Despite a record low in population growth nationwide, Washington D.C., home to the federal government, is growing steadily.
Newly released Census data show the District’s population has grown to its largest in more than a half century. A total of 702,455 people lived in the District of Columbia as of July 1, according to figures released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau. That figure is the highest it has been since 1950 population was 802,178.
Areas in Maryland and Virginia surrounding the District of Columbia have also swelled with people.
Since then, census data shows that population totals in the district rapidly declined beginning in the 1970s before spiking again in the mid-2000s during the presidency of George W. Bush. Now, it is at its highest since 1975.
That year, the Watergate scandal had just rocked the political world and taken down President Richard Nixon. Republican Gerald R. Ford had taken over as president and had pardoned Nixon. The Vietnam war ended and the price of gasoline rose to more than $13 a barrel.
The District’s population has risen every year since 2006 and has soared by more than 100,000 people since the 2010 Census. The population growth from the 2010 census to the 2018 estimate is more than 100,000, a 17 percent increase, according to a local media report.
Meanwhile, the population of the United States grew at its slowest rate since 1937, The New York Times reported.
“Over the years, we’ve made big investments in making D.C. a great place live, do business, raise a family, and grow old. Our continued growth shows that those investments are paying off,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a statement.
Neighboring municipalities like Montgomery County, Md., and Arlington County, Va., have also reported population increases in recent years. Total population estimates for Maryland and Virginia came in at 6 million and 8.5 million, respectively.
In Arlington County, the announcement of Amazon’s new headquarters and the jobs it will create is expected to lure thousands more people to the DMV in the coming year. In May, Washington D.C. was noted by the U.S. Census as one of the fastest-growing large cities in the country.
