Vacant and abandoned buildings in Columbus, Ohio

This page maps every vacant building report filed with the City of Columbus, Ohio: empty houses and buildings left open, broken into, or entered by squatters.

Get it handled

Want it fixed?

Report the address to 311 and say whether the building is open or unsecured. Open structures are a priority enforcement category because anyone can get in.

If people are living in it, say that too. Squatting reports route differently than a boarding order, and both start with the address.

Know the rules

What counts?

A vacant building becomes enforceable when it is unsecured, deteriorating, or attracting activity. An empty house that is locked and maintained is just empty.

The same buildings get reported again and again. Repeat reports are not wasted, they are what moves a chronic building up the list.

Block Report

Is your building or block already on record for vacant and abandoned buildings?

Search any Columbus address to see what neighbors reported in that building and on that block.

Free · no account needed

Live map

Want to see all 5,513 vacant building reports on a map?

5,513 vacant building reports across Columbus, plus about 81,000 complaints of every kind, plotted block by block.

Vacant and abandoned buildings map All complaints
Open live map ↗ Vacant BuildingsAll other

Where it's most reported

Neighborhoods ranked by rate, meaning each category's share of the neighborhood's reports against its citywide share, so big neighborhoods don't win just for being big. Only rates with enough reports behind them are listed.
#1Franklinton1.8×414 reports #2South Side (core)1.8×553 reports #3Milo-Grogan1.7×268 reports #4Olde Towne East1.6×1,073 reports #5Linden (Cleveland Ave corridor)1.5×272 reports

For contrast, rates run lowest in Wake Robin among the busiest areas.

See vacant building reports on the live map →

Often reported with

What else shows up at the same addresses. Address-level comparison, so this reads as a building-quality signal, not a coincidence of one phone call.
Drug activityAddresses with vacant building reports are about five times as likely to also have drug activity reports on file.
EncampmentsAddresses with vacant building reports are about four times as likely to also have encampment reports on file.→ GraffitiAddresses with vacant building reports are about three times as likely to also have graffiti reports on file.→

When it gets reported

Share of the year's reports landing in each month. Each year is scaled to its own level before months are averaged, so a year with more reports, or a change in how the city takes them in, does not tilt the shape.
January · 6% of the year's reportsJFebruary · 9% of the year's reportsFMarch · 9% of the year's reportsMApril · 10% of the year's reportsAMay · 12% of the year's reportsMJune · 11% of the year's reportsJJuly · 10% of the year's reportsJAugust · 9% of the year's reportsASeptember · 8% of the year's reportsSOctober · 7% of the year's reportsONovember · 5% of the year's reportsNDecember · 5% of the year's reportsD

Reports peak in May at about one and a half times the volume of a typical month. The quietest month is November. A quiet autumn does not mean the problem went away. Reporting drops citywide in cold months.

All vacant building reports by month latest month: 289
289 JAN '25 SEP '26

Common questions

How do I report vacant and abandoned buildings in Columbus?

Call 311 with the address and whether the structure is open, boarded, or being entered. Open and unsecured buildings are priority reports. Mention squatting explicitly if you see it. The step-by-step reporting guide →

Are vacant building reports in Columbus going up?

They are steady. So far this year Columbus has logged about the same number of vacant building reports as the same months last year.

Where are vacant building reports most common in Columbus?

Rates run highest in Franklinton, South Side (core) and Milo-Grogan, comparing each neighborhood's share of reports against the citywide share. No neighborhood is entirely without them.

Looking at a specific address?

Get the full Block Report, covering what's been reported at that exact address, the same building, and chronic neighbors within a third of a mile.

Search an address →
Source & method

What counts here. Reports of vacant and abandoned structures, including open or unsecured buildings, squatting, and break-ins at empty properties.

Data comes from official City of Columbus code enforcement records (Accela portal + ArcGIS REST API). Reports are categorized by keyword matching on complaint narratives and city record types, so counts are reports filed, not verified conditions, and automated matching can misfile individual records. The data window covers JAN 2025 – SEP 2026, so month-of-year patterns will sharpen as full years accrue. Inspector sweeps of vacant properties can produce bursts of reports on one street in one month, so short-term trends in this category are read softly.