// CITY_ASSESSMENT

How smart is Columbus?

Columbus scores 33% against the UN ISO-aligned smart city framework in 2026 — ranked #201 of 297 cities assessed, with every finding traceable to a public source.

Smart score

33%

Rank

#201 / 297

Criteria present

15 / 86

Evidence coverage

47.7%

Columbus's smart city score by area

Data, Digital & Smart Foundation64%

2 present · 5 partial · 0 absent · 8 not assessed

Mobility & Transport57%

2 present · 4 partial · 1 absent · 5 not assessed

Environment, Energy & Climate69%

3 present · 5 partial · 0 absent · 5 not assessed

Infrastructure, Water & Waste75%

3 present · 3 partial · 0 absent · 5 not assessed

Health, Education, Safety & Inclusion60%

1 present · 4 partial · 0 absent · 8 not assessed

Economy, Innovation & Employment75%

2 present · 2 partial · 0 absent · 4 not assessed

Governance, Resilience & Operating Model70%

2 present · 3 partial · 0 absent · 9 not assessed

Where Columbus is strong

  • Air Quality & Monitoring
  • Open Data & Transparency
  • Culture, Tourism & Recreation
  • Public Transport & Real-Time Information
  • Green Space & Biodiversity

Where the gaps are

  • Active & Shared Mobility
  • Public Safety & Emergency
  • Urban Data Platform & Digital Twin
  • Climate Action & Emissions
  • Education & Digital Skills

Evidence highlights

Open Data & Transparency · Official open data portal

The City of Columbus operates an official open data portal, as evidenced by the 'opendata.columbus.gov' domain, a dcat:Catalog published by 'City of Columbus Maps & Apps', and 'GIS Open Data Columbus, OH' owned by 'ColumbusOhioGIS'.

https://opendata.columbus.gov/api/feed/dcat-us/1.1.json

Open Data & Transparency · Programmatic API access

The Columbus open data platform provides programmatic API access, with URLs containing '/api/' and an explicit mention of an OpenAPI definition for its search API.

https://opendata.columbus.gov/api/feed/dcat-us/1.1.json

Public Transport & Real-Time Information · Public transport network

COTA (Central Ohio Transit Authority) operates a public transportation network in the Columbus area, consisting of 39 bus lines and serving 2,947 stops or stations.

https://transitapp.com/en/region/columbus/cota

Air Quality & Monitoring · Air-quality monitoring network

MORPC and Franklin County Public Health have partnered to establish the Community Led Enhanced Air Quality Network (CLEAN) in Franklin County, which includes Columbus, to measure air pollution neighborhood-by-neighborhood using air quality sensors. An inter…

https://www.morpc.org/program-service/air-quality/

About this assessment

Columbus was assessed against the 86 criteria of the UN ISO-aligned smart city framework on 2026-07-10 by AI agents gathering evidence from official public sources. Each criterion is marked present, partial or absent, and every finding links to where it was found. Scores refresh continuously as cities publish new evidence.