For millennials looking to strike it rich, the promised land isn’t Silicon Valley, New York, or Los Angeles. The highest-earning millennials live in Arlington County, VA, just across the Potomac River from Washington D.C.
The median income of 18-to-34-year-olds in Arlington County is $61,520, the highest in the United States, according to a survey from SmartAsset.
The federal government, and the special interests it attracts, pays handsomely. The D.C. metro area has boomed since the start of the 21st century, as the federal government has expanded its power and its reach. New York City is still the financial capital and San Francisco attracts technological innovators, but they remain below D.C.
The government claws back some of that, however. Arlington millennials also pay the second-highest tax rates. Only San Francisco tops them, and Washington D.C. millennials are third behind their Arlington coworkers.
An optimist could see the growth as promising for the future of the D.C. area. With more wealth accumulating, it can expand beyond an economy built for public servants and become a more sophisticated regional economy. A pessimist could see the growth as more wealth accumulating among the self-described elites in a Hunger Games scenario. The capital grows rich as the people outside it languish.
