While Cincinnati’s geography and topography help define its character – and skyline – that’s only one part of the story. Like other midwestern riverside cities, its journey features three acts: a meteoric rise as one of the nation’s powerhouse Industrial Revolution melting pots, followed by a decline in the latter half of the 20th century amid a changing global economy. Cincinnati’s complex legacy continues to shape its communities, rooted in its pre-Civil war history as a growing commercial hub and gateway to freedom for escaped slaves. In its heyday in the early 20th century, it was known as "the Paris of America" for its stunning art deco buildings. During the Great Depression, it reinvented itself as "Porkopolis" and became the center of the nation's pork-packing industry. Then it began to decline as local industries shuttered. Today, the Queen City is a diverse midsized urban enclave with the natural beauty of a riverfront community. With a competitive job market, well-rated schools and colleges, plus a lower cost of living relative to similar-sized cities, Cincy is once again attracting new residents.
Ohio’s third-largest city bridges the state's southwest border with Kentucky and isn't too far from Indiana. The Ohio River – a key to the city's success during the steamboat era and part of the reason it survived the Great Depression – forms a natural border between Ohio and Kentucky, and residents of Cincy fly into their local airport in the neighboring state. The historic John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge – named for its designer, who later built NYC’s Brooklyn Bridge – opened in 1866 and is one of five spanning the Ohio River to connect both sides.
Cincinnati’s geography and topography help define its character and offers picturesque views
Cincinnati earned the name 'Paris of America' through Art Deco icons like Union Terminal.
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Housing gains, low inventory
Cincy is headquarters to seven Fortune 500 companies, including Kroger and Procter & Gamble. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, in Corryville , is the top employer and was named the nation’s best children’s hospital in 2024.
The Cincinnati real estate market is booming, putting it in the mix with Miami in terms of annual home price gains in 2023. The data shows the average home value was around $225,000 in December 2023, a 10% net gain in 12 months. After years of population decline, the city is growing for the first time in the new millennium, adding more than 20,000 residents in 2022 alone. Known for its relative affordability, the median home price is about half the national median, keeping demand consistently high. The housing inventory crunch in Cincinnati has been exacerbated by higher interest rates, with fewer people selling and growing competition for every listing – homes can sell in less than four days. In early 2024, the available inventory was down nearly 25% from the previous year, 47% lower than 2019, before the impact of the pandemic.
Downtown's Over-The-Rhine neighborhood is filled with art deco condos and brownstones. Further up the hill, Oakley has thousands of Dutch colonials. New mansions and old estates selling for millions of dollars overlook the river from the bluffs of Hyde Park .
Unique 19th-century Italianate Townhomes can be found in West End, Cincinnati.
Victorian houses are being restored throughout the east side of Cincinnati.
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Queen City arts
Cincinnati doesn’t get a lot of hype because the Midwest is pathologically modest, but the arts and culture scene in the Queen City is worthy of it. The city has the country's oldest and largest public arts fund and is ranked first nationally in paid compensation for workers in the arts. Once named the most dangerous neighborhood in the country, Over-the-Rhine’s carefully engineered renaissance has made it a citywide hotspot for breweries and boutique shops. Elm Street is home to the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Opera. Built in 1878, the architecturally significant Cincinnati Music Hall reopened in 2017 following a $143 million renovation to restore its former glory, demonstrating a regional commitment to fostering the arts. The highlight of the city’s annual calendar of events is Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, which is the largest Oktoberfest celebration in the nation, attracting more than 700,000 visitors each year.
Cincinnati has always been a passionate sports town, and is one of the smaller cities to host professional football, baseball and soccer teams. The football and baseball teams play in stadiums along the water in City Center , creating a sports zone on game days. Former top NFL Draft pick out of LSU Joe Burrow transformed the identity of the Bengals, the local football team that struggled mightily since their inception in 1968. Burrow led the team to a Super Bowl appearance in 2021. Established in 1881, the Reds were a dominant team in baseball in the 1970s, winning two World Series championships mid-decade. The team’s performance in the modern era has produce mixed results, but a suddenly young and talented club had fans at the Great American Ballpark buzzing in the summer of 2023. Every spring means hope begins anew for baseball fans -- Opening Day includes a parade and festival, marking an unofficial holiday in Cincy.
FC Cincinnati plays in West End at TQL Stadium, which was specifically built for soccer in 2021 and also hosts national games and other events.
BLINK is a festival of light and art that takes place in Downtown, Cincinnati.
The Cincinnati Music Hall, built in 1878, showcases Orchestras and Operas in Cincinnati.
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Park access and quality
Parks are valued and outdoor spaces are cultivated in Cincinnati, which offers five regional parks, 70 neighborhood parks and 34 natural areas. In 2023, the Trust for Public Land ranked Cincy sixth among 100 measured cities for park access, quality and equity, noting that 88% of residents live within a half-mile of a park. Established in 1855, Washington Park is a city showpiece – the eight-acre urban oasis underwent a $48 million renovation before reopening to the public in July 2012. Home to the Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and the Krohn Conservatory, Eden Park is one of the most popular in the city.
Ault Park features beautiful columns at the top revealing a beautiful view of Cincinnati.
Cincinnati features many parks to enjoy a day in the sun.
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Distinct dining and drinking traditions
Cincinnati is gaining traction nationally as an emerging foodie city, despite being best known for Cincinnati chili -- a divisive signature dish that often evokes strong opinions. The Mediterranean-spiced meat sauce, with notes of cinnamon and nutmeg, is served over a heaping plate of spaghetti noodles, and may or may not be topped with beans, onions or cheddar cheese. Founded by a Greek immigrant in 1949, Skyline Chili is an Ohio-based chain now operating more than 150 locations in four states. Another regional delicacy, this one popularized by German immigrants seeking to ration meat in a foreign land – is goetta, a sausage composed primarily of pork or beef and cut with steel-cut oats. Sometimes confusingly marketed as German breakfast sausage this meat product was born and bred in Cincinnati.
Known for a distinct German heritage, the city’s culinary scene has an increasing global influence, showcased in its two most prominent markets -- Findlay and Jungle Jim’s. While bourbon is king in Kentucky, Cincinnati was built on beer. Craft breweries aren’t just a local trend, they’re a rich tradition reaching back more than 200 years. Once dubbed the Beer Capital of the World in 1890, before being beat back by prohibition, today the region is home to more than 50 breweries and the country’s only underground beer tunnel system that was used to brew and store beer. The Brewing Heritage Trail is the local authority on the beer scene, offering a series of tours at different venues and historical sites.
Nada in Cincinnati has a bright atmosphere and serves delicious Mexican cuisine.
Blue Jay Restaurant in Cincinnati has an authentic vintage Cincinnati diner atmosphere.
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35,000 students and a massive university
The Cincinnati Public Schools district is graded B-minus by Niche, but a two-star rating from a 2023 state report card indicates CPS is not meeting standards. The largest district in southwest Ohio, CPS serves more than 35,000 students in over 60 schools. The district is tackling major issues such as low graduation rates, deficiencies in early literacy and chronic absenteeism reaching as high as 46%. Most pressing, in December 2023, the district sought public input on a projected $89 million budget shortfall. Walnut Hills High School is a standout in the district, with an A-plus grade from Niche, ranking it among the best public high schools in the country. Another A-plus option, Cincinnati Country Day School promises an exceptional private education and an intimate student-teacher ratio of 9 to 1.
The University of Cincinnati is one of the largest regional employers and plays a prominent role in the city. UC is a public research university with a total enrollment of almost 50,000 students. Uniquely beautiful for an urban campus, UC has worked to increase its national profile with an architecture-forward approach to construction over the last decade. Investment in buildings designed by world-class names like Frank Gehry has contributed to encouraging growth in neighborhoods like Clifton , earning UC a place on lists of architecturally significant schools like Harvard, Yale and Notre Dame. In the Evanston neighborhood, the private Xavier University maintains a student enrollment of around 6,000. On the heels of decades of expansion, more than 60% of Xavier students now come from out of state.
Cincinnati's beloved University of Cincinnati is located in Clifton.
Xavier University is a top educational institution in the country located in Cincinnati.
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Bridges mean bottlenecks
Cincinnati is encircled by the I-275 beltway, which links it to the greater region and several interstates, as well as the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport 15 miles to the southwest. I-75 runs south to Kentucky, I-71 runs northeast to Columbus and I-74 runs northwest to Indianapolis. Traffic in the metro area depends on the time of day, but it’s not known for crippling gridlock at all hours. That said, the city has bridges, and bridges mean bottlenecks. Cincinnati has no fewer than three nationally ranked bottlenecks – in 2021, the American Transportation Research Institute deemed the I-71 and I-75 junction at the Brent Spence Bridge, the second worst in the nation.
Most residents rely on motor vehicles to get around, but there are alternatives, including Metro bus service. The Cincinnati Bell Connector is an electric streetcar that runs on a 4-mile loop connecting the Banks and Over-the-Rhine neighborhoods via the central business district – the service is free and operates 365 days a year. The city can also be explored using rideshare services and the less practical horse-drawn carriage.
Crime in decline, long-term climate risk
Data from the Cincinnati Police Department shows that violent crime in the city has trended lower than the national average for decades. In 2022, violent crimes were down overall, hitting an all-time low. However, property crimes increased by 13% from 2021 to 2022, largely due to a big increase in auto thefts, up 50% compared to the five-year average. From 2023 to 2024, overall crime rates dropped by 4.5%.
Cincy experiences considerable snowfall during winter and frequent rainstorms in summer. The city is protected from flooding by floodwalls, channels and dams, but due to its topography and position along the Ohio River, the flood risk in Cincinnati is inherent and growing. Extreme flooding events have been documented since the 1770s, with the most recent example coming during the historic 2018 season. Research suggests the threat to Cincinnati’s infrastructure is more than double the national average. Climate science suggests rain events will continue to increase in intensity, making the soaring cost of flood insurance a mandatory expense for a growing number of homeowners along increasingly swollen rivers and streams.
The city showed that climate change is a big consideration in its long-term planning with the release of the Green Cincinnati Plan in 2023. The goals outlined in the plan include truly ambitious aims like becoming 100% carbon neutral by 2050, and the more practical, like increasing tree canopy in neighborhoods with the highest urban heat island effect. Grant-funded positions are spearheading efforts to train 4,000 residents in green technology jobs, to develop projects that increase resilience to extreme weather events and accelerate the city’s transition to renewable energy and electrification.
Disclaimer: Certain information contained herein is derived from information provided by parties other than Homes.com. Our sources include: Accuweather, Public Records and Neustar. All information provided is deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed to be accurate and should be independently verified.
