Average Paycheck Decreases — The average weekly paycheck in Arlington was $1,734 in the first quarter of 2016, down 0.2 percent compared to one year prior. Nationally, however, the average paycheck was down 0.5 percent. Arlington ranked in the top 10 of U.S. counties with the highest pay. [InsideNova]
New Media Venture Based in Clarendon — Politico co-founder Jim VandeHei’s next media venture is headquartered in Arlington. VandeHei, along with Politico’s Mike Allen and the publication’s former Chief Revenue Officer, are among those helping to found the venture, which has reportedly secured $10 million in financing and is said to be “a media outlet targeting corporate executives and other professionals with a mix of business and political news.” While Politico remains in Rosslyn, VandeHei’s new venture is based in MakeOffices in Clarendon. [Wall Street Journal]
Porn Discussion at DJO — Last night Bishop O’Connell High School hosted a public discussion, aimed at parents and teens, about “the effects of pornography on teenagers.” Today the founder of the website The Porn Effect will address DJO students and “present the reality behind pornography to the entire student body.” [Catholic Diocese of Arlington]
First Responders Cup This Weekend — The annual First Responders Cup fastpitch softball tournament will take place in Arlington this weekend. Among the participants, one team from Salem, Va. is paying tribute by wearing the name of fallen firefighters on the back of their jerseys. The players, who also wrote letters to the families of the firefighters, will be visiting Arlington’s Fire Station No. 5 near Pentagon City today. [WDBJ]
New Website for Chamber — The Arlington Chamber of Commerce has launched a redesigned website. [Arlington Chamber]
AHC Seeking Volunteer Mentors — Updated at 2:15 p.m. — Affordable housing organization AHC Inc. is seeking volunteers to serve as mentors and tutors for middle- and high school students. Before the start of the school year, AHC provided backpacks filled with school supplies to more than 900 low-income, school-aged children living in its apartment communities. “Along with scores of generous individuals, several local organizations donated funds or supplies, including Arlington County Community Outreach, BM Smith, Boeing, The Reading Connection, and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington,” AHC noted in a press release. [AHC Inc.]
(Updated at 5:20 p.m.) For every dozen Millennial-led households in Arlington, one is making more than $350,000 per year.
That’s according to the real estate website Zillow, which just compiled a list of places that are home to the most affluent Millennials in the U.S.
“Not everyone in the 22-34 age group is scraping by,” Zillow says. “Whether they made their money lobbying lawmakers at the Capitol or cashed in on a tech IPO, rich millennials are clustered in cities where there are lots of high-paying professional jobs.”
Arlington topped the list, with 8.7 percent of Millennial-led households making more than $350,000. That’s even higher than the percentage of Arlington residents 55+ making more than $350,000, which is 7.9 percent.
(A “household” counts both singles and the combined income of a couple or group of people living in the same house or apartment.)
San Francisco, which has almost double the median home value and rent of Arlington, is second on the list with 7.8 percent of Millennial households making more than $350,000. Another California city, Huntington Beach, in the L.A. area, is third with 5 percent.
See the full top list from Zillow.
Arlington County has the highest-earning Millennials in the U.S.
That’s according to the website SmartAsset, which says that 18-to-34-year-olds in Arlington have a median income of $61,620, the highest in the country.
The bad news is that Millennials in Arlington, by virtue of their high earnings, pay the second-highest taxes of any locality in the U.S. The average person age 18-34 in Arlington pays 26.36 percent of their income as taxes, SmartAsset roughly estimates.
San Francisco is No. 1 on the last, paying 26.84 percent in taxes, while D.C., New York City and Baltimore round out the top five.
From SmartAsset:
The country’s wealthiest millennials live in Arlington. The median income among 18-to-34-year-olds in Arlington is $61,620, highest in the country. That means they also pay the highest federal income taxes. While the state income tax in Virginia is not quite as high as that of California, most taxpayers still pay a top marginal rate of 5.75%. For a millennial in Arlington earning median income, that adds up to over $3,040 in state taxes.
(Updated at 10:20 a.m.) Arlington is the sixth wealthiest county in the nation, by income, according to new U.S. Census data.
This week, the Census Bureau released its 2014 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, which looks at poverty and income in counties and states. In Virginia, independent cities were included as “counties.”
The top three richest counties in the country, according to the data, are all in the D.C. area: Falls Church, Loudoun County and Fairfax County.
Arlington ranked behind two western counties: Los Alamos, New Mexico, home of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the economic powerhouse Denver suburb of Douglas County, Colorado.
In 2013, Arlington ranked No. 7 on the Census Bureau’s median income list, at $99,255 compared to $107,143 this year.
The top twenty localities on the list, by median income, are:
- Falls Church, VA ($125,635)
- Loudoun County, VA ($122,641)
- Fairfax County, VA ($110,507)
- Los Alamos County, NM ($108,477)
- Douglas County, CO ($107,250)
- Arlington County, VA ($107,143)
- Howard County, MD ($106,871)
- Hunterdon County, NJ ($103,876)
- San Mateo County, CA ($100,806)
- Morris County, NJ ($100,511)
- Somerset County, NJ ($100,194)
- Nassau County, NY ($98,312)
- Williamson County, TN ($97,936)
- Delaware County, OH ($97,802)
- Montgomery County, MD ($97,279)
- Santa Clara County, CA ($97,219)
- Marin County, CA ($94,549)
- Putnam County, NY ($94,334)
- Fairfax city, VA ($94,067)
- Stafford County, VA ($92,647)
Another Jury Duty Scam — Scammers are once against targeting Arlington residents with phony phone calls about jury duty. At least 15 cases were reported in September of residents receiving calls from someone claiming to be a law enforcement officer and demanding a “good faith” payment over the phone for failing to appear for jury duty. The calls are fraudulent and police are investigating. [Arlington County]
Deaf Inmate’s Lawsuit Against Arlington — A deaf Ethiopian immigrant says the six weeks he spent in the Arlington County jail was torturous. Abreham Zemedagegehu has a limited ability to read or write English, and as a result missed meals and went without needed pain medication during his stay. A lawsuit against the county, filed pro bono by the law firm Akin Gump, says the jail should have had a sign language interpreter. [Washington Post]
Arlington Wages on the Rise — Wages for those who work in Arlington rose 2.7 percent in the first quarter of 2015, higher than the national average of 2.1 percent. Arlington has the 10th highest wages among the largest 342 counties in the U.S. [InsideNova]
New Process Proposed for New Schools — The county’s Community Facilities Study Committee has made recommendations for a new “siting process” for new and expanded schools and county facilities. “The siting process is intended to improve upon current practices and function as a project management tool to make siting decisions efficiently, effectively and with ample community input,” according to a press release. [Arlington County, Arlington Public Schools]
Lots of Debates for County Board Candidates — The four Arlington County Board candidates are scheduled to participate in 14 debates in various parts of the county by the time election day rolls around in November. [Washington Post]
Va. State Police Cruisers Hacked — Computer security experts were able to hack into Virginia State Police vehicles, preventing the cars from starting or moving. The hacks were done as a security measure, as part of a state initiative to prevent future hacks of Virginia’s fleet of police cruisers and official vehicles. [Dark Reading]
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month — Today is Oct. 1, the start of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. “The Arlington County Police Department has partnered with Doorways for Women and Families, our community advocate, to bring attention to this worthy cause,” according to a press release. During October, many ACPD vehicles will display a purple ribbon donated by Doorways. Last year, Arlington police were called to 2,086 incidents of domestic violence, resulting in 196 arrests. [Arlington County]
Arlington Ranks High for Income Mobility — According to a new study, Arlington County is a very good place to grow up in terms of income mobility for children in poor families. Arlington ranks better than 81 percent of all counties in ensuring that poor children grow up to make more income than their peers in other parts of the country. On average, poor kids from Arlington will make $2,930 more per year at age 26 than poor kids from an average U.S. county. The story is different for girls from wealthy families in Arlington, who typically will earn less than their peers in other counties. By contrast, boys from rich families are in the national top 1 percent in terms of earning more than their born-wealthy peers. [New York Times]
Yorktown Soccer Rolls Stuart — The Yorktown girls’ soccer team beat Stuart on Monday 3-1 to improve their unbeaten record to 9-0-3. The Patriots’ opponents have scored only 5 goals over the past 9 games. [Washington Post]
Photos: Marymount Fashion Show — Fashion design students from Marymount University held their annual Portfolio in Motion show last week. [InsideNova]
Flickr pool photo by @TheBeltWalk
Three Arlington ZIP codes have made a list of the top 50 wealthiest ZIP codes in the Washington area, but none cracked the top 10.
The list, published in the latest print edition of the Washington Business Journal, includes the 22207 ZIP code at No. 14, 22213 at No. 21 and 22205 at No. 31. All three encompass parts of north Arlington.
The average household income for each, respectively, is $193,292, $183,484 and $171,153.
The ZIP codes in the top 10, meanwhile, include parts of Vienna, Cabin John, McLean and Potomac, among others. The No. 1 wealthiest ZIP code, according to the list, was the Great Falls ZIP code of 22066, with an average household income of $225,311.
The “wealthiest ZIP code” rankings are determined by factors like home values, net worth and disposable income.
Last year, Arlington as a whole ranked as the richest county in America by median family income and the seventh richest by median household income.
Map via unitedstateszipcodes.org
Airlines to Drop 17 Nonstop Flights at DCA — American Airlines and US Airways are dropping nonstop service to 17 cities — including Detroit, San Diego, Minneapolis, Myrtle Beach and Nassau, Bahamas — from Reagan National Airport. The move is part of a deal with the government that was struck in order to win approval for the merger of the two airlines. [WJLA/Associated Press]
Preservationists Worry About Home Tear-Downs — The pace of home tear-downs in Arlington has been steadily rising over the past five years. Preservation Arlington says 179 houses, out of the county’s stock of 28,400 single-family homes, received permits to be torn down in 2013. “The looming demolition of these houses and buildings represents an incredible loss of history, architecture, time, energy, and materials,” the group said in a blog post. [Washington Post, Preservation Arlington]
Rich Getting Richer Faster in North Arlington — The northern-most parts of Arlington, along the Fairfax County border, have seen a dramatic 25+ percent rise in incomes over $200,000 in the past decade or so. That far out-paced areas along Arlington’s Metro corridors. [Patch]
Volunteers Needed for Homeless Census — Volunteers are being sought for the annual “Point in Time” count of homeless individuals in Arlington County. The count will take place this year between Jan. 29-30. [Volunteer Arlington]
Photo courtesy @flyidca
Arlington has the 7th-highest median income among U.S. counties, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
At $99,255, Arlington’s median income ranked 7th out of 3,142 counties. However, Arlington ranked lower than some Washington area neighbors: #5 Fairfax County ($106,690), #4 Howard County, Md. ($108,234), #2 Loudoun County ($118,934) and #1 Falls Church ($121,250), which is an independent city but counted as a county by the Census Bureau.
“Metropolitan counties along the East Coast continued to have the highest median household income and lowest poverty in the country,” said the Census Bureau’s Lucinda Dalzell, in a press release. “Northern Virginia alone accounted for about one-fifth of the nation’s 50 highest-income counties.”
Last year, by a different Census Bureau survey, Arlington was ranked third in the nation for median household income, at $100,735. Earlier this fall Arlington ranked as the richest county in America in terms of median family income, at $137,216.
Arlington is the richest county in America, according to one metric measured by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Arlington’s median family income in 2012 was $137,216, putting the county comfortably in first place over the country’s second-richest county, Loudoun County (Va.), at $127,192.
Arlington’s median family income grew by more than $5,000 since 2011, when it stood at $131,890, and more than $10,000 since 2007, when it was $127,179.
Howard County (Md.), is the third-wealthiest county in America at $125,152, according to the Census Bureau, and Fairfax County (Va.) is fourth at $124,831. Montgomery County (Md.) ranks seventh, with a median family income of $113,588. In all, nine D.C. area counties had incomes above $100,000, the highest of any metropolitan area.
Arlington’s income data does come with the caveat of a $10,561 margin of error.
The census data differs from another commonly used ranking, median household income, which placed Arlington third in the nation, well behind Loudoun and Fairfax, based on 2011 data.
Trolley Pub Launches Without Alcohol — Despite assurances by Arlington County Police that it met the letter of the law, the plan to launch an open-air, pedal-powered party trolley in Arlington has hit a snag. Virginia ABC has told the operator of the Trolley Pub that riders cannot bring their own alcohol with them on rides. Instead, the Trolley Pub has launched without alcohol, as a sort of “pub-crawl conveyance.” [Washington City Paper]
The Most Arlington Photo Ever? — A photo of four ACPD officers on Segways talking to the driver of the Trolley Pub in front of Fire Works Pizza is gaining some attention for being, perhaps, “the most Arlington photo ever.” Wrote the Clarendon Nights blog: “All we need is someone in the background in a popped collar eating cupcakes and doing Crossfit to complete every Arlington stereotype!” [Clarendon Nights]
NSF Staying in Ballston for Five Years — The National Science Foundation has renewed its lease in Ballston for the next five years. The agency is still looking for an office that offers lower rent. The General Services Administration is currently reviewing offers for a 15-year-lease. [Washington Business Journal]
Metro Lines and Median Income — A new infographic shows the median income along the Washington area’s Metro lines. The highest median income among Arlington’s Metro stops was East Falls Church, at $142,486. The methodology for the infographic is unclear — a median income of $113,567 was listed for Arlington National Cemetery. [Urban Turf]
Arlington Among the Highest-Earning Cities — Arlington has placed 16th on a list of cities and suburbs with the highest percentage of $100,000+ household incomes. In Arlington 50.3 percent of households earn more than $100K, according to census data. [Nerd Wallet]
