page_title: Columbus, Ohio
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Columbus, Ohio / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial view of Columbus, Ohio from the south in September 2015
context_page_description: Columbus is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a population of 898,553 as of 2019 estimates, it is the 14th-most populous city in the United States, the second-most populous city in the Midwest after Chicago, Illinois, and the third-most populous state capital after Phoenix, Arizona and Austin, Texas. It is the core city of the Columbus, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses ten counties. With a population of 2,106,541, it is Ohio's second-largest metropolitan area.
  Columbus is the county seat of Franklin County. The municipality has also annexed portions of adjoining Delaware and Fairfield counties. Columbus originated as numerous Native American settlements on the banks of the Scioto River. Franklinton, now a city neighborhood, was the first white settlement, laid out in 1797. The city was founded in 1812, at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers. It was named for explorer Christopher Columbus. The city assumed the function of state capital in 1816 and county seat in 1824.
context_section_description: The confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers is just north-west of Downtown Columbus. Several smaller tributaries course through the Columbus metropolitan area, including Alum Creek, Big Walnut Creek, and Darby Creek. Columbus is considered to have relatively flat topography thanks to a large glacier that covered most of Ohio during the Wisconsin Ice Age. However, there are sizable differences in elevation through the area, with the high point of Franklin County being 1,132 ft (345 m) above sea level near New Albany, and the low point being 670 ft (200 m) where the Scioto River leaves the county near Lockbourne. Numerous ravines near the rivers and creeks also add variety to the landscape. Tributaries to Alum Creek and the Olentangy River cut through shale, while tributaries to the Scioto River cut through limestone.
  The city has a total area of 223.11 square miles (577.85 km²), of which 217.17 square miles (562.47 km²) is land and 5.94 square miles (15.38 km²) is water. Columbus currently has the largest land area of any Ohio city. This is due to Jim Rhodes's tactic to annex suburbs while serving as mayor. As surrounding communities grew or were constructed, they came to require access to waterlines, which was under the sole control of the municipal water system. Rhodes told these communities that if they wanted water, they would have to submit to assimilation into Columbus.
caption: Downtown, 2015
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