I would recommend Columbus over Cincinnati because of our population and job growth.

What were the population demographics in the area and the usual 1, 3, and 5 mile radius?  

I could be wrong but When I hear people say that if you buy at 20 it will always be worth 20 I can’t help but wonder about that idea when the cost of lumber and supplies keeps going up crazy at my Home Depot and the good areas with high rents keep getting pushed up and taxed up making it unaffordable to most , then I consider our population .we double in size in this country every few decades .seems  They keep making people but not anymore land .

I can also get anywhere from a 1/4 to 1 acre of land downtown ranging from 4K to 8k. keep in mind where I live has a population of around 8,800 people but is within 1 hr or less of major cities.

The population as well.

Overall, I'm looking for an area that will provide a reasonable cap rate, decent population growth, and affordability.

I live in Pueblo West and work in Canon City, but I can't say I'm necessarily in love with either of those towns and am inclined to think Colorado Springs (which is a little farther for me but still within driving distance) may be a better market for either flipping houses or long term investing due to better schools, lower crime rates, faster population growth, more jobs, nearer to Denver, etc. 

One area is an up and comming area with great appreciation, the city is always growing, a train has just been built, the salary is above average and the city is always growing in population.

On average, we do want to in denser, more populated settings.I do agree that a huge number of baby boomers do not have enough saved to retire when they want to.

We focus on buying multi family properties and the markets we target (ATL being one of them) have strong job and population growth numbers for the next five years.