Washington, D.C.

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Washington, D.C.
Federal capital city and district
District of Columbia
National Mall U.S. Capitol Stores in Adams Morgan National Air and Space Museum White House
Flag Seal
Nickname(s):  D.C., The District
Motto(s):  Justitia Omnibus (English: Justice for All)
Anthem: "Washington" "Our Nation's Capital" (march)[1]
Neighborhoods of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. Location within the United States Show map of the United States Washington, D.C. Location within North America Show map of North America
Coordinates: 38°54′17″N 77°00′59″W / 38.90472°N 77.01639°W / 38.90472; -77.01639 (District of Columbia)
Country	United States
Residence Act	July 16, 1790
Organized	February 27, 1801
Consolidated	February 21, 1871
Home Rule Act	December 24, 1973
Named for	George Washington Columbia
Government
• Type	Mayor–council
• Mayor	Muriel Bowser (D)
• D.C. Council	List Phil Mendelson (D), Chair Anita Bonds (D), At‑large Christina Henderson (I), At‑large Robert White (D), At‑large Kenyan McDuffie (I), At‑large Brianne Nadeau (D), Ward 1 Brooke Pinto (D), Ward 2 Matthew Frumin (D), Ward 3 Janeese Lewis George (D), Ward 4 Zachary Parker (D), Ward 5 Charles Allen (D), Ward 6 Vincent C. Gray (D), Ward 7 Trayon White (D), Ward 8[2]
• U.S. House	Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), Delegate (At-large)
Area
• Federal capital city and district	68.35 sq mi (177.0 km2)
• Land	61.13 sq mi (158.3 km2)
• Water	7.22 sq mi (18.7 km2)
Highest elevation	409 ft (125 m)
Lowest elevation	0 ft (0 m)
Population  (2020)[3]
• Federal capital city and district	689,545
• Rank	20th in the United States
• Density	11,280.71/sq mi (4,355.39/km2)
• Urban [4]	5,174,759 (US: 8th)
• Urban density	3,997.5/sq mi (1,543.4/km2)
• Metro [5]	6,278,542 (US: 6th)
Demonym	Washingtonian[6][7]
GDP [8][9]
• Federal District	$144.0 billion (2022)
• DC-VA-MD-WV (MSA)	$660.6 billion (2022)
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (Eastern Daylight Time)
ZIP Codes	20001–20098, 20201–20599, 56901–56999
Area code(s)	202 and 771[10][11]
ISO 3166 code	US-DC
Airports	Full list Dulles International Reagan National Baltimore/Washington
Railroads	Full list Washington Metro MARC Train Virginia Railway Express
Website	dc.gov

Washington, D.C. state symbols
Living insignia
Bird	Wood Thrush
Flower	American Beauty rose
Tree	Scarlet Oak
Inanimate insignia
Beverage	Rickey[12]
Dinosaur	Capitalsaurus
Food	Cherry
Rock	Potomac bluestone
Slogan	Federal City
State route marker
State quarter
Released in 2009
Lists of United States state symbols

Washington, D.C. (also known as simply Washington or D.C., and officially as the District Of Columbia) is the capital of the United States. It is a federal district. The President of the United States, the United States Congress, the United States Supreme Court and many major national government offices are in the territory. This makes it the political center of the United States of America.

Washington was named after the first U.S. President George Washington. "D.C." stands for "District of Columbia". At first, it was made up of a piece from Virginia south of the Potomac River and a piece from Maryland north of the Potomac River. In 1847, Virginia's piece was returned to it, and is now Arlington County and part of the city of Alexandria. Since 1847, all of the District of Columbia is on the north side of the Potomac River. The District of Columbia used to have other small towns which used "D.C.".

Since 1800, the District of Columbia has been the home of all three branches of the U.S. government: Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court. All of the major political parties are based here. It is also the headquarters of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Organization of American States (OAS). Because it is the home of the President and is important to American politics, many groups often hold large demonstrations and protests here. These are often at the National Mall, a large open park which has many monuments and museums. The District of Columbia’s many museums and monuments make it a popular place for tourists to visit.

In 2020, the United States Census Bureau said that 689,545 people lived within the District of Columbia.^[13]

1. ↑ Imhoff, Gary (October 1999). "Our Official Songs". DC Watch. Archived from the original on February 19, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
2. ↑ Councilmembers Archived March 20, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, Washington, D.C. Accessed March 20, 2023. "Thirteen Members make up the Council: a representative elected from each of the eight wards; and five members, including the Chairman, elected at-large."
3. ↑ "QuickFacts: Washington city, District of Columbia". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on January 28, 2023. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
4. ↑ "List of 2020 Census Urban Areas". census.gov. United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on January 14, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
5. ↑ "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the United States and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023 (CBSA-MET-EST2023-POP)". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on March 14, 2024. Retrieved March 19, 2024.
6. ↑ "Demonyms for people from the USA". The Geography Site. Archived from the original on May 21, 2017. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
7. ↑ "Demonym". addis.com. Archived from the original on April 13, 2017. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
8. ↑ "Gross Domestic Product by County and Metropolitan Area, 2022" (PDF). Bureau of Economic Analysis. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 13, 2023. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
9. ↑ "Total Gross Domestic Product for Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV (MSA)". fred.stlouisfed.org. Archived from the original on November 13, 2023. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
10. ↑ D.C.'s New (771) Area Code Will Start Being Assigned In November Archived April 26, 2021, at the Wayback Machine(Retrieved April 26, 2021, from DCist.com)
11. ↑ 771 will be new D.C. area code, supplementing venerable 202 Archived November 29, 2020, at the Wayback Machine(Retrieved April 26, 2021, from Washington Post)
12. ↑ Jamie R. Liu (July 14, 2011). "Rickey Named Official D.C. Cocktail". DCist. Archived from the original on October 14, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
13. ↑ "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Washington city, District of Columbia". www.census.gov. Retrieved 2022-02-26.