It appears as if at least one employee at the headquarters of the U.S. Census Bureau in Suitland is having trouble staying awake on the job. more ›

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. I don’t suppose it would surprise most District residents to hear that there are sharp differences in income between the city’s neighborhoods and racial and ethnic groups. We see it all around us, but especially in those parts of the city where the lives of the haves abut and intermingle with those of the have-nots. These gentrification frontiers are often a locus... more ›

The Post brings news today of a new study study by the Corporation for National and Community Service -- the federal agency that administers volunteer programs such as AmeriCorps -- that gives a first meaningful look at volunteering rates in U.S. cities since the Census Bureau began gathering this sort of data in 2002. Overall, the Washington metro area ranked 15th in the nation for volunteering and community service work, though that figure doesn't tell... more ›

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. The news came as absolutely no surprise to most observers of the city of Washington, but it still managed to produce banner headlines and an outbreak of hand wringing. Which, I suppose, should also have been no surprise, in a city where issues of race and income lade every public policy discussion. Earlier this week, the Census Bureau released new data on... more ›

"Martin O'Malley signed the nation's first living wage law on Tuesday," read the Post this morning. Seems a little unfair, seeing as how the District passed its own living wage legislation back in January of 2006, a law which mandated that any firm receiving a District government contract in excess of $100,000 must pay its employees a minimum of $11.75 an hour. The Maryland law is similar; state contractors are required to pay workers $11.30 per hour in metropolitan areas such as Baltimore and D.C. and $8.50 per hour elsewhere. Governor O'Malley also happened to be a member of the Baltimore City Council back in 1994, when the city passed a landmark living wage law. more ›

Post 'em if you got 'em, Washington. According to WJLA, today is the smack-dab middle of cherry blossom season. We hope you got your photos already. With rain in the morning, a cold snap beginning in the afternoon and winds that are likely to pull off blossoms, this year's best days for walking around the Tidal Basin seem to already be over. Rats. D.C. Council Provisionally Mandates HPV Vaccine: The debate over the Gardasil... more ›

Today, the Washington Examiner returns to a theme we've noticed (and scratched our collective temple at) a number of times over the past year. It seems that Fannie Mae and the Urban Institute have conducted a survey showing that many District families are leaving the capital for the suburbs, due, according to the Examiner piece, to poor schools, excessive condo construction, and high housing costs. Says the article:Most housing booms are “primarily driven by the... more ›

We reported on the city's succesful challenge to the Census' 2005 D.C. population estimate earlier — the city argued that the Census had undercounted in D.C., and the Census Bureau agreed, adding more than 31,000 people to their estimate. That turned a loss of 21,000 people to a gain of 10,000, which would be DC's first population increase since the 1950s. more ›

Happy Friday, folks; may this day be the start of a fantastic, 80-degree yet cloudy weekend. On that note, who loses 1,137 laptops? It seems that, having announced the missing laptops Thursday night, only the Commerce Department is capable of such feats. NBC 4 tells us that since 2001, the laptops, 672 of which belonged to the Census Bureau, have vanished. Says Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez. "The amount of missing computers is high, but... more ›

Good morning, Washington. It's still pretty dry out there at the moment, but don't take that as a guarantee: those gloomy skies may be opening up intermittently throughout the day. It's a shame — this time of year, with the city's non-touristy areas relatively empty, it's great to walk through the beautiful summer weather and feel like the city's solely yours. Well, today might not be a great day for that. On the bright side,... more ›

On Friday, I attended the Nationals game against the visiting Cubs, where the transfer of ownership from MLB to Ted Lerner had prompted a "reopening" of the old park, complete with red carpets, giveaways, and marching bands. The celebration drew an announced crowd of about 35,000, slightly more than the amount by which the Census Bureau revised the District's population upward on Saturday, according to the Washington Post. That stadium-full (nearly—still 10k short of filling... more ›

Back in January, I wrote this post on demographic trends in the District. The Census Bureau had just released its population estimates for 2005, which showed a drop in population in Washington of about 3,700 from 2004. I looked at Ward-level data and showed that growth in the western part of the city would likely reverse the population loss trend before long. I'm still happy with that piece, though if I had to do it... more ›

The Census Bureau today released a report on domestic migration in the United States, or movement within and between the states, but not internationally (the District of Columbia is included). In the AP story on the report, the opening sentence reads, "Americans are leaving the nation’s big cities in search of cheaper homes and open spaces farther out." It seems to us that the AP had this headline in mind before they ever saw the... more ›

Sometime yesterday, the estimated population of the United States crawled above 297,900,000. This means, reports the Census Bureau via the New York Times, that sometime in October the 300 millionth American will be born. And while there's no way we can actually know which bundle of joy will have been the round number, it's likely that news organizations, magazines, the makers of TV movies, and ghost memoirists will seize upon some lucky toddler and turn... more ›

Welcome back to the work week, D.C. While some may have been celebrating the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas yesterday, others were protesting for one cause or another. Students at American University organized to push for president Ben Ladner's dismissal (which came last night), while anti-circumcision activists, at right, took to the streets outside the Washington Convention Center, where the American Academy of Pediatrics was meeting (yes, we will have a full write-up... more ›

A study of census projections says that by 2030, the District of Columbia will see a large decrease in population. And Mayor Williams says that's just hogwash. The U.S. Census Bureau in its report says that the District's population will drop from 572,000 residents to just more than 433,000 in the next quarter century. more ›