchwork: nearly every one of these suburbs levies its own separate municipal income tax on top of Ohio's now-flat 2.75% state rate, and whether a given city collects it directly or through RITA/CCA varies place to place -- a real, practical detail worth checking per suburb rather than assuming one Columbus-area rule applies uniformly.

Explore Columbus Metro in depth

• Cost of Living & Housing in Columbus Metro
• Best Places to Live in Columbus Metro
• Moving to Columbus Metro
• Climate & Lifestyle in Columbus Metro

Places we've researched in Columbus Metro

• Columbus -- Franklin County
• Dublin -- Franklin County (also extends into Delaware, Union, and Madison counties -- a real, distinctive multi-county municipal boundary)
• Westerville -- Franklin County
• Hilliard -- Franklin County
• New Albany -- Franklin County (incorporated area also extends into Licking County)
• Worthington -- Franklin County
• Grove City -- Franklin County
• Pickerington -- Fairfield County (incorporated area also extends into Franklin and Licking counties)
• Delaware -- Delaware County