Report: Recession making mark on Columbus strengths, weaknesses - Business First of Columbus:

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The region’s place among its peers – they include the metro statistical areasof Cleveland, Cincinnati, N.C., Chicago, Austin, Texasx and Nashville, Tenn. – is near the bottom of the list for medianj household income and the share of its population living below thepoverty level, according to the The Central Ohio area had comparablyh high housing affordability, but it also hit the bottom third in rankings for home ownership and foreclosures. Roberta Garber, executivee director of Community Research said the results overall continue to indicatwe Columbus shows characteristicsof fast- and slow-growtg cities, but weakening personal prosperity rankinga are worrisome.
“In the economic strengthh and community well-being groups, we see mixed trends, with some rankinge moving up andsome down,” Garber said. in the personal prosperity group there is distinctdownward trend.” A look at the city’xs economic strengths relative to othe r metros shows some clout but room to improv e in other key areas. The city, for ranks third among its peers for its sharesof transportation, utilities and warehousing employment and climbes to No. 4 on its sharer of Fortune 1,000 companies.
But Columbus ranke dead last in its shareof small-businesx firms, unchanged from last year, and slipped for the seconsd consecutive year in its concentration of high-tecuh jobs. Columbus came in at No. 12 in its level of venture-capitakl investments. The report did show bright spotsx in the Columbusmetro area, notably in its community well-being section, where Columbus improved its rankings in seven specific measures. In that Columbus ranks No. 5 for its share of days with good air qualituyand No. 4 for its volunteer rate. To download the full click .
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