Columbia is a relatively large city located in the state of South Carolina. With a population of 142,416 people and 85 associated neighborhoods, Columbia is the second largest community in South Carolina.The armed forces are a huge part of the life in Columbia, employing 7.47% of the workforce. While it is a military town, the civilian sector still plays an important role in the local economy, where the Education and Healthcare industries employ 14.07% and 12.97% of the civilian workforce, respectively. 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: 9.82% 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. 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. Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 18.96 minutes getting to work every day.Columbia is one of the most well-educated cities in the nation. 46.13% 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 $38,087, which is upper middle income relative to South Carolina and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $152,348 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.
