Columbia is a city of 115,276 people in Missouri, a state of the American Midwest. Founded in 1818 as the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, the fourth most populous urban area in Missouri. Wikipedia

Springfield is the capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 116,250, making it the sixth most populated city in the state. It is the largest city in central Illinois. Wikipedia