DC leads nation in income growth

Guess that moving so much of the nation's money to DC did help someone? Pointing to private sector job growth is misleading as the private sector jobs are related to lobbying and consulting.

As incomes fell across America over the past decade, new census data show that one place registered a remarkable rise: the nation’s capital.

Washington, long a symbol of the country’s urban ills, is now among the national leaders in income growth. It ranks first among states with gains in median household income and third among the country’s 100 biggest cities, surpassed only by Atlanta, and Arlington, Va., an affluent enclave.

There are more people in the city with graduate degrees than with just a high school diploma, and its share of graduate degree holders increased faster than in any other major city. The number of households earning more than $100,000 grew four times faster than overall population in the same period.

Though the federal government has always been a stable source of jobs here, the data show that the private sector — including consultancies, contractors and lobbying and legal firms — created most of the new jobs. Workers who identified themselves as managers and professionals jumped by nearly a third over the decade. . . .