Columbus’ job growth is expected to underperform the U.S. for the fourth consecutive year in 2025.
Economist Bill LaFayette told local media that one problem is a mismatch between the skills employers need and those that applicants possess. As local job growth has been muted and unemployment has risen, the number of job listings has increased, indicating a shortage of available jobs and a lack of qualified workers.
The two industries expected to see the most growth in 2025 are healthcare and construction. Retail, professional, and business services, as well as manufacturing, transportation, and utilities, are expected to experience job losses.
Strengths
Columbus’ new home pending sales index posted mostly YOY gains that strengthened during the second half of 2024. Columbus’ annualized contract new home sales ended 2024 higher than 2023 for both detached and attached products, with strong growth in attached sales.
Weaknesses
In late February, Intel announced it would not open its semiconductor chip plants in Licking County until at least 2030 or 2031. The plants have experienced multiple delays. Originally slated to open in 2025, last year Intel had pushed the timeline to 2027/2028.
Supply
Quarterly housing starts increased 41.0% over a year ago, while the number of available Vacant Developed Lots sits at 6,168, up 10.2% over the same quarter last year. In terms of supply and demand balance, the market area is 0.63% oversupplied.
Sales
New home sales in the metropolitan area decreased 0.4% year-over-year to an annualized rate of 4,448 units in March. Existing home closings for the 12-month period ending in February posted a year-over-year decline of 2.6% to an annualized rate of 29,347 units. Of those, 5,141 were attached units and 23,148 were detached.
Prices
The average list price for a new detached home in the Columbus region increased 7.7% from 2024 to $483,297 in April, while the average list price for a new attached home increased 2.8% over the same period to $364,919—homes priced under $250,000 experienced the most closing activity over the past year. The new home affordability ratio for a detached home reached 45.9% in February.
Economy
Total nonfarm employment in the metropolitan area increased 1.1% from the same period last year to 1,176,200 payrolls in Mar. 2025. There were approximately 4,300 more jobs in Mar. 2025 compared to the previous month. The local unemployment rate rose to 4.5% in March, up from 4.3% in the previous month. March’s jobless rate is higher than it was this time last year, when it stood at 3.8%. Zonda forecasts the region’s unemployment rate will finish the year at 3.5%.
Community
The current population for the area is approximately 2,282,540 people. The population is projected to increase by 1.1% in 2025. There are approximately 892,980 households in the region, representing a 1.1% year-over-year increase. Forecasts indicate that current household formation is expected to grow at an annual rate of 2.8% by 2028. Incomes increased by 6.2% from the previous year to $88,999.
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