City safety & data profile
WashingtonDC
Washington, DC is a 690K-resident city in District of Columbia with a median household income of $109,870.
District of Columbia, District of Columbia. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Washington, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Washington has a population larger than 99% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $737,100, and 10 hospitals serving the surrounding area.
Data updated 2026-09-03
- 690K
- Population (place)
- Top 1%
- By size
- $109,870
- Median income (place)
- $737,100
- Median home (place)
- 15.4%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on Washington
Washington posts a median household income higher than 77% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 recent safety alert is on record and 10 hospitals serve the Washington area.
- Top 23%
- by median income, US cities
- 1
- safety alert on record
- 10
- hospitals in & near Washington
Where Washington income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$109,870 Top 23% higher than 77% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles
Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year
The quick read
Reading Washington, DC beyond the headline numbers
Washington sits inside District of Columbia, District of Columbia, at roughly 38.90°N, -77.04°W. Population 689,545, $109,870 median household income. Median home value $737,100, median rent $1,954. Poverty rate 15.4%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
10 hospitals in/around Washington, 2.9/5 avg rating, 6 with an ER.
Poverty in Washington, DC stands at 15.4%, above the midpoint of reporting cities. A median income can look comfortable while a share this size sits well beneath it, which is why the two figures belong together.
The median home in Washington costs around 6.7 times what a median household earns in a year -- the most expensive quarter of reporting cities, and far enough ahead of local pay that ownership is largely closed to median earners.
33% of Washington workers report working from home, the highest quarter of reporting cities. Where that share runs this high, local income increasingly reflects employers located somewhere else.
Among the CDC measures on this page, binge drinking departs furthest from its peer median: 24% in Washington, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.
20.3% of Washington workers commute by public transit, a larger share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.
Washington's median age is 34.9 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Washington from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.
10-Year Trends 2013–2024
County-level trend (District of Columbia): Washington's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.
Economics
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Median Rent | |
| Poverty Rate | 15.4% +24% vs avg |
| Unemployment | 6.3% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 64.2% |
| Work From Home | 33% |
| Public Transit | 20.3% |
Population
Health Profile 15 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Other Measures
Hospitals 10 total
What alerts and safety updates affect Washington? 1
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet DC-WASHINGTON-DC · Washington
Washington: 146 tagged alerts; lead category NWS weather alert.
- VOL-HEAVY 146 on record
- WX-LED 80% weather
- DESK-MIX NOAA · CPSC/FDA/NHTSA · USGS
- NEAR-PEER 36 · Somerset
- RANK-MID #77 tagged volume
Tagged alert mix: Washington
Published notices carrying this city slug or location tag
- Weather Alerts
Weather Alerts
117
- FDA Recalls 12
FDA Recalls
12
- Disasters 8
Disasters
8
- Earthquakes 6
Earthquakes
6
- Earthquakes 3
Earthquakes
3
What this shows 146 tagged notices on record for Washington.
Nearest tagged-volume peer: Somerset, NJ (36 tagged · Δ110)
Counts reflect published articles tagged to Washington; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse District of Columbia state hubs · Methodology
Cities with a similar tagged alert volume 4
Nearest published-notice counts on Areazine (146 tagged here), a feed-density peer set, not an ACS demographic match.
Read with this city profile
Frequently Asked Questions 6
What is the population of Washington, DC? ▼
What is the median household income in Washington? ▼
What is the median home value in Washington? ▼
What are the top health concerns in Washington? ▼
How many hospitals are in Washington? ▼
What is the median age in Washington? ▼
Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for Washington, both outside District of Columbia so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.
Similar poverty rate
Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside DC (15.4% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside DC ($109,870 here).
Compare Washington with another city
Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.
Nearby Cities 8
Using Washington's profile
Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.
- Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Washington area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
- Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
- Compare Washington against District of Columbia peers on any ranking lens. Explore District of Columbia
Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.
Data Sources
All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (District of Columbia) where that is the smallest published unit.
Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.