Living in South Hilltop / Westgate, Columbus: Homes, Rent, and Complaints
South Hilltop is the part of the Hilltop south of West Broad Street, centered on Sullivant Avenue, and it takes in Westgate, the 1920s neighborhood of bungalows and Cape Cods around Westgate Park.
About 3 in 10 homes were built before 1940, and about half are rented. Homes cost less than in most of Columbus, and rent is lower. Encampment complaints, mostly people camping in tents, empty houses, garages, and lots, come up more often than in most of Columbus.
Check an address in South Hilltop / Westgate
See what has been reported at that address, the same building, and the block around it.
Free · no account needed
What the homes are like in South Hilltop / Westgate
South Hilltop / Westgate is one of the older parts of Columbus. About 3 in 10 homes here were built before 1940, against about 1 in 10 across Columbus. About half of the rentals here are single-family houses, against about a quarter across Columbus.
| South Hilltop | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| Rented | 51% | 56% |
| Single-family houses | 72% | 55% |
| Rentals that are houses | 50% | 27% |
| Built before 1940 | 31% | 12% |
| Built before 1980 | 86% | 50% |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income | 52% | 47% |
Census 2020–2024 medians in 2024 dollars: what people already living here paid or think their home is worth. Today’s listings usually ask more. Use these to compare places, not to budget.
All housing numbers for South Hilltop / Westgate
From the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 2020–2024 five-year estimates, for the same map area as the reports on this page. These are survey estimates, rounded. Small areas have wider margins of error. * Low confidence: the survey’s margin of error is wide for this number here.
| Measure | Here | Columbus |
|---|---|---|
| Homes | ||
| Homes (housing units) | 14,470 | 425,180 |
| Rented | 51% | 56% |
| Lived in by the owner | 49% | 44% |
| Empty (any reason) | 10% | 8% |
| Empty and for rent | 2%* | 2% |
| Empty and for sale | 0%* | 0% |
| Empty for other reasons | 7% | 4% |
| Buildings | ||
| Single-family houses | 72% | 55% |
| 2 to 4 units | 11% | 13% |
| 5 to 19 units | 12% | 20% |
| 20 or more units | 4% | 12% |
| Mobile homes and other | 1%* | 1% |
| Rentals that are single-family houses | 50% | 27% |
| Age | ||
| Built before 1940 | 31% | 12% |
| Built 1940 to 1979 | 55% | 38% |
| Built 1980 to 1999 | 7% | 26% |
| Built 2000 or later | 7% | 24% |
| Typical year built | 1953 | 1980 |
| Costs | ||
| Typical rent, with utilities | $1,100 | $1,300 |
| Renters spending 30%+ of income on rent | 52% | 47% |
| Renters spending 50%+ of income on rent | 31% | 23% |
| Typical home value (owner estimate) | $175,000 | $250,000 |
| Who stays | ||
| Renters who moved in 2020 or later | 44% | 50% |
| Owners who moved in before 2010 | 46% | 43% |
| Conditions | ||
| More than one person per room | 3%* | 3% |
| Missing complete plumbing | 3% | 1% |
| Missing a complete kitchen | 4% | 2% |
Renting or buying in South Hilltop / Westgate
Questions worth asking before you sign, based on the homes and the records here.
What neighbors report in South Hilltop / Westgate
From 6,971 complaints filed with the city, January 2025 to September 2026.
See every complaint in Columbus on the map
About 81,000 complaints across the city, including 6,971 in South Hilltop / Westgate, plotted block by block. Filter by problem, search any address, or zoom in to any street.
How do reports in South Hilltop / Westgate compare with the rest of Columbus?
Show the detailed stats for all 16 categories
Every category with at least 5 reports here. Category names link to the citywide guide.
| Category | vs citywide | Trend · 2026 vs 2025 | By month · Jan – Dec |
|---|---|---|---|
Encampment 154 reports · 2.2% of all |
1.4× | → Steady | |
Trash 1,791 reports · 25.7% of all |
1.2× | ↓ Decreasing | |
Vacant Structure 561 reports · 8.0% of all |
1.2× | ↑ Increasing | |
Vehicles 939 reports · 13.5% of all |
1.2× | → Steady | |
Overgrowth 3,370 reports · 48.3% of all |
1.1× | → Steady | |
Rats 318 reports · 4.6% of all |
0.95× | → Steady | |
Sewage 65 reports · 0.9% of all |
0.91× | ↑ Increasing | |
Pest / Rodent 401 reports · 5.8% of all |
0.81× | → Steady | |
Hoarding 9 reports · 0.1% of all |
0.72× | — | — |
HVAC / Utilities 115 reports · 1.6% of all |
0.68× | — | |
Roaches 34 reports · 0.5% of all |
0.68× | — | — |
Safety 75 reports · 1.1% of all |
0.63× | ↓ Decreasing | |
Noise 50 reports · 0.7% of all |
0.58× | — | |
Mold / Water Damage 116 reports · 1.7% of all |
0.55× | — | |
Landlord / Management 151 reports · 2.2% of all |
0.55× | ↑ Increasing | |
Bedbugs 6 reports · 0.1% of all |
0.42× | — | — |
Common questions about South Hilltop / Westgate
What problems show up most in South Hilltop / Westgate's city records?
Higher than normal rate of encampment complaints.
Compared with the rest of Columbus, South Hilltop / Westgate sees more encampment reports than usual. The Census also counts more long-term empty homes here than across Columbus: about 1 in 14 homes, against about 1 in 25 citywide.
What is the housing like in South Hilltop / Westgate?
South Hilltop / Westgate is mostly older single-family houses, about half of them rented. About 3 in 10 homes in South Hilltop / Westgate were built before 1940, against about 1 in 10 across Columbus. About half of the rentals in South Hilltop / Westgate are single-family houses, against about a quarter across Columbus. In the 2020–2024 Census survey, the typical renter paid about $1,100 a month with utilities, against $1,300 across Columbus, and the typical owner valued their home at about $175,000, against $250,000. Those are what current residents paid or estimated over five years, not what listings ask today.
Which streets in South Hilltop / Westgate have the most complaints?
Ranked by complaints per address, the most-reported stretches are the 2900 to 3399 blocks of Parkside Rd, the 0 to 199 blocks of N Westmoor Ave, and the 0 to 799 blocks of S Burgess Ave. 5 stretches stand out in total. Each one is roughly a hundred addresses, so check the exact address before drawing conclusions.
Tap a street to see it on the map.
Are the problems concentrated in a few buildings?
Problems here are spread across the neighborhood rather than concentrated. Reports come from over 3,100 different addresses, and no single building or complex dominates. The most-reported stretch is the 2900 to 3399 blocks of Parkside Rd, with 65 reports from 20 addresses. For any specific address, run a Block Report to see what has been reported there and next door.
Are reports in South Hilltop / Westgate going up or down?
They are steady. So far this year South Hilltop / Westgate has logged about the same number of reports as the same months last year.
How serious are the reports in South Hilltop / Westgate?
14% of the reports for South Hilltop / Westgate are rated severe or critical, such as sewage, no heat, mold, or an active infestation, against 16% citywide. That is about the same share as Columbus overall. The rest are moderate or low, like tall grass, trash, or a junk car.
Share of reports rated severe or critical, next to The rest of Hilltop and its next-door neighbors and Columbus as a whole. Lower is calmer.
Nearby pagesLincoln Village
How do I report a problem in South Hilltop / Westgate?
Reports are what inspectors act on. If you see pests, mold, or no heat, report it to 311. It becomes part of the public record you're reading now. Encampment reports here peak in September. If that is your problem, report it when it starts. Do not wait for the busiest month.
What should landlords and property owners in South Hilltop / Westgate know?
Tenants in this area most often report encampment problems. Responding to tenant reports before they reach 311 keeps a property out of this dataset.
Is South Hilltop / Westgate safe?
This site does not track crime, so it cannot answer that. It tracks what residents report to the city about property and living conditions. Of the 6,971 records for South Hilltop / Westgate, 75 are safety complaints such as gas leaks, exposed wiring, or missing smoke detectors. For crime data, use the Columbus Division of Police. For one specific address, run a Block Report.
Know Your Block is a free public tool that shows what Columbus residents report to the city's code enforcement office: rats, mold, no heat, sewage backups, drug activity, noise, vacant buildings, and the other property and quality-of-life problems that a listing or a tour will not tell you about — the stuff Zillow and Apartments.com don't show. The live map plots every report in the city, and a Block Report checks one address, the building it sits in, and the block around it. This page and the other neighborhood pages are computed from the same records, so the numbers here match what you would find on the map. There is no account and no fee. More about the project.
Data comes from official City of Columbus code enforcement records (Accela portal + ArcGIS REST API). Comparison figures are computed against the full citywide dataset; "above the citywide rate" means a category's share of complaints in this neighborhood is higher than its share citywide. Complaints are reports filed with the city — they may be unverified, resolved, or in dispute. Categories are assigned by automated keyword matching and may include mismatches. Individual property records are surfaced through search, not listed on this page. Housing figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), split onto this page's map area by where each Census block's homes sit, so they cover the same ground as the reports. They describe homes, not people, and they are survey estimates with margins of error.