Map of Washington Metropolitan Area

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The Washington Metropolitan Area, formally known as the Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV MSA, is a U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) defined by the United States

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) . It is also part of the larger Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. , the population of the Washington Metropolitan Area was estimated to be 5,358,130.

Some federal agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security

, refer to part of the area as the National Capital Region. The Virginia portion of the area is known as Northern Virginia.

Composition

Aerial photo of Washington Metropolitan Area

Map highlighting the metropolitan area

The Washington Metropolitan Area includes the District of Columbia

and parts of the states of Maryland

, Virginia

, and West Virginia

. It is divided into two metropolitan divisions:

the Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV Metropolitan Division, comprising the majority of the metropolitan area, and
the Bethesda–Gaithersburg–Frederick, MD Metropolitan Division, consisting of Montgomery and Frederick counties.

Political subdivisions

The area includes the following counties, districts, and independent cities:

District of Columbia

Washington

Maryland

The following counties are categorized as part of the Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV Metropolitan Statistical Area:

Though associated with the Washington Metropolitan Area, the following counties are categorized as part of the Baltimore-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area:

Though associated with the Washington Metropolitan Area, the following county is categorized as part of the Lexington Park, MD Micropolitan Statistical Area

:

St. Mary's County

Virginia

Counties

Independent cities:

West Virginia

Jefferson County

Regional organizations

Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments

Founded in 1957, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) is a regional organization of 21 Washington-area local governments, as well as area members of the Maryland and Virginia

state legislatures, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives. MWCOG provides a forum for discussion and the development of regional responses to issues regarding the environment, transportation, public safety, homeland security, affordable housing, community planning, and economic development.

The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board, a component of MWCOG, is the federally-designated metropolitan planning organization for the metropolitan Washington area.

Principal cities

File:USCapitolDome.jpg|Washington, D.C.

File:Rosslyn1457828712 33c9d23751 o.jpg|Arlington, Virginia

File:Old Town Alexandria.jpg|Alexandria, Virginia

The metropolitan area includes the following principal cities (most of which are not incorporated as cities; one, Arlington, is actually a county):

Demographics

**Presidential election results**
Year	DEM	GOP	Others
2008	68.0% 1,603,902	31.0% 728,916	1.0% 25,288
2004	61.0% 1,258,743	38.0% 785,144	1.4% 19,735
2000	58.5% 1,023,089	37.9% 663,590	3.6% 62,437
1996	57.0% 861,881	37.0% 558,830	6.0% 89,259
1992	53.0% 859,889	34.1% 553.369	12.9% 209,651
1988	50.4% 684,453	48.6% 659,344	1.0% 14,219
1984	51.0% 653,568	48.5% 621,377	0.4% 5,656
1980	44.7% 484,590	44.6% *482,506*	11.1% 115,797
1976	54.2% 590,481	44.9% 488,995	1.0% 10,654
1972	44.2% 431,257	54.8% 534,235	1.1% 10,825
1968	49.4% 414,345	39.1% 327,662	11.5% 96,701
1964	69.8% 495,490	30.2% 214,293	0.1% 462
1960	52.5% 204,614	47.3% 184,499	0.1% 593

Politics

The relative strength of the major political parties within the region is shown by the presidential election results since 1960, as presented in the table to the right.

Racial composition

The area has been a magnet for international in-migration since the late 1960s. It is also a magnet for internal migration (persons moving from one region of the U.S. to another). Census estimates show that persons of post-1965 immigrant stock will likely represent 25% of the region's population by 2010, forming a bigger population bloc than native blacks for the first time.

Racial composition of the Washington, D.C. area:

2006

White : 51.7%
Black : 26.3%
Asian : 8.4%
Hispanic : 11.6%
Mixed and Other : 2.0%

1980

White : 67.8%
Black : 26.0%
Asian : 2.5%
Hispanic : 2.8%
Mixed and Other : 0.9%

Educational attainment and affluence

The Washington, D.C. area is the most educated and affluent metropolitan area in the United States. The median household income of the region is $72,800. The two highest median household income counties in the nation, Loudoun

and Fairfax County, Virginia

, are components of Washington–Arlington–Alexandria. 12.2% of Northern Virginia's 881,136 households, 8.5% of suburban Maryland's 799,300 households, and 8.2% of Washington's 249,805 households have an annual income in excess of $200,000, compared to 3.7% nationally.

As of the 2007 American Community Survey, the three most educated places with 200,000 people or more in Washington–Arlington–Alexandria by bachelor's degree attainment (population 25 and over) are Arlington County, Virginia

(67.0%), Montgomery County, Maryland

(56.5%), and Fairfax County, Virginia

(55.9%). Forbes magazine stated in its 2008 "America's Best- And Worst-Educated Cities" report: "The D.C. area is less than half the size of L.A., but both cities have around 100,000 Ph.D.'s."

Economy

The Washington, D.C. area has the largest science and engineering work force of any metropolitan area in the nation, at 324,530, ahead of the combined San Francisco