Business
Business
As Ohio’s capital city, Columbus serves as the headquarters for the state and for some big businesses and large employers. There are five Fortune 500 and 16 Fortune 1000 businesses located in Columbus that employee thousands of local professionals.
As a hub for new graduates (the biggest age group in Columbus are 25–29-year-olds, according to Neilsburg) and home to the biggest university in the state (The Ohio State University has 46,000 undergraduate students annually), it is no wonder that so many businesses have made Columbus their home.
– Bryn Dippold
Fortune 500 Companies in Columbus
Columbus has five Fortune 500 companies in its region, including Cardinal Health, Nationwide, American Electric Power, Huntington Bancshares and Bath & Body Works.
Cardinal Health, which is headquartered in the suburb of Dublin, is a pharmaceutical distributor, global manufacturer and distributor of medical and laboratory products, and a provider of performance and data solution for health care facilities, according to its website. The company employs almost 48,000 workers globally and serves nearly 90% of U.S. hospitals.
Nationwide is an insurance and financial services company that has 25,000 employees and is currently ranked No. 21 on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.” American Electric Power is an electric energy company and one of the largest in the U.S. with 17,000 employees.
Huntington Bancshares (more commonly known as Huntington Bank) has over 25,000 employees and is one of the largest banks in the United States. Bath & Body Works, a retail company with storefronts in malls across the country, has 57,000 employees across the country and was formerly a part of L Brands, which previously owned and operated Abercrombie & Fitch and Victoria’s Secret, two brands that are also headquartered in Columbus.
Some companies that aren’t headquartered in Columbus but serve as major employers are JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Amazon.
As of February 2024, the largest areas of employment in Columbus were professional and business services, government, education and health services, retail and trade, and leisure and hospitality.
Business Resources
For big businesses and small, there are a variety of resources available in Columbus, including a convenient 24-hour Vendor Services portal, the Mayor’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and The Department of Building and Zoning Services for information on obtaining permits, licenses, inspections, zoning and more. The Columbus Metropolitan Library also has a Business and Nonprofit Resource Center, available for small businesses and nonprofits.