April 22, 2012 4:15PM # Washington’s One Percent By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) --- SHARE [Stories](https://www.cato.org/search_results.php?q=washington+highest+income&btnG=Find&site=cato_all&client=cato-org&filter=p&lr=lang_en&output=xml_no_dtd&proxystylesheet=cato-org&proxyreload=1&getfields=summary) about the wealth of Washington, D.C., have become commonplace, but this [Sunday front-page story](http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/joining-washingtons-one-percenters-takes-more-than-the-us-average/2012/04/21/gIQAJ6YvXT_story.html?hpid=z2) in the *Washington Post* adds more details to the lifestyles of the rich and powerful: > At the Collection at Chevy Chase, a $1,100 purple python pump gleams in the window of the Gucci store. Across Wisconsin Avenue at TTR Sotheby’s, sales agents prepare to sell a $32 million riverview home near Annapolis — one of the most expensive properties ever listed in the D.C. area. And at a nearby Whole Foods, BMWs idle in the circular drive as shoppers dash in for $19.99-a-pound Dijon-crusted rack of lamb. > > > Long before “the 1 percent” became part of the political lexicon, a growing number of highly educated, dual-income families were driving the region’s top income levels into the stratosphere. > > > To be considered part of the 1 percent in this area, it takes a household income far above the national average of $387,000. The gateway for the region is $527,000. In the District, the top 1 percent of households bring in at least $617,000; in Montgomery County, more than $606,000; and in Fairfax County, $532,000, according to an analysis of census statistics by The Washington Post and [Sentier Research,](http://www.sentierresearch.com/) a firm that specializes in income data.… > > > The percentage of area households with impressive, if not eyepopping, salaries has grown as well. In 1980, just 3 percent of households in the region had incomes that were the equivalent of $200,000 or more in today’s dollars. Now \[after an increase in the national debt from $1 trillion [to $15 trillion](https://www.cato.org/the-obama-budget-some-day-my-cuts-will-come/)\] 13 percent do. Sounds like [the Capitol](http://thehungergames.wikia.com/wiki/The_Capitol) in *The Hunger Games*. Washington’s citizens are less frivolous, though — despite recent news stories. The one percent in Washington are lawyers, lobbyists, government contractors, and the doctors and entrepreneurs who serve them. But unlike regions where actual wealth is created — software, automobiles, financial services, capital allocation, movies and television, medicine — Washington’s economy is based on the [confiscation and transfer of wealth](https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/big-government-building-boom) produced elsewhere. As such, Washington’s wealth is a net loss for economic growth in the country. ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).