Columbia is a relatively large city located in the state of South Carolina. With a population of 144,788 people and 85 associated neighborhoods, Columbia is the second largest community in South Carolina. Columbia has seen a significant amount of newer housing growth in recent years. Quite often, new home construction is the result of new residents moving in who are middle class or wealthier, attracted by jobs, a healthy local economy, or other amenities as they leave nearby or far away areas for greener pastures. This seems to be the case in Columbia, where the median household income is $55,529.00.Columbia is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 85.71% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Columbia is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Columbia who work in office and administrative support (10.51%), sales jobs (10.47%), and management occupations (10.13%). There are many members of the armed forces living in Columbia. You will notice when you visit or live here that some of the people you meet or see around town are employed by the armed services - even if they are not always in uniform. 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. Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 11.62% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. 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. Combining city textures and college town sensibilities, Columbia really has a nice blend of characteristics. While not a huge city, Columbia is big enough to offer a healthy dose of diversion, opportunity, and amenity to its residents and to the thousands of college students who descend on it every fall. Its size and diversity makes Columbia more than just a college town, but removing the students from the equation would undeniably change Columbia’s character and quality of life. 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 19.21 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.Columbia is one of the most well-educated cities in the nation. 45.90% of adults in Columbia have at least a bachelor's degree. Compare that to the average community in America, which has just 21.84% with a bachelor's degree or higher. The per capita income in Columbia in 2022 was $39,058, which is upper middle income relative to South Carolina and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $156,232 for a family of four. However, Columbia contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Columbia is an extremely 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 Scots-Irish. The most common language spoken in Columbia is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Langs. of India.
