With the decline of heavy manufacturing, Dayton's businesses have diversified into a service economy that includes insurance and legal sectors as well as healthcare and government sectors.Īlong with defense and aerospace, healthcare accounts for much of the Dayton area's economy. Much of this innovation is due in part to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and its place in the community. Dayton also hosts significant research and development in the industrial, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering fields that have led to many technological innovations.

Ohio's borders are within 500 miles (800 km) of roughly 60 percent of the country's population and manufacturing infrastructure, making the Dayton area a logistical centroid for manufacturers, suppliers, and shippers. It is a principal city of the Dayton–Springfield–Sidney combined statistical area, home to a population of 1,086,512. Dayton is located within Ohio's Miami Valley region, 50 miles (80 km) north of Cincinnati and 60 miles (97 km) west of Columbus.

As of the 2020 census, the city proper had a population of 137,644, while the Dayton metropolitan area had 814,049 residents.

A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The county seat of Montgomery County, it anchors the state's fourth-largest metropolitan area.

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