It’s official, D.C. is now richer than Silicon Valley.
Bloomberg claims that Census Bureau figures show Washington has traded places with Silicon Valley as the richest metropolitan area in the country. The average household in the D.C. area brought in $84,523 last year, compared to $50,046 for the rest of the nation.
So where’s all of this growth coming from? Lobbyists. There were nearly 13,000 registered lobbyists in 2010, and most of them work in or near the District. Just last year, their efforts resulted in a record $3.51 billion spent. Makes sense, right?
The rapidly changing demographic in D.C. also pays a factor. There’s a large disparity between the wealthy and the not-so-wealthy, and the recent real-estate boom makes earning a certain amount of money a requirement to even consider living in some areas.
[viaGawker]
