D.C.: The lawyer capital of the world (One in 12 residents is a lawyer)

By: Brian Hughes
Washington Examiner
Oct. 31, 2011

One is probably sitting near you when you Metro into work. And eating lunch at the table next to you. And one, if not many, likely lives on your block on Capitol Hill or Georgetown.

Sure, D.C. is the mecca for politicians. But it's a more clandestine army of professionals that defines the District -- lawyers.

An astounding one in 12 District residents -- by far the highest rate nationwide -- is a lawyer, according to American Bar Association and census figures. Put another way: The nation's capital accounts for just one-fifth of 1 percent of the U.S. population but one in every 25 of its lawyers.

[...]Coupled with the cocoon of a massive federal work force, an abundance of litigators has catapulted the Washington region to the wealthiest in the nation, where the typical household banks nearly $85,000 a year.

According to a recent survey by the National Association for Law Placement, the median salary for an associate lawyer in the Washington region with between one and eight years of experience was $186,250, eclipsing the national median by $63,000 a year.

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