Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Missouri. Columbia is a Midwestern college town, home to the University of Missouri, a major research institution also known as MU or Mizzou. In addition to the university and surrounding Downtown Columbia are Stephens College and Columbia College, giving the city its educational focus and nearly 40,000 college students. It is the principal city of the Columbia metropolitan area, population 215,811, and the central city of the nine-county Columbia–Jefferson City–Moberly combined statistical area with 415,747 residents. The city is the fastest-growing municipality in Missouri, with a growth of almost 40% since 2000, and a population estimated at 130,000 in 2024. Columbia is among the most-educated cities in the United States with about half of citizens being college graduates and about a quarter holding advance degrees.
Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, is the capital of the U.S. state of Missouri. It had a population of 43,228 at the 2020 census, ranking as the 16th most populous city in the state. It is also the county seat of Cole County and the principal city of the Jefferson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, the second-most-populous metropolitan area in Mid-Missouri and the fifth-largest in the state. It part of the 9-county Columbia–Jefferson City–Moberly combined statistical area with 415,747 residents. Most of the city is in Cole County, with a small northern section extending into adjacent Callaway County.
Randolph County is a county in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,716. Its county seat is Huntsville. The county was organized January 22, 1829, and named for U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator John Randolph of Roanoke, Virginia.
Howard County is located in the U.S. state of Missouri, with its southern border formed by the Missouri River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,151. Its county seat is Fayette.
Cooper County is located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 17,103. Its county seat is Boonville. The county was organized December 17, 1818, and named for Sarshell Cooper, a frontier settler who was killed by Native Americans near Arrow Rock in 1814. It is a part of the Columbia, Missouri metropolitan area.
Boone County is located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Centrally located the state's Mid-Missouri region, its county seat is in Columbia, which is Missouri's fourth-largest city and location of the University of Missouri. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the county's population was listed as 183,610, making it the state's eighth-most populous county. The county was organized November 16, 1820, removed from the former larger Howard County of the old federal Missouri Territory of 1812-1821, and named for the famous Western explorer and settler of Kentucky, then recently deceased Daniel Boone (1734-1820), whose kin largely populated the Boonslick area, having arrived in the 1810s on the Boone's Lick Road.
Audrain County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,962. Its county seat is Mexico. The county was organized December 13, 1836, and named for Colonel James Hunter Audrain of the War of 1812 and who later was elected to the state legislature.
Mexico, formerly known as New Mexico, is a city in and the county seat of Audrain County, Missouri, United States. It is home to the Missouri Military Academy and annually hosts the Miss Missouri Pageant. The city's population was 11,469 at the 2020 census. The micropolitan statistical area consists of Audrain County. It is a part of the Columbia, Missouri metropolitan area.
Boonville is a city and the county seat of Cooper County, Missouri, United States. The population was 7,964 at the 2020 census. The city was the site of a skirmish early in the Civil War, on July 17, 1861. Union forces defeated the Missouri State Guard in the first Battle of Boonville. It is part of the Columbia, Missouri metropolitan area.
Moberly is a city in Randolph County, Missouri, United States. The population was 13,783 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Columbia metropolitan area and the 9-county Columbia–Jefferson City–Moberly combined statistical area that has 415,747 residents.
Centralia is a city in Boone County in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 4,541 at the 2020 census, with an estimated population of 4,244 in 2018. A very small portion of the city lies in Audrain County.
Vandalia is a city in northeastern Audrain and extending into southeastern Ralls Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 3,553 at the 2020 census, which includes about 1,000 prisoners incarcerated at the prison located within the city limits.
The Jefferson City metropolitan statistical area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of four counties – Cole, Callaway, Moniteau, and Osage – in central Missouri anchored by the city of Jefferson City. As of the 2020 census, the MSA had a population of 150,316. The Jefferson City MSA consists of four counties, and borders the Columbia metropolitan area to the north.
Mid-Missouri is a loosely-defined region comprising the central area of the U.S. state of Missouri. The region's largest city is Columbia ; the Missouri state capital, Jefferson City, and the University of Missouri are also located here. The region also includes portions of the Lake of the Ozarks, the Ozark Mountains, and the Missouri Rhineland. Mid-Missouri is centered on two contiguous metropolitan areas: the Columbia Metropolitan Area and the Jefferson City Metropolitan Area, which together have a population of over 400,000.
Metro Dayton or the Miami Valley, or more formally the Dayton–Kettering–Beavercreek, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of three counties in the Miami Valley region of Ohio and is anchored by the city of Dayton. As of 2020, it is the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Ohio and the 73rd-largest metropolitan area by population in the United States with a population of 814,049.
The South Bend–Mishawaka Metropolitan Statistical Area, sometimes referred to as Michiana, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of two counties – one in northern Indiana and one in southwest Michigan (Cass), anchored by the cities of South Bend and Mishawaka in Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the MSA had a population of 319,224.
The Bloomsburg–Berwick Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of two counties in Pennsylvania, anchored by the town of Bloomsburg and the borough of Berwick. As of the 2010 census, the MSA had a population of 85,562.
The Madison, Wisconsin, metropolitan area, also known as Greater Madison, is the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Madison, Wisconsin. Madison is the state capital of Wisconsin and is Wisconsin's second largest city, and the metropolitan area is also the state's second largest which the Madison MSA borders to its east.
The Kokomo Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of Howard County in Indiana. Howard County had a population estimate of 83,831 in 2023. Kokomo is also the principal city of the area known as North Central Indiana, the area around Kokomo with economic ties. The six county area including Cass, Clinton, Fulton, Howard, Miami, and Tipton counties had population of 228,331 people in 2010.
National Weather Service St. Louis is the National Weather Service office located in St. Charles, Missouri, just outside St. Louis, Missouri. There are 46 counties in its County Warning Area (CWA). Some of the cities in its CWA are Columbia, Farmington, Hannibal and Jefferson City in Missouri, and Belleville, Centralia, Edwardsville, and Quincy in Illinois.
United States 
Missouri 
Columbia, Missouri 
