Since 2000, D.C. Area Wealth Grew at Twice National Average
From a recent Glenn Reynolds USA Today column:
So Washington gets fat, and it does so on money taken from the rest of the country.
Just how fat have Washington and the Beltway counties gotten? According to the latest U.S. Census data, between 2000 and 2010 the richest of the Washington, D.C., area have accrued about twice as much new wealth as those not living in or around the area.
Also, some Washington counties have gotten about twice as much new wealth as some of the other richest counties in the United States.
An April 2012 Forbes article lists the 10 richest counties in the United States — the list contains five D.C.-area counties, including the top three richest on the list.
A comparison with the other richest counties and with the rest of the United States gives a more detailed picture. I compared the differences in median income (family and household) between these 10 counties and the rest of the United States, in addition to looking at income growth over the 10-year period 2000 to 2010. (All of the data that I used come from the U.S. Census website.)
From 2000 to 2010, the richest Washington-area counties’ income (by two income measures — defined at the end of this article) grew at about twice the rate of the rest of the country. D.C.-area income also grew at almost twice the rate as the other richest counties in the country not located in the Washington area.
Here are the counties I used, taken from the Forbes list (note that I include D.C. — it makes sense to use the epicenter of the region’s wealth, although its income, by both measures, actually brings the average of the other five down):
- Loudoun County, VA
- Fairfax County, VA
- Arlington County, VA
- Falls Church City, VA
- District of Columbia
- Howard County, MD
The five counties not in the D.C. area:
- Los Alamos County, NM
- Hunterdon County, NJ
- Douglas County, CO
- Somerset County, NJ
- Morris Country, NJ
After averaging the counties’ incomes in 2000 and 2010, using both measures:
The percentage growth in median household income from 2000 to 2010:
- United States, total — increased by 16.09%
- 5 richest D.C.-area counties (plus D.C.) — increased by 31.1%
- Other 5 rich counties — increased by 17.85%
The percentage growth in median family income from 2000 to 2010:
- United States, total — increased by 17.43%
- 5 richest D.C.-area counties (plus D.C.) — increased by 30.98%
- Other 5 rich counties — increased by 19.88%
There are some differences between median household and median family, but those differences are not significantly higher or lower.






Every one of those counties in the DC area goes Democrat. Northern Virginia provided the margin of victory in Virginia for Obama both times. But, of course, the rich are all Republicans.
This is a key point. A lot was made during the presidential campaign about the 47% of Americans that get benefits from the government. But you also have to factor in all of the many people who either work for or make money off of the Federal government. The seemingly endless number of bureaucrats that work for the Federal government have a huge interest in making sure that the government remains large and keeps on growing, so as to not only insure their jobs and benefits (which are many), but to also make sure that they can eventually be promoted within this same system. Then you have all the many private contractors, whether they are defense contractors or contractors that support all of the other departments within the government, that make a fortune off of selling stuff to Uncle Sam. ALL of these people have a vested interest to make sure government keeps growing and keeps getting fatter and more expensive.
And the key to all of this is that all of these people will keep on voting for the person and political party that makes sure government keeps getting bigger and spends even more money than before. Does that mean the Democrats specialize in paying kickbacks to supporters in order to get elected and stay in power? Just ask the many unions, special-interest groups, and minority groups if this is true. Of course it is and that’s how they win.
If you want it to stop, you have to vote for a new party who’s central core belief is in smaller government, less spending, and lower taxes. Tea Party, anyone?
And so it is. And, once a democracy heads down the vote buying road, it does not end well.
I enjoy reading your posts.
“Tea Party, anyone?” Yes, but…..
When heaven and earth have been moved with no positive result in order to try to get a loved one to cease their destructive lifestyle then the observation is often made that “you are going to have to let him/her hit rock-bottom before he/she will possibly heed your advice”. Quite unfortunately (and that is an understatement) in the case of our nation all of us are going to have to travel to the bottom along with those who will not heed our warnings. None of us will be simply concerned observers. The issue now is not to spin your wheels shouting unheeded advice but instead to prepare yourself for the economic disaster that is, with total certainty, going to be precipitated upon all of us. Sooner than later. The most useful future for the Tea Party is to prepare to fill the void caused by the certain collapse. In other words, to be on hand to pick up the pieces and to prepare now for that task. Otherwise, the void will be filled by tyranny which I believe is “The Plan”.
The problem is when we do bottom out the Democrats and the media will blame the Republicans somehow. You can see it happening already.
Possibly so. But that is the small part of the issue. The real blame according to the MSM propaganda machine will be laid upon capitalism in general, the banks, and Wall Street. This will create a call from the statists for more regulation and strict enforcement. “Capitalism has failed us!” will be the cry and our dumbed-down electorate will buy it. And tyranny will go then into full-throttle mode. That is The Plan.
Not only is the area flush with rich lobbyists, Congress and their staff have benefits that enable them to keep more of their income for other luxuries like vacations, 2nd homes, yachts, and a vehicle for every adult.
They have their own cafeterias with food fit for a Sunday Brunch EVERY DAY.
Menu here:
http://go.compass-usa.com/senate/content/menus.asp
And for dinner, they are entertained by lobbyists that pay for dining and entertainment.
AND ALL THIS FOR A WORK YEAR OF 180 DAYS!!!!!! They average $120.83 an hour, and this does not include the basic benefits package which could double that figure.
An AUTOMATIC COST OF LIVING increase takes effect every year UNLESS they decline it; Have they ever?
When you can pass a pay raise for yourself and your buddies any time you see fit, what’s to worry about?
And all Obama wants is a higher limit on the Presidential EBT Card.
Anyone know how many of the Obama extended family are living in the White House now?
This article and data could be considered racist since the D.C. area is more than 50% black.
Obviously there are vestiges of the royal monarchy that did not get left behind when the colonists settled here in the US; the tradition continues to this day with our “esteemed” congresscritters & executive branch living like kings & queens.
Evidently, it’s time to secede from Washington DC now, just as we seceded from King George III in 1776.
US household wealth hits 43-year low: Will Obama stop blaming Bush and start blaming Nixon?
Pigs at the trough.
Yes, and look at the big pig picture: the battle lines are now emerging:
Bad news: These performing porkers all bellied-up to the trough are deeply entrenched. They and their kind (not just in gov’t, also all the usual suspects — you know who they are) will not cede power and perks quickly, willingly, gracefully or peacefully. They have to be forced out.
The good news: They are at heart a sickly, clumsy and sadly unformed and uninformed bunch, not known for courage or initiative; they don’t do at all well in daylight; hell, many even have trouble with hand tools. And we’ve been down this road before in our history.
As the nation speeds its descent into twilight, the rage and inequities will grow. On the one hand, the congressional leeches, the Pelosi families of the land (net worth up tens of $millions in the last eight years) and all their enablers in trough-world. On the other hand, the uncounted scores of millions of Really Pissed-Off Americans (RPOs?) of all ages and hues, determined to go their own way in a world of smaller, saner government.
In Boehner and the RNC you trust? Well, heaven help you because nobody else will: the GOP is part of the problem. If you know it and do nothing, so are you.
Agree with others that the tea parties are part of the solution: the vitality in the ranks is potentially a crucial catalyst. But the tea parties are and will remain a powerful reminder that Tip O’Neil was correct: all politics is local. There’s no such thing as The National Tea Party, merely fatuous attempts by the MSM and a few special pleaders to label what they don’t understand. It may well be that a new party will arise out of the ranks of the tea parties; if stripped of social baggage it would be devastatingly effective. I continue to believe that Sarah Palin could be the quick way forward.
Either way, my money’s on the RPOs. Likewise, one imagines, the smart money everywhere.
So what’ll it be: new party, secession, civil war — or status quo?
“They are at heart a sickly, clumsy and sadly unformed and uninformed bunch, not known for courage or initiative; they don’t do at all well in daylight; hell, many even have trouble with hand tools. And we’ve been down this road before in our history.” We just got paroled from the DC area. It’s the biggest collection of “B ship” Golgafrinchians you’d ever meet. But they think they’re brilliant; Gawdamighty do they think they’re brilliant.
“The good news: They are at heart a sickly, clumsy and sadly unformed and uninformed bunch, not known for courage or initiative; they don’t do at all well in daylight; hell, many even have trouble with hand tools. And we’ve been down this road before in our history.”
We have been down this road before and you sound remarkably like those gallant Southern “cavaliers” as they extolled their manly virtues and their skills at shooting, riding, and the outdoor live as they denigrated those pasty-faced Yankee store clerks. Unfortunately for The South, it ran out of manly men fairly quickly. People would be well advised to remember that most of those vast red areas on the electoral map are empty and votes, not acres, count in the Electoral College and the Congress.
Now then, no special pleading there, is there, Art? It’s hardly news to say that history, even when it rhymes — often it doesn’t, and you’re cherry-picking anyway — doesn’t repeat.
A trougher is a trougher is a trougher. And the winner defines the meaning.
Afaic Obama is the flowering of a seed represented by Bush. Your charts for 2000 to 2010 do nothing to change my mind.
Just a note on the Census. They claim that 6-7% of the households in Fairfax County are “living in poverty”. That would equate to about 75,000 or so people. If we are expected to accept the validity of anything they concoct, they should be required to point them out. I live here, in the south Alexandria section near the river, and I want to know where these 75,000 people are before I’ll accept any of their claims. They also claim that about 300 or so people (2%) in Great Falls, VA are “living in poverty”. I demand that they identify even one of them.
Hybla Valley, Penn Daw/Mt Eagle ES, go north on Rt 1 and turn left at the ugly purple Thai restaurant. Turn right at the first stop sign and go back to Rt 1. You might find a few people there. Volunteer at Christ House at Prince and West in Old Town, or closer to home, there’s UCM. Then go south, just past the sketchy Burger King and pull into the Kennedy Shelter parking lot. (You go around back to drop off food.)
But no, where you live in “White”wood or Ft Hunt, there aren’t many poor people.
The Washington area is also the most educated and lacks an old industrial base. If you are looking for correlations look for the most educated and you’ll find higher incomes. Our priority must be education. And yeah, there is a big gov trough there too.
The president won the District of Columbia by 91%, Loudon Co. by 51% (slackers), Fairfax Co. by 59%, Arlington Co. by 69%, Falls Church Co. by 69% and Howard Co. by 59%. Can’t accuse these folks of voting against their interests.
I spent my teenage years in Morris Co, NJ (Summit). It was plenty affluent back then but not nearly as wealthy as it is now (lots of Wall Street money due to the direct commute via the PATH). It was also extremely conservative back then. It went 55% for Romney, so I guess Republicans still rule (as they apparently do in Hunterdon which went Romney by 59% making Somerset the outlier–Obama by 52%).
I work in Morris County. Northern NJ is growing only because New York State and City are so much worse. People continue to flee the incredible taxes and regulations there to the slightly less onerous taxes and regulations here.
- redistribute that wealth – relocate the nation’s capitol to the real center of the country, the real midwest
- change your politicians like diapers, for the same reasons, fedefine terms to ONE,FIVE YEAR term, stagger elections by having ten states vote every year
- eliminate the soddy money-for-oil-for-money-for-gasoline-for-influence
** drill here, drill NOW **
While I share the frustration with Washington’s outsized size and influence, we need to be careful not to make rash judgments based on a few morsels of information.
Northern Virginia’s economy is still heavily government-dependent, but less so in the last 10 years; there is a huge technology corridor here that has massive wealth, and while some of it is government contractors, a lot of it is Internet-related, as the Internet was for all practical purposes invented in the corridor east of Dulles Airport. Many of the companies who initially created the wealth are either gone or purchased by others, such as AOL, and UUNET, which is now part of Verizon, but the money remains.
So some of the increase in wealth, particularly in Fairfax and Loudoun counties, can be traced to that. How much? Who knows. But it’s not all government. And even where it is government, it’s not just waste; it’s heavy on information technology related to defense. That doesn’t mean it should be exempt from justification, but at least it is a core function of the federal government, and not something Washington shouldn’t even be doing.
Additionally, the Forbes article suffers from the usual media cluelessness, insofar as it describes Falls Church City as a “county.” It’s not a county– it’s a city, and it’s only 11,000 people. While it is wealthy, comparing it to Fairfax County, which has over 1,000,000 people, or any other county, is ridiculous. If you compare it to all cities and towns across the country, it does not rank nearly as close to the top.
In addition, there’s the huge data center industry in Loudoun county. Virginia now has more engineers and scientist per capita than any other state. A lot are in the big shipbuilding industry around Hampton Roads, but most are in internet and defense work in NoVa. But anyone in defense foolish enough to vote for Obama may be experiencing a whole lot of buyer’s remorse very soon now, after the Dems gut the DoD.
How is it possible that households have less income than families? According to the census definitions of families and households, this is impossible.
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/about/faqs.html
A household can have multiple families while the reverse is not true.
Ok, found my answer, it is explained at http://www.rpthead.com/richest-us-counties-compared/
Time to dump some tea into the Potomac.
The only thing government consistently does well is look after the interests of government; everything else is optional.
Our very own aristocracy. At the apex is the BC, a cabal of malignant incompentants, proud of their ability to what? Loot? Eat Grapes? Abuse themselves?
All appointed as the interim regency.
Wonder what will happen to them when the next phase kicks in.
There is a lot in common between our federal government today and the British government before 1776 with regard to their policies toward the American people.
SO;
If the “rich” and secure in D.C. have it so much better than so many other metro areas, why do they need such a vast food bank program?
THE CAPITOL AREA FOOD BANK:
Distributes 30 million pounds of food annually, half of which is fresh produce; 84,000 pounds of food daily and 500,000 pounds each week.
Serves 478,100 people in the region struggling with hunger.
Delivers 70 fresh produce drops each month to 40 sites in low-income neighborhoods.
Spends 92 cents of each dollar raised for food distribution, transportation and programs.
Provides nutrition and education training to more than 1,000 adults and children annually through CAFB programs.
You are confusing the serfs and the aristocracy.
They are two separate classes in America.
The function of the serfs is to vote for the aristocracy so they can continue to receive the crumbs they are told are free.
This was how the world had always worked prior to 1776. We are just reverting to the mean, except that prior to 1776, the serfs had to work for their crumbs; which will also return as soon as the reversion is complete.
Cybergeezer, if they distribute 500,000 pounds per week to 478,000 individual people “struggling with hunger”, that would equate to 1 pound per week. Obviously, the 478k number is not individual people, since I seriously doubt there is a vast “hunger need” of 478k people that is being alleviated by distributing one pound per person per week. My guess is that the 478k is the number of meals seved in a year, not individual people, which would come to about 10,000 per week in an area with a population of several million.
Second, that fact that a charity (probably getting USDA money) is giving food away does not automatically mean that the recipients are starving. I know the left likes to portray it that way. My retired dad runs a “soup kitchen” in South Carolina. According to him, many of the people who show up are employed people driving new cars. They come becuase it is free and a pretty good meal, not because they are “struggling with hunger”.
Everything from the line “THE CAPITOL AREA FOOD BANK:” on down is from their website, not any of my numbers.
I didn’t try to verify the accuracy of their numbers.
I know they are in the business of fudging every number they can for their own agenda.
My purpose was to illustrate that even though this area is one of the richest, most exclusive areas of the country, they are claiming that they have a significant number of “homeless” to feed.
I’m just trying to point out more hypocrisy from this regime of thieves, who will steal anything not glued down.
I’m thinking We need to make sure the Democrat Party isn’t pilfering the Smithsonian.
There will be no recovery in the US until the housing bubble in the DC Metro area bursts.
That means a smaller government.
You want to get off the road to Serfdom? Then you need fewer bureaucrats… lots fewer.
Once the DC Metro Area goes through the bursting of its housing bubbles, then the rest of the Nation can start to recover. That takes a massive reduction in the size, scope and power of the federal government as it is, and that will not happen until we get serious about sending people Upon the Hill to actually stop the spending. Either that or its time for a Convention and the States to get a 2/3 majority to pull back what their broker is doing… and I don’t see either of these happening soon at this point.
Money goes to where it is… kill the flow and concentration in it in DC and then the flocking stops and the money starts to go in other directions.