What's the Largest Urban Center in Ohio? It's Not So Straightforward 

I'm from Cincinnati and I love arguing this with people. Downtown Cincinnati and Downtown Cleveland both feel like way bigger cities than Columbus but Columbus city proper is technically way larger on paper.

I’ve lived in Ohio my whole life, and Columbus for all of my adult life. I enjoyed this video a lot. Columbus has a different feel from the other two. Cleveland feels like the industrial, rust belt city (more akin to Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburgh Columbus feels like the more midwestern city along the I-70 corridor (Indianapolis, St. Louis, or Kansas City)

It should be noted that Cleveland is the ONLY city in Ohio with a rail transit system. It even connects the airport to downtown!

Just want to say that Cincinnati is dope. I’ve had a phenomenal time there each trip I’ve taken. Such a cool urban fabric and it’s affordable.. if I had to move back to the Midwest, Cincy would be near the top of the places to relocate for sure. Just wish it had a train connection to the airport.

Ohio I’ve lived in Ohio my whole life. I grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, went to Ohio State for 4 years, lived in downtown Cleveland for 3 years, and now have lived in downtown Columbus for 3 more. My wife and I both have family in Cincy too, so I’m quite familiar with all 3 cities. With that said it’s truly hard to tell which is the biggest. Downtown Cleveland feels like the biggest by far (3 of the top 4 largest buildings in Ohio are in Cleveland), but Cincy and Columbus feel more “populated” when you’re walking around. Downtown Columbus may look small, but it’s packed with people, as opposed to Cleveland which is more of a ghost town at times. Cincy is hard because so many people that live in Northern Kentucky truly consider themselves Cincinnatians, but it’s hard to count them if they don’t actually live in the state. There’s no way to really know the answer but it’s fun to debate. It’s also interesting because all 3 cities are so distinct. Cleveland has an older, almost east coast vibe. People downtown are up early wearing suits. Columbus has a younger population, with a suburban sprawl, heavy gentrification, and lots of different neighborhoods. It has a more artsy bohemian feel, especially in the short north/grandview areas. Cincinnati has a unique feeling too on the Ohio River, it’s almost a southern city both in its architecture and culture. Overall the 3 cities really encapsulate why Ohio has been such a good representation of America as a whole!

Love it when you cover Cincinnati, but come on! We Northern Kentuckians feel like the unwanted stepchild. The rest of Kentucky seems to think we’re too closely associated with Ohio to be truly Kentuckian, and some Cincinnatians reject us just because there’s a river that runs through our mutual home! I will always consider myself as “from Cincinnati”. And yeah, pouring chili on top of spaghetti is the only way to go! 😂

People from Ohio are not scared of trees. Matter of fact a forest sits right in the middle of Akron and Cleveland. It's called the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Cleveland is like Detroit, Pittsburgh, and New Orleans: historically great cities that are shadows of their former selves, and thus have big city feels and amenities that exceed their now-diminished populations. Columbus is by comparison on the rise so its feels and amenities haven't kept up with its relatively large population (similar to Austin).

One thing I would add to this analysis is the historical peak populations of Cincinnati and Cleveland. Also, funny that all the metro centers start with a ‘C’

I think Cleveland feels bigger because it has the tallest skyscrapers in the state and it has most of the national sports teams in Ohio and thereby the most stadiums for those teams. It also helps that Cleveland (and even Akron) is arguably more historically relevant than the other two as it is where like a ton of billionaires in the US back in the 1800s used to live and there was and still is a ton of industry in Cleveland.

Columbus is great and while I'm a Cincinnati native living in Arizona, if I ever moved back to Ohio (I'm not), I'd probably move to Columbus just because of the availability of jobs in my field (government). Columbus also looks and feels like Ohio's equivalent to a sunbelt city. I'm also forever a long-suffering Reds and Bengals fan.

Nice DEVO reference at the end Kyle!😂

actually that heavily forested area is also part of the Appalachian mountains, more specifically the plateau.

I used to live in Cincinnati and Cleveland feels like the biggest followed by Cincinnati then Cleveland

The one standard you didn't use to determine the largest urban area is the urban areas! While city size and metro areas are greatly influenced by artificial boundaries (metro area borders are always at county lines), urbanized areas are down to the Census block. This is why it takes so long for the data to be made available. The initial from the 2020 census was at the end of December 2022, when no news organizations were paying attention. The order from Urban area is Cleveland, Cincinnati, then Colombus for both population and housing units. Interesting Colombus has the densest urban area of the three.

I lived in Ohio for 11 years, from 1971 to 1982. When I moved there, Cleveland was the largest city, but that changed while I lived in Ohio; the 1980 Census showed Columbus as the state’s biggest city. Surprising that today, Columbus has nearly three times Cleveland’s population. Cleveland has always felt like a bigger city to me, though.

Cleveland is the largest feeling because the infustructure was built for a city with a million people

I was wondering where all the trees were when I was looking for some land to purchase

Another comment about Cincinnati: the metropolitan area has become quite diverse in the past decade or so, especially into the Northern and Northeastern suburbs. Traffic and construction have always been an issue in Cincinnati, but that's with any city, even those with mass transit systems.

Love the black keys album in the back! Northeast Ohio represent!

It's complicated in Cincy for sure. Dayton is only a 20-25 min drive from the northern part of the Cincy proper, but they also have their own TV station affiliates/airport/circle freeway etc. so it feels like a completely different metro area. The three northern-most counties in Kentucky are more Cincy, than Cincy if we're being honest. Boone County Kentucky where I live is full of Cincinnatians who escaped the crumbing infrastructure and rediculous property taxes.

Same with Florida. The largest city proper in Florida is Jacksonville at 1.4 million people. However the largest urban area in Florida is Miami at around 7 million people when combining Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Interestingly, Miami is the only city in Florida I like because it has it's own identity and character, unlike Jacksonville or Orlando.

I grew up in NW Ohio and been in Cleveland for over 30 years- I wan to thank you for giving props to the Cultural Gardens of Cleveland. It is one of the best, underrated parts of the city. There has been a World Day celebration along this park in late summer that is very cool- but just walking it is fun. If they can figure out better parking along MKL, I think more people would visit the area- and monitor speed of traffic on MLK which many people consider a shortcut from I-90 to University Circle where the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western, University Hospitals are located. Love the videos and content, keep it coming!!

Thank you. I woke up this morning having this question

It is interesting that Columbus somehow feels smaller than the other two even though it’s “technically” the largest single address. Columbus is just a massive college town.

I like how the lights are on at Progressive Field. 7:26

Summit Co. (Akron) is adjacent to Cuyahoga Co. (Cleveland); Montgomery Co. (Dayton) is not adjacent to Hamilton Co. (Cincinnati). Akron and Canton are part of the Cleveland TV market; Dayton is in its own TV market, not Cincinnati's.

Ohio/Cleveland born and bred. Your statement near the end is accurate. Columbus has worse traffic and it feels like there is a dense amount of people. I feel like folks from Akron and Dayton may quibble, and with good reason. We do not consider Akron just like an extension of us, but I get what you are saying in terms of population counts. Cleveland is kind of like two cities almost, east and west. Not divided ideologically or anything, just like a guaranteed 40+ min drive so why bother kind of divided. Cincy is probably the nicest and best-planned of the three if we are talking about each areas surrounding areas, not necessarily city limits.

Definitely enjoyed this video. I always like seeing new ideas. I’m very familiar with all 3 cities. I would say that Cincinnati feels like the biggest city. There’s more traffic than the other two. It has a better downtown than the other two. And the approach (especially from I-71 south) is always exciting to see the big city in the distance. Columbus would be second. Although it has the largest population, it feels like it takes a very short time to get through it. Cleveland feels like the smallest of the three. I feel like it’s more spread out than the other two. And it also doesn’t feel as crowded with more highways than the other two.

Presentation is important in cuisine. So are names -- look at NOLA's Dirty Rice and Po' Boy. I'd call that chili-cheese spaghetti "Last Day of the Month".

Speaking of Trees. Did you know Pennsylvania has the most trees in the USA?! That's right. We're #1!

I lived in Cincinnati for 5 years and was amazed how small Cincy -the city is - but it’s because of all the all settlements (Wyoming, Colerain, Norwood, etc) that grew together to become Cincinnati proper. Also, Skyline chili (just because).

i would say the cleve area goes from youngstown to taledo.

I heard you live/lived in Chattanooga, im thinking about moving there.. how has your experience been?

We, in the Cincinnati suburbs, are somewhat forgetful of our fear of trees. We like to have our tax dollars go toward planting lots of new trees along our roads, but after a few years when they have grown, we are afraid that they might fall and hurt someone. So we cut all the trees down and plant new ones. Not ones that won't grow so high. The exact same type. It is like some weird tree-based sacrifice cycle.

As a native of a Dayton suburb, I agree with your assessment that Cleveland > Cincinnati > Columbus when going by feel of population size. Man I hope Amtrak can get service up and running on this corridor soon

Ohio is a unique state for this reason. Few other states have multiple cities all about the same size and status. Though I think the lack of one DOMINANT city gives people the impression that Ohio is more dominated by small towns and sleepy suburbs. Even though the state has nearly as many people as Illinois, even with Chicago, and overall a higher population density than Illinois. I've been to all three cities: Columbus definitely feels the most progressive and youthful (being dominated by Ohio state) and fresh of the three (due to more growth and more modern architecture), but aesthetically feels noticeably more suburban than the other two. Cincinnati honestly, if you are just talking about the urban core, not even the whole city proper, despite its relatively small size, has an urban core that is one of the most impressive in the country. Hear me out - More than other city away from the East Coast (and San Francisco) has an urban core areas dominated by rowhouses similar to that of East Coast cities. The fact that you can go from vibrant neighborhoods revolving around a major university, walk through neighborhoods that have passed/stood in for Harlem/Brooklyn in movies (Over the Rhine) and to the Central business district without crossing a freeway - few other cities offer this possibility of urban living. Cleveland is a bit more hollowed out as far as inner urban core than Cincy, (its a bit more similar to Detroit in this regard) but overall definitely feels the biggest as far as a metro area with its larger CSA. It has relatively ethnically diverse suburbs (IE: Cleveland/Shaker Hts where there are major Italian, Jewish, and Eastern European dominated neighborhoods that are more similar to Chicago or east coast cities in this regard), wealthy exurbs (like say Chagrin falls), and satellite cities spreading across a wider geographic area than the other two. By comparison Cincinnati and Columbus get rural both physically and culturally pretty quickly compared to Cleveland.

As someone from Cincinnati I feel it is unfair to discount the Indiana and Kentucky because the main airport CVG is in Kentucky and you go through Indiana on I-275 and most people go through all three states regularly.

I agree with the “feel” and I think it’s largely a legacy of Cleveland’s history as an industrial powerhouse that previously had a much larger urban population. The two tallest buildings in the state, several rail transit lines, 3 major league sports teams, it feels way bigger than the other two even if that’s not necessarily true.

This video is all the more reason why Ohio should have High Speed Rail! Normally I defend the building of new Interstates or Freeways in areas that don’t have them but Ohio has enough Interstates/Freeways.

I grew up in Columbus, and this is exactly the video I've been waiting for.

Visited all three cities a number of times. In different ways they each feel like the biggest. It's really interesting. Cleveland has the most big city feel to it/amenities IMO. They also have a good amount of urban inner ring suburbs. Cincinnati has the density going for it, and feels the busiest. I've encountered worse traffic around Cincinnati than I have in the other two. I think Cincinnati has the best walkability too. Columbus definitely feels less dense/big city like since it's so spread out. However driving up the whole urban core along High Street from German Village to OSU you can easily tell it's the largest city. I like that each city is very different and has different things to offer. Over the Rhine in Cincinnati is easily my favorite urban neighborhood in the country. I love Mount Adams as well. I love the Ohio City/Detroit Shoreway/Edgewater area in Cleveland. Love German Village in Columbus, to me that's the perfect city neighborhood.

As someone from Cincinnati, who lives in Columbus, I think Cleveland definitely feels like the biggest city but Cincy isn't far behind. Columbus feels very small in comparison to those two

I’ve lived in each of the big 3 metro areas at one point on my life…but by far have lived the most time in Dayton and Cincinnati. I agree that by “feel” Cleveland feels a little bigger than Cincy. There are parts of each of the Big 3 that I really like, but there’s just something about the urban fabric, history and hills of Cincinnati that have won my heart over.

I spent a bit of time in Cincinnati earlier this year, and was somewhat surprised at how "big city" it felt. While I've lived most of my adult life elsewhere, I was born in St. Louis - a city I feel has a strong similarity to Cincinnati. The neighborhoods, the food culture, the river-city feel - all very familiar between the two cities. When I encounter folks that harbor the "fly over" mentality regarding non-coastal cities, I always think of that river-city feel - and how uniquely American it is - and how so many folks fail to appreciate the rich diversity of our country. Ohio is definitely a place worth getting to know, so thanks for making this video!

Cincinnati is quite a gem in the sense when you are in the city, it feels pretty dense, and historically the rowhouses/townhouses help with this feeling, because when you are at any end of the city; the perspective of buildings keeps going; a lot of cities have gaps or the city literally ends. This is no way defeating Ohio's other cities.. I visit Cincinnati more just due to geography.

I live in Dayton. I used to live in Cincinnati and commuted to Dayton for work for 8 yrs. The burgeoning Cincinnati Dayton metroplex is real, just based on my time here and the commuting patterns and media markets blending together in alot of ways, both radio and TV. I agree it will be officially combined by 2030, but it already unofficially is now.

Thanks again Kyle. I’m a native New Mexican, with midwestern college life, and now a New Yorker of 18 years. I just ticked New Hampshire off my list of visited states, only South Dakota and and South Carolina left. Love your content. Fellow geography nerd - out

Thank you for actually recognizing the combined metropolitan area of Cleveland and Akron. I’m a resident of the area (I live right on the border of Summit and Cuyahoga counties) and it’s extremely hard to tell where one metropolitan area stops and the other begins.

I grew up in Ohio in the 1950-60's - a suburb of Cleveland, and have just visited my brother around Columbus. I agree that Cleveland seems like the biggest city in Ohio, but a lot of that has to do with the old large manufacturing plants and the still robust shipping on Lake Erie. I have always said Ohio is a good place to be from.

"Ohioans are afraid of trees" - Kyle, 2023

When a geography problem comes along, Kyle must whip it.

Cincinnati here. Cleveland, without doubt, does feel the largest. Columbus feels really small compared to both, especially when approaching from the southwest. Also note that there is a huge void of nothingness between Cleveland and Columbus. You definitely feel it when driving up I-71. There is true separation there, to the point where you wonder if there will be places to stop for gas/food at most exits. Cincinnati and Dayton's suburbs are practically conjoined at this point. It is quite common for married couples to live in between, with one commuting to each. The next census is expected to merge them.

I always love that you will consider Cincinnati-Dayton as one metro. 75 between those cities is never ending development and you can never really tell when you are in one or another. The two are so culturally similar and can really only be compared to each other within the state in that regard. I grew up just outside of Dayton and now I am living in Toledo and the two are worlds apart. Love this video!

This is exactly the type of nerdy specific content I subscribe for. Thanks Geography King!

We’re not necessarily afraid of trees, but it’s important to note that the terrain becomes more mountainous the further southeast in the state you go. Meanwhile, poor Toledo is holding down the fort in the Northwest…

Cleveland has much larger/more notable (non-government) “prestige” organizations which lend to the biggest city feel. Cleveland Clinic, Orchestra, Art Museum, Case Western Reserve University are all the most prestigious of their category in the state. Admittedly, these organizations are all legacy organizations established when Cleveland much larger and more influential. They’re also increasingly subsidized by money from outside the Cleveland area.

Speaking as a Columbus area resident who has spent a fair bit of time in all four areas mentioned, this is a very fair analysis.

I've lived in Central Ohio for over 20 years. My feeling is that the issue with Columbus is that is it much newer than the other two cities and thus has no real identity outside of OSU. A lot of german immigrants moved there about 100 years ago and created German Village which is probably the biggest cultural old feeling area in the city. Outside of those Columbus's identity is giant sprawling suburban blandness. Although if you are into golf we do have the Muirfield Village golf course in Dublin. And Lex Wexner's mansion is in New Albany. I guess that is Columbus's identity. Mediocre rich people lol.

When visiting From Pittsburgh, I was shocked to discover that Columbus is about the same population as Cleveland, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh combined! I haven’t paid much attention to the growth of Columbus so I looked at their populations in the 1980s when I was in school. Each of the three other cities have almost been cut in half and Columbus almost doubled. Columbus is a sprawling suburb while the other cities still have urban cores.

Cincinnati is more compact as a a city, has some fine skyscrapers, and with a large river and Major League and NFL stadiums it has the feel of a major U.S. city. Columbus, although with a much more unimpressive downtown, has somewhat of a cosmopolitan vibe thanks to OSU and German Village.

This guy, with his Black Keys vinyl and Devo reference… love it! NE Ohioan here, this video was great. I’ve worked all over the state over the last 17 years in the Telcom industry and your final assessment is spot on. I also geek out at the map of Ohio almost every day for my current job and I frequently think about the potential megalopolis that runs through our state. You could almost throw Pittsburgh into the mix as well. Thanks for showing the Buckeye state some love, Kyle. It’s much more than a “flyover state,” as many coastal dwellers seems to think.

So if you calculate the true metro areas in the US... eventually you realize its all ohio

Hella research done. Much respect King. 🙏🏿 😂

Can you do the same thing with Virginia? And I have heard of Cincinnati chili - have never had it - but it sounds good!

Worth noting is larger population trends that have shifted the State's population south. Cincinnati and Columbus are growing metro areas, while Cleveland is declining. Cleveland (like Detroit) peaked in the first half of the 20th century. They were once the 5th largest city in the US. However Cleveland was the 2nd worst hit rust belt city, and has had a massive decline. So the best to think of it as Cleveland was the largest city, Cincinnati is the largest city, and Columbus will be the largest city.

Great video! I think Cleveland definitely feels like the biggest city of the three. It also has the 2 tallest buildings in the state in downtown. Cincinnati is definitely second. I think Columbus is a somewhat distant third. For one thing Cincy and Cleveland both have NFL and MLB teams and Columbus does not. Cincinnati has a nice aquarium just near downtown. Columbus does not.

The reason Dayton isnt consider part of Cincinnati metro is because it has its own TV stations, it's own market, whereas, Cleveland, Akron, and Canton all get TV from Cleveland. Yougstown same deal, its own TV market.

"Ohioans are afraid of trees" 😂😂😂

Interesting video most of my father's family are from Ross county and I used to live just north of Buffalo, NY, so I’ve driven through Cleveland and Columbus many times and Cleveland seems to go on forever. My brother used to live in Cincinnati, which also feels much bigger than Columbus. Hopefully you'll do a similar video for Texas, namely which is bigger Houston or Dallas and is New York City to Washington DC actually just one huge city?

If Ohio would annex Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, we could have a 5 way royal rumble.

Cincinnati Is Very Different From The Rest Of Ohio. 💯

Columbus and Cincinnati don't feel like big cities to me. I know Columbus is the largest city, but it just doesn't feel like a big city, in my opinion. Never been to Cleveland, but it seems to me like it would have the biggest city feel of all Ohio cities. This was a fun video 👍

Northeast Ohio in general is more urban, you can drive from Canton to Cleveland and never leave a urban area. The Cuyahoga national Valley is really the only break and the cities just go around it.

Very nice. Thank you. (Being a Texan, you ought to try this analysis on Tejas...)

Actually Kyle, the largest urban center in Ohio is Lima because I choose to believe it is. Good video though

As a geography nerd outside of Ohio, this clears things up I've always had in the back of my head. I feel people outside the Midwest have trouble distinguishing three cities that begin with C amongst their location, character, and size in a region where political boundaries are blurred by secondary influences. So thank you that was awesome 😄🙏🫡

So Cincinnati is the biggest city in Ohio, got it 👍

I love seeing Cleveland and my state in general on this channel recently. Im from Cleveland and one interesting thing ive always felt is that Cincy always seems kinda southern to me vs Cleveland which has a much more north or eastern feel. Maybe thats just me. My dad grew up in Dayton and used to have quite an accent that has since faded

I'm so afraid of trees, I moved from Cincy to San Diego county. I still love Skyline chili.

As a Cincinnati native I love this analysis! Thanks for covering my home city and state this video.

I've been waiting for this video for forever

Cincinnati is my favorite citie of all time. Love all the fun little neighborhood

As someone who lives in the Miami Valley (Dayton Springfield area), I know Dayton and Cincinnati have been arguing about being considered a combined metro area on the census because of the funding that both cities would loose. At least that is what I remember seeing during the last census.

Cleveland actually has TWO down towns.The University Circle area employs about 75% as many people as downtown Cleveland-- and it is growing RAPIDLY in employment and residential population. In 25 years they predict it will employ as many people as downtown. The Circle is dominated by 3 huge hospitals, cultural & research institutions and 3 schools

Having visited all three of those cities, I concur with your assessment of the "feel". Cleveland feels like a good sized city, Cincinnati, like a small city, and Columbus like a big town.

I live in Cincinnati and agree that Cleveland feels the biggest and that Cincy and Cleveland have similar feels to their large sprawls. Columbus goes from City to nothing really fast. Thanks for the content!

Nice Ohio video Kyle, especially the Cincinnati chili and the Akron Devo references at the end. I love all forms of Skyline(s) too.

Technically being I still consider Columbus to be the largest just because it's the most populous, but I definitely feel like Cleveland is the true king of Ohio in the grand scheme of things, especially with how close Akron and Canton, even as far out as Ashtabula or Sandusky (a bit of a stretch). The history, population, and overall size and influence throughout time has been far greater imo. Just even personally, my dad is from the Akron area, and I've met multiple people from that specific area as well, compared with the other two.

I was born in Cleveland and lived there as an adult for 3 years. I visited Columbus and Cincinnati as well. Cleveland feels like the largest of the three because it was indeed a top ten city in the US at the turn of the 20th century. Owing to its oil and industrial wealth, its development and culture at times resembles more an east coast city than the other two, which are thoroughly Midwestern. It has a significant downtown whose streetwall is often used to mimic those cities. Its historic architecture, density, ethnic diversity, cultural scene, business community, patrician foundations, rich higher education offerings, and yes, sports teams all evoke the east coast to me. Which means these institutions and scenes allow Cleveland to punch above its weight in big city amenities.

A lot of people outside of Ohio assume the state is just one major cornfield. This video really highlights just how urbanized the state really is.

Here in CA there is confusion with San Jose sometimes counted as separate from SF Bay Area. Also Riverside and Inland Empire being separate from LA.

I think Florida needs one of these videos too as Jacksonville is the largest on paper but using Metro Miami is by far the winner. But Tampa and Orlando are similar in size both in city proper and metros which puts them above Jacksonville as well. This is on top of other rapidly growing metros like Lakeland and Port st lucie. As a New Yorker who grew up obviously knowing what the states biggest city was before then moving to Florida would love that. Great video as always

The census bureau is a bit whack to think that driving half an hour past farmland makes Dayton and Cincinnati one metro area. And there's an hour of farmland between Dayton and Columbus. And there's over an hour of farmland between Cncy and Columbus. And there's almost 2 hours of woods and farms between Columbus and Cleveland. My brother and I both nealy ran out of gas in the exact same spot, and he called to ask where to get gas because there was no cell service for Google maps. I said, "That's funny, because I JUST ran out of gas there last summer. And I use paper maps. Take exit 156 to a rural, 2-lane highway 67 and go 7 miles south over the hills and through the woods and there's a small town with a nice gas station." What's weird is that the only time I've ever been to Cleveland was when I missed the turn for Pennsylvania. It was super fast to go into and out of Cleveland. It felt like a small city, more like Toledo. On the other hand, Cincinnati and Columbus are wretched cities to drive through. It takes a while and there's always a ton of traffic. But, don't take my word for it. I've only driven in them for 40 years.

I've only been to Cleveland among the Ohio cities but it definitely felt very big.

Noting how you asked "which city feels the biggest walking around" and you stated Cleveland. It may be because Cleveland city was over 750k in population in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Cincinnati hit a max in the 1950s and 60s at just over 500k. And Columbus is for the first timeover 750k since the 2010s. Columbus's current population is = Cleveland's population 80 to 100 years ago. I am sure, Cleveland's area is much larger today than it was in the 1930s and 40s.

As a lifelong Clevelander, I’ve also grown to appreciate Columbus and Cincinnati. All three cities are home to giant corporations , wonderful universities , and world class healthcare.

Actually there is over 3.6 million in the Cleveland CSA. Just checked it that was from the 2020 census. That puts it way ahead of the CSA of Cincinnati. Cleveland has the biggest TV market 18th in the country which includes Akron. The Cleveland CSA is 17th. None of those statistics includes Youngstown which is a separate TV market. If you look up northeast Ohio. There is over 4 million people in the region not all figured into the Cleveland CSA. Northeast Ohio is by far the most populated region in Ohio. Cleveland has a bigger feel because of the sprawling suburbs that Columbus and Cincinnati especially Columbus don't have.

The cities history really does put a lot into perspective, Cincinnati has a lot of other areas such as Lebanon which were founded early on and don’t want to be incorporated, similarly with Cleveland, Columbus growing up later and being able to spread out has allowed it to swallow up a lot of territory, I really do love having lived in Cincinnati and Columbus

Cleveland is a “taller” city than Columbus but not larger at all. I think you have to bring into the equation that Columbus started developing in the opposite direction then the other Cs. Columbus started developing outward then inward, while Cleveland and Cincinnati was the opposite. In fact I’ll even go as far as to say Cincinnati only developed inward and forgot about the outward. That’s why when you go downtown Cincinnati it’s an absolute beautiful downtown, and in my opinion probably one of the best skylines in the country(fun fact NY city copied a lot of what’s in cincis downtown!) but its suburbs are not so developed. Cleveland’s downtown is very “tall” but the region loses 5% of its population consistently. Columbus is a interesting city because all honesty I think many thought it would be like Lansing Michigan which is why the zoning code is so old and terrible, and that’s the man in reason why it’s center seems so small city esq. once Columbus changes its zoning code then I think that big city feel will come, and besides we are comparing a city that grew during Covid which is damn near insane.