The nation’s capital: It’s the richest, gayest, most educated, most expensive and most economically optimistic place in America.
You’ve heard some of those superlatives, right? Take them with a big grain of skepticism.
When government agencies or private research groups release state-by-state information, they often include the District of Columbia. That makes sense. Citizens of the district are part of this country (albeit without the same democratic rights as other citizens).
But even if Washington deserves a place on national lists alongside the 50 states, it isn’t very similar to any of them. It’s a city. And cities are, by and large, richer, gayer, more educated, more expensive and more economically optimistic. Take education. The typical ranking of states makes Washington look to be by far the most educated place in the country. About 50 percent of its residents have at least a bachelor’s degree. No state exceeds 40 percent. But a ranking of cities looks different: Washington still does very well, but is in third place, not first. Seattle (56 percent) and San Francisco (51 percent) are both more educated.
I suspect the Washington superlatives make the rounds because they’re easy to make, because the city is filled with journalists and because the comparisons feed the irresistible storyline of Washington-as-bizarre. But before we pronounce Washington special, for good or ill, it’s worth asking whether we’re fooled ourselves.
(I tip my Washington Nationals cap to Byron Tau of Politico, who had a succinct tweet on this issue Wednesday.)