Economy of the Washington metropolitan area
[1] The region's economy is highly diverse and includes the principal industries of the US federal government, tourism, information technology, research, hospitality, news media, and bioscience.
[2] As the national capital of the United States, the country's federal government is headquartered in the city, and is therefore a major employer and important economic engine for the broader region.
Among the key lobbying and law firms include Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, and Holland & Knight.
[5] The US federal government's demand for military technology has led to the growth of a large defense sector in the region.
DC is consequently one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world and hosts a number of internationally themed festivals and events, many of which are done in close collaboration with foreign embassies.
[8][9] In addition to foreign diplomatic missions, the city holds an important role in global finance and international economics.
By conducting monetary policy, the members of the Federal Reserve Board impact the value of the US dollar, key interest rates, and the value of currencies around the world.
Additionally, the National Endowment for the Arts, headquartered at the Constitution Center, is an independent government agency that provides support and funding for artistic functions across the United States.
[16] The Washington metropolitan area is home to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.
The NIH is composed of 27 institutes and centers conducting leading research on a wide range of issues related to health and medicine.
[20] The Big 4 consultancy firms (Deloitte, EY, PwC, and KPMG) all have major offices spread throughout the Washington region.
[21] These organizations address both domestic and global issues by doing research, running aid programs, and conducting public advocacy.
[23] Other key humanitarian organizations with major offices in the city include Save the Children and Search for Common Ground, among many others.
Among the companies with offices along this corridor include Google, Amazon Web Services, IBM, Blue Origin, and Leidos, which is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.
[24] Tapping into this knowledge hub, Virginia Tech, a university whose main campus is in Blacksburg, Virginia in the southwestern part of the state, has opened a $1 billion "innovation campus" in Potomac Yard, Alexandria, where the university focuses on teaching technology classes and conducting tech research.
Dean, Inc., Cvent, Freddie Mac, Exelis, MicroStrategy, Logistics Management Institute, Space Adventures, and Spacenet.
Other important financial organizations headquartered in the Washington area include the Carlyle Group (Washington, DC), which is one of the nation's largest private equity investment firms, PenFed Credit Union (Tysons), and Navy Federal Credit Union (Vienna, Virginia).
Geico, a car insurance company, is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just north of the Maryland-DC border.
The Danaher Corporation, headquartered in Washington, is a major conglomerate that invests in many different industries, such as life sciences, diagnostics, and environmental sectors.
[42] The Washington area has a large concentration of hotels, making it an economically important region for the hospitality industry.
Nestlé, which manufactures a number of different foods and drinks, has its US headquarters at 1812 North Moore Street in Rosslyn, Virginia.
The changing of the guard is a popular tourist attraction and occurs once every hour from October through March and every half-hour during the rest of the year.
[47] Other key tourist attractions in the area include the Washington National Cathedral, The Pentagon, the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, the United States Air Force Memorial, Old Town Alexandria, National Harbor, and Mount Vernon, the former home of George Washington.
[50] The Atlantic magazine, which has covered politics, international affairs, and cultural issues since 1857, is headquartered at an office building located on the Wharf.
Congressional Quarterly, The Hill, Politico, and Roll Call are newspapers and online media that mostly report on Congress and the federal government.
