Consulting firm Webster Pacifics analyzed the data released by the U.S. Census Bureau, which has shown that Washington, D.C. suburbs have four tracts among the top 10 fastest-growing census tracts of high earners, according to a Bloomberg report.
The New York metropolitan area has two of the top 10 tracts. Out of the top 100 growth areas, 29 are in the D.C. area, the census data shows. Those earning $200,000 or more in 2017 are defined as high-earning households.
“The Washington commuter area is home to four of the top 10 (Nos. 2, 3, 5 and 6) fastest-growing census tracts of high earners. As a bedroom community for the nation’s capital, it already had significant concentrations of wealth back in 2000,” according to the Bloomberg report. “But since then, it’s gotten so rich that in some areas around half of households earn more than $200,000.”
The role of lobbyists, defense contractors, law firms and technology companies has been vital in the growth of high earners in the D.C. area.
Jeannette Chapman, the deputy director at the Stephen S. Fuller Institute at George Mason University said that the D.C. area has the highest ratio of multi-earner households. But she added that despite high income, many D.C. area residents do not feel wealthy.
“A household earning $200,000 here still might be struggling in a way that’s just unfathomable in other parts of the country because the costs are so much higher,” said Chapman.
About seven percent of households in America earn about $200,000, which is the highest percentage in the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.