News & Politics

13 Charts That Explain How Washington Has Changed Since 1965

Among the most dramatic changes in Washington over the past 50 years include annual tuition increases (a whopping 4,000% at the highly selective Sidwell Friends School—from $900 in 1965 to $37,750, today) and the percentage of area-workers employed by the U.S. government decreasing by half. Take a look at our quantitative guide documenting other significant, and sometimes surprising, changes to Washington over the last half century.

Figures represent most recent available data. Sources: US Census Bureau; Baseball-Reference.com; Sidwell Friends School; DC Department of Transportation; Washington Post; Ethiopian Yellow Pages, 2103; Bureau of Labor Statistics; Economic Modeling Specialists Intl.; Smithsonian Institution; Pennsylvania Railroad; Amtrak; Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority; National Weather Service; Alliance for Audited Media; Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

This article appears in our October 2015 issue.