Columbia is a relatively large city located in the state of Missouri. With a population of 129,330 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 87.56% 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 management occupations (11.10%), healthcare (10.03%), and teaching (9.79%). 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: 9.57% 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 made interesting by being both a reasonably big city and having a major college student population: students here will find that the city provides a lot of amenities, culture, and opportunities for them. Columbia is more than just a college town, however, though the thousands of students certainly are a major part of the character of the city, as well as a contributor to the local economy. 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 18.21 minutes getting to work every day.Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Columbia. 56.49% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 21.84%. The per capita income in Columbia in 2022 was $37,359, which is wealthy relative to Missouri, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $149,436 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 Scottish. The most common language spoken in Columbia is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.
