2024 Statistics About Washington, DC

Geography & Climate

1. Total Area: 68.3 square miles (2010, DDOT)
2. Land Area: 61.13 square miles (2020, Census)
3. Water Area: ~10% (2010, DDOT)
4. Average Elevation: 23 feet above seal level (BestPlaces)
5. Highest Elevation: 409 feet above sea level at Fort Reno, artificial highpoint of 429 feet above sea level at Fort Reno Reservoir (Summit Post)
6. Lowest Elevation: Sea level along most of the Anacostia and Potomac shore lines
7. Geographic Center: Near 4th Street NW, L Street NW, and New York Avenue NW (2010, DDOT)

7. Ecoregions: Northern Piedmont (Piedmont Uplands) and Southeastern Plains (Chesapeake Rolling Coastal Plain) (2023, EPA)
8. Hottest Month: July (BestPlaces)
9. Average July High: 88.5 Fahrenheit (BestPlaces)
10. Average July Humidity: 66% (BestPlaces)
11. Coldest Month: January (BestPlaces)
12. Average January Low: 26.5 Fahrenheit (BestPlaces)
13. Average January Humidity: 24% (BestPlaces)
14. Rainiest Month: May with 11.5 days of rain (BestPlaces)
15. Wettest Month: July with 4.4″ of rain (BestPlaces)
16. Snowiest Month: January with 5.5″ of snow (BestPlaces)
17. Average Annual Snowfall: 12.02″ over the past 10 years (2023, Weather.gov)
18. Sunny Days: 203 days per year (BestPlaces)

Population and Demographics

1. Population: Washington, DC has an estimated population of 678,972 (2023, Census)
2. Population Density: 11,281 people per square mile (2020, Census)
3. Gender: 52.4% of DC residents are female (2022, Census)
4. Median Age: 34.9 years (2023, DC Health Matters)
5. Diversity: 45% Black or African American, 37.5% White, 11.7% Hispanic or Latino, 4.7% Asian, and 3.7% mixed race (2022, Census)
6. Education: 62.6% of residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher (2022, Census)
7. Median Household Income: $101,722 (2022, Census)
8. Poverty Rate: 13.3% of residents live below the poverty line (2022, Census)
9. Unemployment Rate: 5.1% (December 2023, DC DOES)
10. Foreign Born Population: 13.4% of residents are foreign born (2022, Census)
11. Veterans: 21,665 veterans live in Washington, DC (2022, Census)
12. LGBT Population: 14.3% of DC residents identify as LGBT, up from 9.8% in 2019 (2023, Williams Institute)

Government, Politics, and Civic Engagement

1. Washington DC City Budget: $19.8 billion was approved for the Fiscal Year 2024 budget (2024, DC OCFO)
2. Federal Funding: For FY 2024, Washington DC received $5.1 billion in federal grants, Medicaid, and payments (2024, DC OCFO)
3. Federal Taxes: DC residents paid $37.7 billion in federal taxes (2022, IRS)
4. Foreign Embassies: Washington, DC is home to 177 embassies (2024, Wikipedia)
5. Sister Cities: Washington, DC has 15 sister cities: Bangkok, Thailand; Dakar, Senegal; Beijing, China; Brussels, Belgium; Tshwane, South Africa; Paris, France; Athens, Greece; Seoul, South Korea; Accra, Ghana; Sunderland, United Kingdom; Rome, Italy; Ankara, Turkey; Brasilia, Brazil; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; and San Salvador, El Salvador (2024, DC Office of the Secretary)
6. Federal Employees: In the Washington, DC metropolitan area, 369,600 people are employed by the federal government (2024, FRED)

Economy

1. Annual GDP: $165,060,500,00 (2022, Federal Reserve)
2. Number of businesses: 85,804 (2020-2021, Census)
3. Total Annual Payroll: $48,858,672,000 (2021, Census)
4. Amount Spent by Tourists: $8,090,000,000 (2022, Destination DC)
5. Jobs Supported by Tourism: 84,111 (2022, Destination DC)

Tourism

• Visitors Per Year: 21.9 million (2022, Destination DC)
• Foreign Visitors Per Year: 1.2 million, with 11% of those from the United Kingdom (2022, Destination DC)
• Visitors to the Smithsonian Museums in DC: 17.2 million (includes 1.2 million to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles, VA) (2023, Smithsonian)
• Most Popular DC Smithsonian Museum: National Museum of Natural History with 4.4 millions visitors (2023, Smithsonian)
• National Cherry Blossom Festival Attendance: 1.5 million across 4 weeks (2023, National Cherry Blossom Festival)