Three reasons why the DC area accounts for the richest counties.
1. The government - everyone knows this, there are not only a lot of government jobs but many government contractors are headquartered here as well
2. Job security, government employees tend not to be laid off, even when times are tough like right now. I do not know the data but I would guess if the government has laid off employees it is far less than the rest of the country.
3. Its not so much that we are the richest, its that we have the highest median income. That is not due to a handful of very rich people but more to the middle. There is much larger middle class population in the region. At 110,000 a two teacher family like myself makes that much if not better.

by Matt R on Mar 9, 2010 9:04 am  

Why are our suburbs so rich?

Because Washington area is still one of the most segregated cities in the nation (world?), where all the rich white folks with college degrees live on the Western half of the area and the poor less-educated black folks live on the eastern side in the counties that are not represented in the richest counties of the nations.

I am no specialist on demography, but I do not know any other city where the segregation is on such a large scale. Most other cities also have well-defined areas of richness and poverty, but I do not believe they're so continuously large as here.

It also just happens to be that our odd geography captures the divide perfectly within county borders. Oddly, only the county borders, not the state lines. I bet that if you'd cut up DC in wards or quadrants, the western side would also be in the top 10.

BTW: I am not sure we should be proud of the fact that we are so segregated that we have the richest counties in the country.

by Jasper on Mar 9, 2010 9:36 am  

I would say the DC area as a whole ranks very high in median income nationwide. I don't think it's right to classify any county not on that Top 25 list as "poor". Go drive through the rural south if you want to see the real poor. And the "segregated" comment. I don't even want to go there.

by Lou on Mar 9, 2010 9:45 am  

Prince George's County looks poor compared to Montgomery or Fairfax, but there are some serious pockets of affluence as well that would vault it above many suburban counties nationwide. I could drop you in Mitchellville, Woodmore or Fort Washington and you'd swear to me you were in Potomac. And, of course, there are also some large (and growing) pockets of poverty in Montgomery or Fairfax or even Loudoun.

But it's still valid to say the area is segregated, though it has as much to do with personal choice as it does with planning and land use decisions. The Failures of Integration lays this out really well - and the author is a D.C. resident, so she uses this area as the example. Check it out. It's a book I think everyone should read.

by dan reed on Mar 9, 2010 9:47 am  

As mentioned, how high median income reflects our large middle-upper middle class, and the large gov't presence certainly helps with that. Without so many gov't jobs, a lot of people here would be making less money at less stable jobs, and traditionally, this area hasn't traditionally had as many super wealthy people like you find in New York and the Bay Area with large finance and corporate footprints, although this could change.

So, w/ median, that segregation argument can't be used and last time I checked, Fairfax and Moco, are large counties with diverse populations. The worst violators w/ segregation are DC and a sliver of PG county.

by Vik on Mar 9, 2010 9:55 am  

I think the tax breaks are getting to be pretty ridiculous. I'm shocked at how public Northrop Grumman is making this competition.

That being said, it would unfortunately be a bad idea for DC not to compete with tax breaks. Without them, Maryland or Virginia would beat DC by a long shot.

I personally think DC is the best place for them, but I doubt that's what they'll pick.

by Tim on Mar 9, 2010 10:00 am  

Sometimes I think the jobs in this area are even more segregated than the housing stock. There are a few office parks in northern PG, and UMCP is trying against all odds for a tech cluster in College Park, but we have nowhere near the square footage of MoCo/Fairfax/Dulles/Arlington. Why do you think there is such a slow crawl around the top of the Outer Loop of the Beltway for hours on end during the morning rush hour, and in reverse in the evening?

I have three degrees past high school, but my rather specialized job at a non-profit organization pays about what a teacher at my education level would make. Believe me, one teacher-level-paid worker is no more stupid or lazy or less desirous of a nice neighborhood than the two-teacher household, but dang, it's difficult in this area. I got the college education that my now-deceased parents wished for me, but to live in the same municipality as my job, as Mom and Dad did ... oy, that's a distant dream.

by Greenbelt Gal on Mar 9, 2010 10:05 am  

Sometimes I wonder what degree of self-segregation takes place. A former coworker of mine was originally from Haiti and he moved from Derwood to Oxon Hill because Derwood "didn't have his people". Mind you that his commute ballooned from 15-20 minutes to an hour with this move and when hard times came he couldn't pay the gas bill, but it's food for though.

by Jason on Mar 9, 2010 10:05 am  

@Jasper

You're absolutely right in that you're not a demographer, you racist.

I guess according to you, you still want to perpetuate the old awful myth that only white people can be rich in America.

Too bad that Fairfax County (and my guess Montgomery as well) are more diverse than America as a whole.

by MPC on Mar 9, 2010 10:15 am  

"but I do not know any other city where the segregation is on such a large scale"

Easy, Los Angeles. The Segregation there is insane. Most neighborhoods are identified by who lives there not what is there.

by RJ on Mar 9, 2010 10:21 am  

Anyone who thinks Fairfax & Montgomery Counties are only home to "the rich white folks with college degrees" must not have left their house since the 1950s. Similarly, majority-Black PG County has a median houseold income far in excess of that of the country as a whole.

by Juanita de Talmas on Mar 9, 2010 10:35 am  

Loudoun county's demographics pretty much mirror the USA as a whole:

Loudoun: White, non-Hispanic: 65.0%
USA: White, non-Hispanic: 66.7%

So explain to me again who race is a factor...

by Vicente Fox on Mar 9, 2010 10:44 am  

"who" = "how"

by Vicente Fox on Mar 9, 2010 10:45 am  

Matt R's very first comment is really the only one that needs to be read.

by BeyondDC on Mar 9, 2010 10:48 am  

Loudoun County is the richest county in America? Paging Richard Florida. Is the creative class driving SUV's?

by Tom on Mar 9, 2010 10:56 am  

Jasper,
I am a DC native, but I went to school in LA, have family in NYC and worked in Chicago, Boston, and Atlanta before comming back to DC. In my experience, DC is the least segregated.

by billof md on Mar 9, 2010 11:07 am  

I'd rather the WMATA GM be a good manager above anything else. That said
1. What other things are in place to ensure openness and accountability if Sarles is, by nature, less open. Transparency and accountability are long term problems with Metro.
2. More importantly, how do we KNOW he is really is a good manager? If his organization was not particularly transparent, it would be easier to hide mistakes. Perhaps there are management skeletons in the closet.

by SJE on Mar 9, 2010 11:11 am  

DC income: the median is key here. DC has very few low income industries.

by SJE on Mar 9, 2010 11:13 am  

Jasper:
PG county is poorer than MoCo or Fairfax, but still very rich by national standards.

PG could do a lot better to make itself attractive to new businesses and residents. Its development is focused on sprawl and really does not take full advantage of the Metro system. For all its money, there is very little upscale retail (there are upscale "black" malls in other parts of the USA, such as Baltimore County). The schools are worse than its neighbors, and the county police and local government has a reputation for insider dealing and corruption. It has a big university, but the biotech hub is in MoCo.

None of these are racial issues, but competence and leadership. PG has resources and opportunities that most counties would kill for. It is up to the leaders of PG to make better use of them.

by SJE on Mar 9, 2010 11:33 am  

@Jasper "BTW: I am not sure we should be proud of the fact that we are so segregated that we have the richest counties in the country"

Were the richest counties not as rich as they are, the poorer counties would be even poorer. It's not like it's a matter of finite resources being spread around. The 'rich' counties are rich because you have hardworking intelligent 'creme of the creme' folks who get paid for contributing to the whole. They help create the jobs that the rest of us enjoy. Take them away, and everyone is the poorer ... And not just the rich counties.

And last I heard segregation ended with the Civil Rights act. When someone chooses to live in one area over another, it is not segregation.

by Lance on Mar 9, 2010 11:53 am  

@ billof: But in LA, NYC and Chicago the segregation is not caught by county lines. Both Cook and LA county are huge counties. Cook has 5 million people, the same as the whole DC area. LA county is twice as big and the whole DC area. Off course you can cut those counties up in areas of about a million or smaller and create ridiculously rich and poor counties. My guess is that District 3 there is a lot richer than a few others. I am equally sure you can carve our some nice rich and poor areas in Cook county. Especially if you allow tiny pockets like Falls Church and Fairfax City. If you lump us all together, we would be way more average.

NYC is divided into 5 burrows, but all of them contain richer and poorer areas. Upper and Lower Manhattan are very different.

I can't talk about Boston and Atlanta. Never been there.

@ Vincente Fox: Loundoun may the the average of the US, but PGC and DC are not. That's how race is a factor.

PG county:
White: 28%
Black 65%
Other: 7%

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/24/24033.html

Loudoun county:
White: 76%
Black 8%
Asian: 12%
Other: 4%

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/51/51107.html

Loundoun County touts its "highly-educated, high income profile" on its biz homepage. They say the same thing I did, they just left out the word "white".

http://biz.loudoun.gov/Home/FactsStatsandMaps/Demographics/tabid/79/Default.aspx

US average income by race:
Asian: $64k
White: $52k
Hispanic: $38k
Black: $32k

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/010583.html

[I will apologize here to Asians, who are clearly responsible for Loundoun's wealth, more so than whites.]

@ MPC: I am no racist, you troll. I am merely pointing out rather shameful statistics. Remember, this is not my country. I just live here (quite happily) and observe stuff, including the hidden elephants in the room that people do not like to talk about.

When people ask me about the best things here, I tout freedom, nature and the size and diversity of the country. When they ask about the worst things, I point at the shameful health care situation and racial differences.

These issues are not unique to the US. But they are bigger than elsewhere (in the West). But then again, size is what makes America great.

by Jasper on Mar 9, 2010 11:58 am  

I love it when people try to make PG County out to be nice.

Median House price in Fort Washington: 350,000
Median House Price in Potomac: 1.7 million

Whatever the merits of PG county -- and I don't see any -- the place is appreciably poorer than the rest of the metro area. Fort Washington might get mistaken for Falls Church or someplace like that, but not Potomac.

by charlie on Mar 9, 2010 12:24 pm  

"Loundoun may the the average of the US, but PGC and DC are not. That's how race is a factor."

But the study is about the richest counties in the country, not the region. If the richest county in the country pretty much mirrors the racial content of that country, then saying it is the presence of a certain racial group that explains their wealth makes no sense.

by Vicente Fox on Mar 9, 2010 12:29 pm  

Haha, Jasper, where are you from? Because I've lived in Europe and it's no utopia of racial equality. The situation may suck in the US but it's miles ahead of what you have in most European countries. At least here it's not socially acceptable to make monkey noises and throw bananas at the black players in sporting events, for example.

DC isn't very segregated at all compared to a lot of other US metro areas. For example, in DC there are several commercial and nightlife districts (U St, Adams Morgan, Chinatown) that actually serve a diverse clientele. This would be unheard of in most US cities aside from maybe New York.

If you want an example of real segregation just take a place like Detroit, where you have the 90% black city of Detroit surrounded by 90% white suburbs, going up to 95% as you get farther out. That's no coincidence.

Lance: You are naive. There are plenty of ways segregation is still enforced - from redlining, to neighborhood hostility, to police harassment. It is still a very real force in America today, and it certainly was in the overwhelmingly white suburb where I grew up.

by Phil on Mar 9, 2010 12:35 pm  

I love it when people try to make PG County out to be nice.
Median House price in Fort Washington: 350,000

Median House price in the USA: 215,600.

Sounds nice to me.

by Marian Berry on Mar 9, 2010 12:36 pm  

>Whatever the merits of PG county -- and I don't see any -- the place is appreciably poorer than the rest of the metro area. Fort Washington might get mistaken for Falls Church or someplace like that, but not Potomac.

Uh, most of Loudoun, Fairfax, Montgomery, etc look nothing like Potomac. Potomac is appreciably wealthier than the rest of the counties ranked at the top of this list.

by BeyondDC on Mar 9, 2010 12:43 pm  

@ Phil: I didn't say Europe was a utopia of peaceful immigration. Plenty of issues there as well. I wouldn't classify the behavior of soccer hooligans as a major racist issue. Their behavior is despicable in general. And it is one of the more embarrassing sides of Europe.

As for Detroit, people still live there? Really?

@ Vincente: You are not getting my argument (and so are more people). I need to be more clear. The question was why our suburbs are so rich. The answer (IMHO) is that the county lines around here nicely mirror the different racial make up and hence amplify the racial differences. As I tried to explain to billof, other cities to not have county lines nicely separating the rich from the poor folks.

So yes, the steady federal income stream makes our average salary higher here than elsewhere. Big cities have higher income. But that is amplified by the fact that the county lines carve out the richer and whiter western half of our area (MoCo, Loundoun, Fairfax). Arlington, Alexandria, Fall Church and Fairfax City are helped by their limited size.

Let's be fair, Fall Church can't hold a candle to the wealth in Beverly Hills, The Magnificent Mile, and the Upper East/West Sides. But they don't have county borders around them.

Finally as for the "amount of segregation". If anybody can point out a number of major metro-areas where one side is majority white, while the other side is majority black, then I'll concede. Perhaps the SF-Bay Area? As far as I've seen NYC, LA-OC, Chicago are made up of smaller patches or racial dominance. The separation is there, but not in as continuous as here.

by Jasper on Mar 9, 2010 1:24 pm  

"Haha, Jasper, where are you from?"

I think Denmark?

by dcd on Mar 9, 2010 1:37 pm  

Jasper, I think your problem is you think "smaller number of blacks" equals "whites". As a couple of people above have noted, both Fairfax and Montgomery counties are far from lily-white. They are both some of the most diverse jurisdictions in the US.

by Han Solo on Mar 9, 2010 1:42 pm  

The county lines here don't "nicely mirror the different racial make up and hence amplify the racial differences." Parts of PG County and DC are the worst violators of this segregationist theory of yours. Outside of this area, where is this supposed segregation? Fairfax, MoCo, Alexandria, Arlington, Anne Arundel, Charles, Falls Church, Manassas, etc. are not starkly segregated. You also make it seem as if the county lines were gerrymandered, PG County wasn't always as bad as it has been, I don't know how long you've been in the area.

Your comparison to the Magnificent Mile and Beverly Hills, if you want, you can throw out Falls Church, and Arlington if it makes you feel better. But you still neglect that it's median income, not average. If it were average, you'd have other inconsistencies, so no methodology is perfect, but it helps to understand what the data is telling you.

Loudoun is hardly developed compared to the other closer-in counties in the area. The western 2/3 of it is basically rural. Loudoun is dramatically smaller in pop. than Fairfax, MoCo and PG, and less dense than those places as well, even less dense than Prince William County let alone Arlington, DC and the independent cities. I think the comparison between PG and Loudoun can be easily distorted. Loudoun is more comparable to white Frederick County as far as I'm concerned than PG.

The question of why are suburbs are so rich, you can read in the very first comment in this thread.

As for other notable "segregated" metros, Atlanta is one that comes to mind. But DC's segregation "issue" shouldn't be further manipulated to include places that are pretty diverse like Fairfax and MoCo.

by Vik on Mar 9, 2010 1:47 pm  

"As for Detroit, people still live there? Really?"

Yes, more people live in the Detroit city limits than live in Boston, DC, or San Francisco. Detroit itself is 82% black and 90% of blacks in the metro area live in Detroit or a few majority-black inner ring suburbs.

by Phil on Mar 9, 2010 1:48 pm  

The metro stop isn't built yet-whats the problem with moving its planned location so it/the planned development around it don't conflict as greatly with the wetland?

by Bianchi on Mar 9, 2010 3:18 pm  

@Phil, No, I'm not naive. The three reasons you state (i.e., redlining, neighborhood hostility, police harassment) haven't existed in the DC area in many many a decade. The first, redlining, is strictly illegal under federal laws. If someone doesn't want to invest their money in an area where the promise of a return is non-existant, that doesn't make it redlining. That just makes it color-blind good business sense. The second, neighborhood hostility ... What planet do you live on? Seriously? Have you not been to say Potomac or Bethesda or Great Falls? To say someone of any non-majority race couldn't live there and be accepted as 'just a neighbor' is to refute the facts on the grounds. Seriously, have you not been there? The third, police harassement. I'm not sure I even want to go there. Yes, the police can be harrasing ... But that's their job. And they don't just harras minorities. They harras everyone ... for the slightest infraction .. or even for 'thinking about' the slightest infraction.

by Lance on Mar 10, 2010 12:15 am  

If anything, the police are worst in PG County: it only just came off Federal oversight.

by SJE on Mar 10, 2010 10:54 am  

Jasper,
In school in LA, and as a consultant in Chicago, Boston & Atlanta I was always suprised that I could work/study or visit for weeks without encountering another black man. That is simply not possible anywhere in the DC area, even Loudon County. My multiracial family hapily lives, socializes and works in Bethesda.

by billof md on Mar 10, 2010 5:27 pm