Columbia is a small town with a large college student population. Because of this, there is a real youthful, hip vibe to the place, and much of the life in the town is centered on the college. This has helped Columbia to buck the trend of other small towns that have suffered declining populations over the past 20 to 30 years. Spending by students, and faculty and staff jobs, are a big part of the local economy.
The overall crime rate in Columbia is one of the lowest in the US. This makes it one of the safer places to live in the country in terms of crime.
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 17.93 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.
In terms of college education, Columbia is nearly on par with the US average for all cities of 21.84%: 19.38% of adults 25 and older in Columbia have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Columbia in 2022 was $25,563, 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 $102,252 for a family of four. However, Columbia contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
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, European, and Scots-Irish.
The most common language spoken in Columbia is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Polish.
