Where Americans Earn The Most

Forbes reports on America's richest metro area:

The place with the highest median family income is the Washington, D.C., metro area, which includes the nation's capital, as well as wealthy suburbs in Virginia and Maryland. In 2009 families in this region earned a median income of $102,340, a 0.7% increase from 2008. D.C. also boasts a better than average unemployment rate of 5.9%, far below the September's 9.2% national average.

D.C. has seen its share of layoffs, including government jobs, and the private companies that serve government interests. But when it comes down to it, the federal government still offers more job security than most companies. "The federal government can run deficits, which means they didn't have to do as many layoffs as state and local governments," says Heidi Shierholz, a labor market economist at the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute.

Yet, some people say government workers are underpaid.