19 Reasons Why You Need To Move To Columbus, Ohio

Let’s start this list off right by saying that Columbus is the 15th largest city in the United States with more than 822,000 people living here. And, as you may already know, large cities are awesome.

If you are a hipster, pretend to be a hipster, enjoy anything remotely hipster-esque, or are a fun person in the slightest, you will find something to do here. It’s essentially a long street with bars, restaurants, and quirky shops for you to explore. The first Saturday of every month features the Gallery Hop, but if you can’t make it there is a hearty amount of street art and graffiti. Quoted from the website: “From candle making to mead tasting, the Short North has plenty of interesting activities for visitors.”

I really had to stop myself from making #2-19 about all of the food you can get in Columbus. We don’t really have a particular type of cuisine, because we have everything. Grab a Thurmanator (essentially a burger with a HAM SANDWICH on top) from Thurman’s Cafe, a vegan chili dog from Dirty Frank’s, a slice of pizza at Late Night Slice, a cream puff at Schmidt’s, or anything from our fantastic ethnic food scene. We even have the ever-popular North Market, which is basically a shopping mall for food.

There’s a Buzzfeed article about The Best Damn Food in the Land found in Columbus, and you would not be wrong to go check that out. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

We LOVE festivals. From one of the biggest Pride festivals in the nation, to ComFest, to the Ohio State Fair, we know what we’re doing here. We also have the Dublin Irish Festival (the second largest Irish festival in the world), a food truck festival, Independents' Day, a Greek festival, the Columbus Arts Festival, and something called a Hot Rod Hula Hop that I will now be attending. You know the saying, there’s someone out there for everyone? That’s what we have.. except festivals.

Columbus was named one of the seven smartest cities in the world by The Intelligent Communities Forum. There must be something in the water.. or our incredible colleges, cultural events and library systems.

We have approximately 9374 bars (give or take) and plenty of clubs. Plus, Columbus is a college town, so you know there’s gotta be things to do at night. I’ve heard good things about the Clampdown, but really.. if you just park your car and walk down the Short North, you will find whatever you want and need.

Yes, the kiddos can come too! Remember when I said we are a smart city? Well, Columbus is home to Cosi, where kids literally get to play with science. You can lift a car, pedal across a tightrope, play with gadgets, and solve mysteries. If that doesn’t excite you (which it should), there are tons of parks and free movies series to take the kids to when they are complaining about how boring summer is, not to mention a handful of water parks and museums. We also have nationally-ranked Nationwide Children’s Hospital with a network of urgent cares and close to home locations all over the place.

German Village is actually incredibly adorable. It has plenty of authentic German food (duh), so you can grab bratwurst and cream puffs and whatever your little German heart desires. It is also home to Schiller Park; you can explore the park or even catch a free show put on by the Actor’s Theatre. You can also explore the always fun Oktoberfest once a year. Did I mention the cream puffs? THINK OF THE CREAM PUFFS.

I wish I could formulate a good enough sentence to tell you how fanfreakingtastic the art scene in Columbus is, but I can’t do it if you’ve never been to the Columbus Museum of Art. Or the Wexner Center. Or the Short North Arts district (Gallery Hop, I say!). Or the Columbus Arts Festival. Not to mention the Columbus College of Art and Design, which brings in the best young artists around.

More into theatre, are you? Great! Me too! With the Ohio Theatre and the Palace Theatre, we get tons of traveling shows and musicals. One of my personal favorites is Shadowbox Live, the largest residential theater company in the US, which will always put on one helluva show. They also contribute to the art education in Columbus, so I promise that this scene will be around forever.

There’s a reason our zoo graces “Top 10 Best Zoos in America” lists everywhere; it really is that great. I have never been disappointed after a visit to the zoo, because there is so much to do and so much to see. The new Heart of Africa exhibit opened with some spectacular habitats of giraffes (YAY), lions and more. Plus we have our own very adorable Jungle Jack.

Ohio State fans are insane. Seriously, if you’ve ever tried to battle your way through game-day traffic you may have an idea just how serious football is here. We do have other sports teams, including the Columbus Blue Jackets, Columbus Crew, and the Clippers. In fact, our baseball stadium won Ballpark of the Year. So take that, Yankees.

If you have never been to the Book Loft in German Village, I would highly suggest dropping everything you are doing right now and going to pay it a visit. It is a bookstore meets Harry-Potter-inspired-maze, and you will find everything you didn’t know you needed there. Not to mention, our library system consistently receives top ratings and has a National Medal for Museum and Library. Also, here’s a picture of OSU’s biggest library, because I am in love with it.

Columbus is an incredibly open-minded city, and we have a lot to offer to the LGBT community. In fact, the New York Times went so far as to establish us as the gay Mecca of the Midwest. With Stonewall Columbus actively preserving the gay community, the Columbus Gay Men’s Chorus singing straight to our souls, and a giant Gay Pride Festival held annually (George Takei led our parade, for goodness sake), this is the place to be.

Look, I’m just going to say it. We have Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams so we win. And I’m lactose intolerant, so I know good ice cream. Let me list off some of their flavors. Roasted strawberry buttermilk. Cantaloupe & sun tea sorbet. Askinosie dark milk chocolate. Salty caramel. THE MILKIEST CHOCOLATE IN THE WORLD. Have we reached some sort of agreement yet? If you aren’t into quirky ice cream flavors, we also have Graeters. And yes, I have bought a pint of their ice cream and eaten it in one sitting. Let’s move on.

Promowest brings in the indie and obscure hits to the ALWAYS fantastic LC Pavillion, while Nationwide Arena brings in the giant shows and concerts. If you like music, Columbus usually pops up on the tour locations. We have plenty of music festivals, including the CD 102.5 Summerfest, and the local music scene isn’t too shabby either.

Oh that? That’s just Big Run Park in Columbus being all pretty and such. We also have the Columbus Park of Roses, Schiller Park in German Village, and the Topiary Park, which is a landscape version of a painting (of a landscape. We are one with the full circles, we are).

Nationwide Insurance and Victoria’s Secret are both based in Columbus, as well as a variety of other companies. We also have a ton of hospitals (here’s looking at you, RNs), and a 4.3% unemployment rate (way under the national average: 6.1%). Let us hire you.

Obviously the Ohio State University needs a spot on this list, as it is one of the largest public universities in the country. It is definitely a great school, leading in research and academics.

Maybe you didn't know that there are also other schools scattered around Columbus. Anyone interested in music or nursing or what have you could really benefit from Capital University (speaking of which, go to the Christmas Festival at Capital and let the Chapel Choir sing to you. I’m asking politely now, but.. really). We also have Ohio Dominican, Otterbein University, and a handful of well-known community and technical colleges to choose from. Aside from undergrad, we have two great law schools at OSU and Capital, and the OSU Medical School is just tops

Okay, so I have zero statistics or data to back this up. But I did find this picture of a nice man in Columbus (Michael Symon of B Spot Burgers, to be exact) and we are in the Midwest. So please forgive me.