I’m willing to bet it’s almost entirely more money being made from contracting and lobbying. None of the people living high on the hog in DC send their children to public or charter schools.
How much has the federal spend increased in that same time period? A lot.
I don't mean this as an attack, but do you live in DC? The stereotype is actually that the very wealthy lobbyists and contractors live in VA where the taxes are lower.
There's plenty super-rich here, but they're not particularly tipping the scales out of 700,000 people. The rise of DC's wealth has largely been a huge influx of young professionals in the past 20 years. Most of whom are probably government-adjacent, but we're talking people making 120k/year, not 10MM. It's the same pattern as a dozen other big US cities over the past 10 years.
DC public schools enrollment is up 10% in the past 5 years, and DC Charter school enrollment is up nearly 30%.
An influx of young professionals and a consequent push of older, browner folks out. A bunch of neighborhoods in Southeast have changed character substantially in the last couple of decades.
Not that places have to remain static, but these are neighborhoods with a long and interesting history. DC isn't just a government seat. It's a real city, sandwiched between the Confederate capital and a slaveowning but non-seceding state. That gave rise to a unique culture -- including having one of the nation's most prominent Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
That culture persists and evolved, and it's worthwhile to consider that rather than simply replacing it. Exactly how to do that, though, is an ongoing challenge.
Yeah for sure. Hopefully we can continue to evolve ways to share all the new gains, especially with people who got pushed out who weren't property owners.
High on the hog by the standards of the big coastal cities, or high on the hog by the standards of Midwestern or Southern small towns?
A fair portion of the upper middle class, mostly "west of the park" (Rock Creek Park) uses the public schools: Eaton, Deal, Wilson is a common progression. And some those who can use the public magnets, Banneker, School Without Walls, Ellington. I am not talking here about the really rich, whom I do not know, but about the prosperous.
Yes, lobbyists, but there have always been lobbyist. Yes, contractors, but the DOD contractors tend to be in Virginia. Again, I don't think that there prosperity of the region as a whole has changed that much, rather the share of the region's prosperous who live in the District.
How much has the federal spend increased in that same time period? A lot.