WASHINGTON — No matter how mouthwatering a $31 char-crusted, bone-in ribeye crowned with chanterelles might be, it’s still $31 — a tough swallow for most Americans these days.
This is why you don’t generally see steakhouses setting up in lean economic times.
But Rich Vasey, 35, the co-owner of Lost Society, said he didn’t hesitate to open his 120-seat Victorian-accented steakhouse here in July.
“We’ve been fortunate,” Vasey said.
So has the Washington, D.C., metro area. Even as much of the nation’s economy is struggling to stay afloat, the capital has been lifted by a buoyant public sector, lower-than average unemployment and a relatively stable housing market.
An analysis of data from the U.S. Census by Bloomberg News yesterday revealed that the metro area has highest median income in the country. The Washington metro area also includes the parts of Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia.
The median household income in the Washington metro area was $84,523 last year. Silicon Valley, which previously held the top spot, fell to No. 2.
The national median was $50,046, according to the analysis.
“You’ve just got to look at the employment base here,” said James Chung, the president of Reach Advisors, a strategy and research firm that studies demographic and economic data in metropolitan areas. “What you find is that Washington, D.C., has a higher percentage of a professional work force than almost any other city in America and that’s because the business of D.C. is government,” he said.
Of almost 3 million total jobs in the region, about 380,300, or 13 percent, were in the federal government, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The compensation for those workers, including health care and other benefits, was more than $126,000, according to Bloomberg’s calculations.
Unemployment in the Washington metro area was 6.1 percent in August, compared with the national average of 9.1 percent for that month.
Besides having plenty of federal workers, industries that interact with the government have grown in recent years, too, such as lobbying groups and contractors. And Washington has the most lawyers in the country.
“I think the economy here is one of the stronger ones,” said Ian Stumpf, 29, an attorney who focuses on consumer protection law and has been based in the D.C. area for the past several years. “It’s simple because people come here for school and then they stay because they can actually have a job here,” he said.
Chung said the phenomenon Stumpf is pointing to will have a compounding effect that will contribute to a lasting economic success for Washington.
“D.C. has become a magnet for well-educated young professionals during a time when there aren’t a lot of regions that have jobs for them,” he said. “So right now, D.C. is winning the talent war and this is going to have a pay off for a long time to come.”