2025 Statistics About Washington, DC

ByValerie Moore
A creative overlay of a bar chart with a line graph on a clear blue sky background, superimposed on an image of the Washington Monument and the surrounding skyline. The bar chart does not contain any labels or data, serving as a visual metaphor for statistics or trends in Washington D.C.

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)
Map showing the Level IV Ecoregions around Washington D.C., with color-coded areas indicating different ecoregions such as Piedmont, Northern Piedmont, Southeastern Plains, and Blue Ridge. Key cities like Washington D.C., Gaithersburg, Rockville, Annapolis, Fairfax, Manassas, Arlington, and St. Charles are marked. The legend classifies the regions, such as '45 Piedmont' and '63 Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain,' among others.
Washington DC area’s eco regions
  1. Ecoregions: Northern Piedmont (Piedmont Uplands) and Southeastern Plains (Chesapeake Rolling Coastal Plain) (2023, EPA)
  2. Hottest Month: July (BestPlaces)
  3. Average July High: 88.5 Fahrenheit (BestPlaces)
  4. Average July Humidity: 66% (BestPlaces)
  5. Coldest Month: January (BestPlaces)
  6. Average January Low: 26.5 Fahrenheit (BestPlaces)
  7. Average January Humidity: 24% (BestPlaces)
  8. Rainiest Month: May with 11.5 days of rain (BestPlaces)
  9. Wettest Month: July with 4.4″ of rain (BestPlaces)
  10. Snowiest Month: January with 5.5″ of snow (BestPlaces)
  11. Average Annual Snowfall: 12.02″ over the past 10 years (2023, Weather.gov)
  12. 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)

Having lived in Washington, DC for the past 17 years, Valerie has a lot of thoughts about the best things to do, eat, and know around the city. She loves doing deep dives into the interesting things she finds, and sharing with the world. You'll often find her dog, Lil Mikey, along for the ride.

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