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Columbus Is Quietly Winning the Jobs Race

For all the talk about whether Columbus is about to become a major American city, the employment numbers are starting to suggest we may already be living through the part people will eventually point back to.

From March 2025 to March 2026, the Columbus metro added nearly 12,000 jobs, an increase of about 1.1%.

That may not sound explosive until you compare it with the rest of the country.

National employment grew just 0.1% over that same period, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Across Ohio, employment actually fell 0.2%. Franklin County still managed to grow employment by 0.6%, while much of the state went the other direction.

Then there is Licking County.

The county immediately east of Franklin County, and home to much of Central Ohio's ongoing industrial development, posted 3.6% job growth between March 2025 and March 2026.

That wasn't just good for Ohio.

It was the highest employment growth rate among all 376 of the nation's largest counties measured by the BLS.

Licking County reached about 77,000 jobs, with its largest gains coming from trade, transportation and utilities.

For comparison, Monterey County, California came in second at 3.4%.

Central Ohio has spent the last several years collecting gigantic economic-development announcements like Pokémon cards. Intel, Honda and LG, data centers, logistics operations, advanced manufacturing projects and all the suppliers, contractors and businesses that follow them.

The important part now is that some of that promised economic activity is beginning to show up in actual employment numbers.

And Columbus isn't growing in isolation. The increasingly important story is the larger region stretching from Franklin County into Delaware and Licking counties.

Franklin County remains Ohio's largest employment center with nearly 785,000 jobs, but some of the fastest percentage growth is happening around it.

Which creates a pretty interesting situation.

Ohio as a whole can lose jobs while Central Ohio adds them. The national job market can crawl while Columbus keeps moving.

There are still plenty of questions about infrastructure, housing and whether the region can comfortably absorb all of this growth.

Funny enough, that brings us directly to Worthington.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

What was Columbus’ first public park?
A. Schiller Park
B. Goodale Park
C. Franklin Park
D. Whetstone Park

Worthington Would Like More Housing. Just Maybe Not That Housing.

Central Ohio has spent years talking about its housing shortage.

Then somebody proposes 246 homes and everybody remembers that housing has to physically go somewhere.

The latest example is unfolding in Worthington, where Elford Development wants to redevelop about 20.4 acres at 445 E. Granville Road, part of the former Harding Hospital and current Boundless campus.

The proposal calls for 246 residential units, mostly apartments spread across two- and three-story buildings, plus two single-family lots.

The apartment mix would be roughly 60% one-bedroom, 30% two-bedroom and 10% three-bedroom units. The development would also include an 11-foot-wide multi-use path through the property. Vehicle access would come from East Granville Road, with no normal access onto Indianola Avenue.

This was not exactly slipped through city government at 4:59 on a Friday.

Worthington's Municipal Planning Commission considered the proposal across several meetings beginning in January. It ultimately recommended approval 4-1 in June, and Worthington City Council approved the rezoning in July.

But some nearby residents, particularly in Colonial Hills, argue that the project is still too dense and could worsen traffic and change the character of the surrounding neighborhood.

A group called Democracy Before Developers is now trying to force a referendum on the rezoning.

And that is where this otherwise pretty normal suburban development fight gets much more interesting.

Ohio recently changed the rules.

The state's latest budget increased the number of signatures required for many local referendum petitions from 10% to 35% of the voters who participated in the previous gubernatorial election.

Worthington does not currently have its own charter language establishing a lower requirement, meaning residents challenging the development are staring at a dramatically higher bar than they would have faced before the change.

Residents have already pushed a separate Worthington charter amendment concerning referendum signature requirements onto the November 3 ballot.

So one 20-acre development has now become a housing debate, traffic debate, zoning debate and voting-rights debate simultaneously.

Which feels appropriately Central Ohio in 2026.

The region needs more housing because it keeps adding people and jobs. Developers respond by proposing more housing. Existing residents then have completely legitimate questions about traffic, density and neighborhood impact.

There isn't a neat villain in that equation.

But there is a larger reality Worthington, Columbus and nearly every suburb around them will keep running into:

Growth is much easier to support in theory than it is when the bulldozers show up down the street.

This 148-Year-Old Jail Might Become a Speakeasy

Meanwhile in Delaware, someone looked at an old jail full of iron-barred cells and thought:

You know what this needs? Cocktails.

The Historic Jail and Sheriff's Residence at 20 W. Central Avenue has been sold to Westwood Collective principal Andy Warnock, a Delaware native who plans to give the building another life while preserving its historic features.

And this is not some little holding cell behind an old courthouse.

The 8,500-square-foot building was constructed in 1878, operated as a jail until 1988, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

Architect David Gibbs designed the building primarily in the Italianate style, with Gothic Revival and Second Empire details.

It also contains 18 original jail cells, 16 built for men and two for women.

But the strangest part of the building may be how the jail itself operated.

It was built during an era of prison reform associated with Ohio Gov. Rutherford B. Hayes, who happened to be born and raised in Delaware.

The sheriff and his family actually lived inside the complex.

The sheriff's wife served as the jail's "Matron," preparing meals and helping care for prisoners.

So imagine your spouse saying they got a new job and the company housing comes with 18 jail cells.

Westwood plans to convert the former residential portion into eight private offices, along with a kitchenette, conference room and lounge.

The cells themselves will come later.

Ideas being considered include an art gallery, maker space or, gloriously, a Prohibition-era speakeasy inside the former jail.

The building has already had a surprisingly strange retirement.

The Delaware County Historical Society acquired it in 2021, operated tours and exhibits there, hosted paranormal investigations and even turned it into a wedding venue.

On Halloween 2025, nine couples got married inside the old jail, with courthouse employees dressing in costumes and decorating the cells.

Now it may become offices and a bar.

Which is arguably the ideal fate for an old Central Ohio government building.

After 110 years of locking people in, it might finally specialize in convincing people to stay voluntarily.

Trivia Answer D. Answer: B. Goodale Park. Dr. Lincoln Goodale donated the land to Columbus in 1851, making it the city’s first park. He was also Columbus’ first physician.