Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.
District of Columbia
Aerial view of the Lincoln Memorial, reflecting pool, and Washington Monument
U.S. Capitol Building dome
The Gothic Washington National Cathedral
Train arriving at the McPherson Square metro station with a domed concrete ceiling
Colorful rowhouses in Adams Morgan
Planes suspended from the ceiling of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum lobby
Manicured South Lawn of the White House
Nickname(s): 
D.C., The District
Motto(s): 
Justitia Omnibus
(English: Justice for All)
Anthem: "Washington"
"Our Nation's Capital" (march)[1]
Map
Interactive map of Washington, D.C.
Neighborhoods of Washington, D.C.
Neighborhoods of Washington, D.C.
Coordinates: 38°54′17″N 77°00′59″W / 38.90472°N 77.01639°W / 38.90472; -77.01639 (District of Columbia)
CountryUnited States
Residence ActJuly 16, 1790
OrganizedFebruary 27, 1801
ConsolidatedFebruary 21, 1871
Home Rule ActDecember 24, 1973
Named for
Government
 • TypeMayor–council
 • MayorMuriel Bowser (D)
 • D.C. Council
 • U.S. HouseEleanor Holmes Norton (D),
Delegate (At-large)
Area
 • Federal capital city and federal district68.35 sq mi (177.0 km2)
 • Land61.126 sq mi (158.32 km2)
 • Water7.224 sq mi (18.71 km2)
Highest elevation
409 ft (125 m)
Lowest elevation
0 ft (0 m)
Population
 • Federal capital city and federal district689,545
 • Estimate 
(2023)[4]
678,972
 • Rank64th in North America
23rd in the United States
 • Density11,280.71/sq mi (4,355.39/km2)
 • Urban5,174,759 (US: 8th)
 • Urban density3,997.5/sq mi (1,543.4/km2)
 • Metro6,304,975 (US: 7th)
DemonymWashingtonian[7][8]
GDP
 • Federal District$144.0 billion (2022)
 • DC-VA-MD-WV (MSA)$660.6 billion (2022)
Time zoneUTC−5 (EST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes
20001–20098, 20201–20599, 56901–56999
Area code(s)202 and 771[11][12]
ISO 3166 codeUS-DC
Airports
Railroads
Websitedc.gov Edit this at Wikidata

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly called Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States.[13] The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with Maryland to its north and east. Washington, D.C., was named for George Washington, a Founding Father and first president of the United States.[14][15] The district is named for Columbia, the female personification of the nation.

Washington, D.C., anchors the southern end of the Northeast megalopolis, one of the nation's largest and most influential cultural, political, and economic regions. As the seat of the U.S. federal government and several international organizations, the city is an important world political capital.[16] The city had 20.7 million domestic visitors[17] and 1.2 million international visitors, ranking seventh among U.S. cities as of 2022.[18]

The U.S. Constitution in 1789 called for the creation of a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. As such, Washington, D.C., is not part of any state, and is not one itself. The Residence Act, adopted on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of the capital district along the Potomac River. The city was founded in 1791, and the 6th Congress held the first session in the unfinished Capitol Building in 1800 after the capital moved from Philadelphia. In 1801, the District of Columbia, formerly part of Maryland and Virginia and including the existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria, was officially recognized as the federal district; initially, the city was a separate settlement within the larger federal district.[19] In 1846, Congress returned the land originally ceded by Virginia, including the city of Alexandria. In 1871, it created a single municipality for the remaining portion of the district, although its locally elected government only lasted three years and elective city-government did not return for over a century.[20] There have been several unsuccessful efforts to make the district into a state since the 1880s; a statehood bill passed the House of Representatives in 2021 but was not adopted by the U.S. Senate.[21] Designed in 1791 by Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the city is divided into quadrants, which are centered around the Capitol Building and include 131 neighborhoods. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 689,545,[3] making it the 23rd-most populous city in the U.S., third-most populous city in the Southeast after Jacksonville and Charlotte, and third-most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic after New York City and Philadelphia.[22] Commuters from the city's Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's daytime population to more than one million during the workweek.[23] The Washington metropolitan area, which includes parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, is the country's seventh-largest metropolitan area, with a 2023 population of 6.3 million residents.[6]

The city hosts the U.S. federal government and the buildings that house government headquarters, including the White House, the Capitol, the Supreme Court Building, and multiple federal departments and agencies. The city is home to many national monuments and museums, located most prominently on or around the National Mall, including the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument. It hosts 177 foreign embassies and serves as the headquarters for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States, and other international organizations. Many of the nation's largest industry associations, non-profit organizations, and think tanks are based in the city, including AARP, American Red Cross, Atlantic Council, Brookings Institution, National Geographic Society, The Heritage Foundation, Wilson Center, and others.

A locally elected mayor and 13-member council have governed the district since 1973, though Congress retains the power to overturn local laws. Washington, D.C., residents are, on the federal level, politically disenfranchised since the city's residents do not have voting representation in Congress; the city's residents elect a single at-large congressional delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives who has no voting authority. The city's voters choose three presidential electors in accordance with the Twenty-third Amendment.

  1. ^ Imhoff, Gary (October 1999). "Our Official Songs". DC Watch. Archived from the original on February 19, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
  2. ^ Councilmembers Archived March 20, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, Washington, D.C. Accessed March 20, 2023. "Thirteen Members make up the Council: a representative elected from each of the eight wards; and five members, including the Chairman, elected at-large."
  3. ^ a b "QuickFacts: Washington city, District of Columbia". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on January 28, 2023. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
  4. ^ "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties in District of Columbia: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023 (CO-EST2023-POP-11)". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on March 18, 2024. Retrieved March 19, 2024.
  5. ^ "List of 2020 Census Urban Areas". census.gov. United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on January 14, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  6. ^ a b "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the United States and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023 (CBSA-MET-EST2023-POP)". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on March 14, 2024. Retrieved March 19, 2024.
  7. ^ "Demonyms for people from the USA". The Geography Site. Archived from the original on May 21, 2017. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  8. ^ "Demonym". addis.com. Archived from the original on April 13, 2017. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  9. ^ "Gross Domestic Product by County and Metropolitan Area, 2022" (PDF). Bureau of Economic Analysis. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 13, 2023. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  10. ^ "Total Gross Domestic Product for Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV (MSA)". fred.stlouisfed.org. Archived from the original on November 13, 2023. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  11. ^ D.C.'s New (771) Area Code Will Start Being Assigned In November Archived April 26, 2021, at the Wayback Machine(Retrieved April 26, 2021, from DCist.com)
  12. ^ 771 will be new D.C. area code, supplementing venerable 202 Archived November 29, 2020, at the Wayback Machine(Retrieved April 26, 2021, from Washington Post)
  13. ^ "Introduction: Where Oh Where Should the Capital Be?". WHHA. Archived from the original on July 4, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  14. ^ "Washington, D.C. History F.A.Q." The Historical Society of Washington, D.C. May 27, 2014. Archived from the original on September 10, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
  15. ^ "Father of His Country". George Washington's Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. Archived from the original on July 13, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  16. ^ Broder, David S. (February 18, 1990). "Nation's Capital in Eclipse as Pride and Power Slip Away". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 10, 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2010. In the days of the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan and the creation of NATO, [Clark Clifford] said, we saved the world, and Washington became the capital of the world.
  17. ^ "Washington, DC Visitor Research". washington.org. Archived from the original on November 8, 2023. Retrieved December 24, 2023.
  18. ^ "America's 10 most visited cities" Archived June 14, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, World Atlas, November 6, 2023
  19. ^ Tikkanen, Amy; Campbell, Heather; Goldberg, Maren; Wallenfeldt, Jeff; Augustyn, Adam (May 4, 2023). "Washington, D.C." Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on April 3, 2023. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  20. ^ Tikkanen, Amy; Campbell, Heather; Goldberg, Maren; Wallenfeldt, Jeff; Augustyn, Adam (May 4, 2023). "Washington, D.C. - History". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on May 5, 2023. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  21. ^ Cochrane, Emily (April 22, 2021). "House Approves D.C. Statehood, but Senate Obstacles Remain". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 23, 2021. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  22. ^ Vasilogambros, Matt (December 30, 2013). "D.C. Has More People Than Wyoming and Vermont, Still Not a State". The Atlantic. National Journal. Archived from the original on January 18, 2021. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  23. ^ "Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV". U.S. Census Bureau. U.S. Department of Commerce. Archived from the original on April 19, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2017.