Columbia is a somewhat small borough located in the state of Pennsylvania. With a population of 10,126 people and five associated neighborhoods, Columbia is the 104th largest community in Pennsylvania. Much of the housing stock in Columbia was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic boroughs in the country.Because occupations involving physical labor dominate the local economy, Columbia is generally considered to be a blue-collar town. 36.23% of the Columbia workforce is employed in blue-collar occupations, compared to the national average of 27.7%. Overall, Columbia is a borough of sales and office workers, transportation and shipping workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Columbia who work in office and administrative support (13.78%), sales jobs (10.80%), and food service (6.68%). In terms of college education, the citizens of Columbia rank slightly lower than the national average. 16.70% of adults 25 and older in Columbia have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree, while 21.84% of adults have a 4-year degree or higher in the average American community. The per capita income in Columbia in 2022 was $30,615, which is lower middle income relative to Pennsylvania, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $122,460 for a family of four. However, Columbia contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Columbia is a very ethnically-diverse borough. 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. Columbia also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 23.45% of the borough’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Columbia include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Polish. The most common language spoken in Columbia is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.
