One more report was released today letting us know what we already knew: The Washington, D.C. metro area is the richest, most-educated city in the country. Washington Business Journal reports on the Greater Washington Initiative annual report (you can download the whole thing here if you’re willing to part with a little bit of personal information). Our region had the highest median household income in 2006 among metro areas, at $74,600, and nearly 46 percent of Greater Washington’s residents 25 years or older have at least a bachelor’s degree.

But the report also says Greater Washington’s cost of living is 42 percent higher than the national average, and its current median housing price of $431,000 is the fifth-highest among U.S. metro regions.

Looking ahead, Greater Washington’s population is expected to grow to 6.5 million people by 2012, or an increase of 6 percent, the report says. The median household income is projected to jump to $86,980 by 2012, an increase of 16.5 percent from 2006

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That cost of living figure sounds bad, and indeed it tends to feel bad when we write out our rent checks every month, but it’s important to note that even though the cost of living is high here, it’s still well below that of the Bay Area, Los Angeles or New York. Do you feel like how much you pay to live here is worth the money you spend, especially if you’ve ever lived in other large cities in the U.S.?

Photo by slack13