Washington D.C. -area population increase slowing down, census figures indicate

The Washington Post reports:

After decades of expansion, new census numbers show that population growth in the Washington region has slowed dramatically, with Fairfax County, Arlington County and Alexandria seeing more people move out of those communities than move in over the past year.

The numbers offer stark evidence that a region defined for much of the last half-century for its affluence and growth is entering a different phase, when federal spending cuts are slowing job gains and declining suburbs are presenting new challenges for local leaders — even as pockets of extreme wealth continue to boom.

The portrait is emerging at a time when the nation is recovering from a deep recession that the Washington region largely avoided.

“Especially for young people, this may be the tip of the iceberg,” said William H. Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “If the broader picture is that there are more jobs in a place like Atlanta or Charlotte, then maybe some of that is pulling people away from D.C.”

The limits of the rent-seeking capitol of America.