Columbia is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of Missouri. With a population of 128,555 people and 33 associated neighborhoods, Columbia is the fourth largest community in Missouri. Columbia real estate is some of the most expensive in Missouri, although Columbia house values don't compare to the most expensive real estate in the U.S.Columbia is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 87.47% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Columbia is a city of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Columbia who work in teaching (10.41%), management occupations (10.12%), and healthcare (9.61%). Also of interest is that Columbia has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 7.60% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. Columbia is a nice balance between life in a moderately big city and the interesting diversions and culture that come from having a big college student population. The thousands of students who arrive on campus every fall will find that Columbia has plenty of amenities and opportunities for them, while residents of Columbia enjoy the lectures, music, art, and economic trickle-down that colleges typically provide. "Town and Gown" complement each other in Columbia. One of the benefits of Columbia is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 18.19 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.If knowledge is power, Columbia is a pretty powerful place. 55.30% of the adults in Columbia have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns. The per capita income in Columbia in 2022 was $35,625, which is wealthy relative to Missouri, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $142,500 for a family of four. However, Columbia contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Columbia is a very 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 German, English, Irish, Italian, and European. The most common language spoken in Columbia is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.
