"A great city is not merely a collection of buildings. It is a place of connections. At its simplest, a connection can be a bike path that connects a neighborhood to the waterfront or a bus line that connects people to jobs. At its most fundamental, a connection can be a shared space - an urban plaza, a neighborhood park, a community institution or even a coffee shop - that connects people to one another in a way that creates a sense of 'place' and a sense of belonging - that elusive but enduring thing that we call a 'community.'
Cleveland is a great city, a place of connections - an evolving community, vibrant and viable, where we can all belong."
-adapted from the Connecting Cleveland 2020 Citywide Plan
In 2000, Cleveland's population totaled 478,403. Cleveland is the county seat for Cuyahoga County, Ohio's most populated county at 1.4 million residents. Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are part of the Cleveland/Akron/Elyria metropolitan statistical area, the nation's 14th largest MSA at more than 2.9 million people.
Get to Know Cleveland - Arts, Sports, Culture
In addition to professional sports, natural history, automotive and art museums and the performing/theatrical arts, considered some of the best in the country, there are more than 30 institutions of higher learning within an hours drive of downtown Cleveland.
- NOCHE - The Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education is a consortium of 24 public and private colleges and universities in the 13-county region of Northeast Ohio. These include large research-based universities, a number of mid-sized schools with graduate programs, distinguished liberal arts colleges, community colleges, and several specialized schools focused on a single academic discipline or professional field.