Columbia is a very small city located in the state of Kentucky. With a population of 4,846 people and seven associated neighborhoods, Columbia is the 89th largest community in Kentucky.Unlike some cities, Columbia isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Columbia are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. 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 healthcare (11.49%), office and administrative support (10.51%), and sales jobs (9.78%). One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 16.02% 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 a small town where college students really create the town feel and character. So many small towns have lost population over the last 20-30 years that having the local college presence in the Columbia area, with all of the energy of the students filling area dorms and apartments each fall, really helps Columbia maintain a good 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. One of the benefits of Columbia is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 17.93 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result. Being a small city, Columbia does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.The percentage of adults in Columbia who are college-educated is close to the national average for all communities of 21.84%: 19.38% of the adults 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.
