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What is there to elaborate on... lets see ... federal jobs and a 6.9% unemployment rate. Washington Metro is nearly 1/3 federal jobs which is more immune to recessions, as, the show must go on.
GMP of DC+ Baltimore MSA = 528B
GMP of SF/Oakland + SJ MSA= 448B
Is this up for debate?
Similar to #'s above... But I tend not to include places like Napa or Winchester in my analysis. This isn't the 90s anymore...Not sure anybody would doubt the prowess of Washington power after the last few economic years.
Note I see the employment is actually lower than mine, which I pulled all from Jan 2010.
The Department of Motor Vehicles can in no way compare to the Bay Area. In most states, the DMV is a bureaucratic nightmare of paperwork and waiting on lines, and you have to pay costly fees for everything. The Bay Area, on the other hand, is a beautiful place in NoCal, with San Francisco, San Jose, Berkeley, Oakland, and many famous places and beautiful suburbs, good schools, Silicon Valley, etc.
Now my question to you, comparing a government agency to an area, is this: The EPA vs. the Miami/South Florida area - which is better?
GMP of DC+ Baltimore MSA = 528B
GMP of SF/Oakland + SJ MSA= 448B
Their CSAs are practically tied considering the DC CSA has a bit more people:
3. Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV CSA $533.542 Billion Baltimore-Towson, MD Metro Area $133,012
Lexington Park, MD Micro Area
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro Area $395,747
Winchester, VA-WV Metro Area $4,783 Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia Per Capita GDP: $64,081
5. San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA CSA $508.418 Billion Napa, CA Metro Area $7,434
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro Area $310,825
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metro Area $146,687
Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metro Area $9,903
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA Metro Area $20,229
Vallejo-Fairfield, CA Metro Area $13,340 San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland Per Capita GDP: $69,361
Hmm...well you quoted a post which was referring to numbers. Those are objective facts, not subjective opinion.
Anyway, here's my opinion:
natives: DMV
Education: Bay Area
Nightlife: No clue
Infrastructure: DMV
Diversity: Bay Area
Premier City: Bay Area - San Francisco > DC
suburbs: Tie. Both have some fantastic suburbs. I think Alexandria is one of the finest burbs I've ever been to.
secondary cities: DMV - Baltimore > San Jose
Food: Totally subjective. I've heard San Francisco is one of the top restaurant cities in the country, but it's hard for me to go against the delicious crabs from the Mid-Atlantic. Tied for me.
COL: Tie, both are horrible.
QOL: Bay Area
Economy: DMV by a decent margin. Both are large, but DMV is larger and healthier. Bay Area has a more diverse economy, but DMV is home to the only sector which doesn't carry unsystematic risk (meaning the only thing that can hurt those jobs is the failure of our economy/government).
Climate: Bay Area
Nature: Bay Area
Public transportation: DMV
Tourist friendly: DMV
national/global importance: DMV
Overall: Tie. Think these are two fantastic cities/regions/whatever. Two of the finest in the country. I can't choose one, so I'm taking the easy way out. You understand, don't you?
Hmm...well you quoted a post which was referring to numbers. Those are objective facts, not subjective opinion.
I guess I have a problem with anyone bragging about DCs wealth and unemployment rate because of how that came to be.
On the backs of everybody else.
During the Bush Administration, $55 Billion in annual govt contracts was taken out of the states( California taking the biggest hit) and directly awarded to DC-Area contractors.
Quote:
But the D.C. area's sunny job prospects are what vaulted the D.C. area to the top 10. And much of that came courtesy of the federal government, which pumped $55 billion into the local economy.
A move toward using local contractors helped the D.C. area supplant California several years ago as the top region for federal spending, said Stephen Fuller, director of George Mason University's Center of Regional Analysis. He said the federal government was like a "rich uncle" to the D.C. area.
"It is our Detroit auto industry, only it's free money and we don't have any competition," Fuller said.
So a region with 8 Million people gets more total federal spending than the state with 38 Million people that also puts the most money into the federal pot.
Theyre welcome btw.
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