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.

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.

A relatively large number of people in Columbia telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 9.57% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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.

Combining city textures and college town sensibilities, Columbia really has a nice blend of characteristics. While not a huge city, Columbia is big enough to offer a healthy dose of diversion, opportunity, and amenity to its residents and to the thousands of college students who descend on it every fall. Its size and diversity makes Columbia more than just a college town, but removing the students from the equation would undeniably change Columbia’s character and quality of life.

Not only is Columbia a city with many college students, but it also retains many recent graduates who are looking to start new careers, shaping the character of the city into a place that is geared toward, and considered attractive to, many single, educated people. Many singles consider Columbia a good place to live without being in a really big city, with opportunities for friendships and fun with others like themselves.

One of the benefits of Columbia is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 18.21 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.

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Columbia, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Columbia is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 56.49% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 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.