Washington, District of Columbia.
Typical home $566,961 (-0.7% in a year), asking rent $2,484 (+1.0%). Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$895 (+43%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $4,079 -1%
- $571,040$566,961 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Down $59,904 -10%
- $626,865$566,961 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Washington$2,976
- District of Columbia$2,977
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, prices here aren't rising.
Typical home values in Washington, DC fell 0.7% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Asking rents in Washington, DC rose 1.0% over the past year — slower than the nation's +2.7%.
Owning the typical home in Washington runs $1,375/mo more than renting one. The gap peaked at $1,938 in Oct 2023.
That is $3,859 a month against $2,484 rent: a $2,976 mortgage payment, plus $276 property tax and $607 insurance & upkeep.
Owning vs renting — Washington
The owning line is the typical home's monthly payment at that month's rate, plus property tax and insurance & upkeep; the renting line is the typical asking rent; the grey line is the mortgage payment on its own. Same homes, same months, both ways of paying for a roof.
- Owning all in$3,859
- Renting$2,484
- Mortgage only$2,976
Property tax · $276/mo 0.58% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for District of Columbia, DC
Insurance & upkeep · $607/mo insurance, maintenance and repairs together, from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — the national figure for mortgaged homeowners, scaled to this market's home value. BLS publishes the three bundled and they cannot be split.
Both are priced off the same month's home value, so they rise with the market. Neither is a quote — a specific home's bill depends on its assessment, its age and its insurer.
Living in Washington, District of Columbia
Washington is a city of 689,545 people in District of Columbia. Half its households earn more than $109,870 a year and half less, against $109,870 across District of Columbia; 15% of its people live below the poverty line. 42% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 58% are rented. Unemployment in Washington was 5.3% in September 2026, and District of Columbia had 2.4% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in professional services, then government.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Washington is the nation's capital, and its residents tend to be younger than the typical American. Most households rent rather than own, and incomes are well above the national picture, though a real share of residents still live below the poverty line. Home values and rents are high, and a large majority of adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold but not severe, with a little snow, and summers are hot, with plenty of rain and melted snow through the year.
Work. Many residents work in professional and business services, in government, or in schools, hospitals and social care. Among the biggest workplaces in Washington are District of Columbia Public Schools, Georgetown University and the Department of State. Job numbers slipped last year, and unemployment is lower than a year ago, though still not low. A good number of people work from home, and the typical commute is a moderate one.
Things to do. The National Mall is the city's great open park, with the Smithsonian Institution's museums arranged beside it, all in or beside town. The Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument stand along the same stretch and are among the best known landmarks in the country. For an afternoon indoors, the National Museum of Natural History is also in or beside town.
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- 324,491households
- 64%of adults have a degree
- 15%below the poverty line
- 30 mintypical commute
- 33%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. District of Columbia had 741,567 jobs in 2025, 2.4% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 45° and lows near 28°; warmest in July, with highs near 90° and lows near 71°. About 10 inches of snow and 46 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Natl Arboretum Dc weather station, 3 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Washington
- District of Columbia Public SchoolsSchool district8,332FTE
- Georgetown UniversityUniversity or college7,295
- Department of StateFederal government7,109
- George Washington UniversityUniversity or college6,423
- Washington Hospital CenterGeneral hospital5,493FTE
- Offices, Boards and DivisionsFederal government · Department of Justice4,495
- Federal Bureau of InvestigationFederal government · Department of Justice4,407
- American UniversityUniversity or college3,728
School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24), colleges from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24), federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- Coastal floodingrelatively high in parts of WashingtonRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Washington’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on District of Columbia and the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro.
Washington home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Washington$566,961
- District of Columbia$567,271
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Washington listings, and the typical home goes pending in 32 days — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Washington24.04%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Washington32
- United States27
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Washington3,077
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Washington743
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- Washington$643,232
- United States$371,407
Sale-to-list ratio
Above 100%, homes sell over asking; below, buyers negotiate wins.
- Washington98.19%
Zip codes with a Washington address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Washington — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.
Zip codes in Washington
| Zip activate to sort by Zip | Place activate to sort by Place | Population sorted descending, activate to sort ascending | Rent activate to sort by Rent | Home value activate to sort by Home value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20002 | Washington | 72,397 | $2,458 | $600,846 |
| 20011 | Washington | 67,434 | $2,275 | $600,241 |
| 20019 | Washington | 63,380 | $1,817 | $348,578 |
| 20020 | Washington | 53,005 | $1,940 | $352,120 |
| 20009 | Washington | 50,150 | $2,641 | $566,664 |
| 20001 | Washington | 44,616 | $2,653 | $625,875 |
| 20032 | Washington | 40,920 | $1,529 | $315,907 |
| 20003 | Washington | 37,482 | $2,540 | $821,863 |
| 20016 | Washington | 32,730 | $2,740 | $1,096,497 |
| 20010 | Washington | 31,808 | $2,259 | $679,135 |
| 20008 | Washington | 29,434 | $2,160 | $819,086 |
| 20007 | Washington | 24,602 | $2,521 | $1,244,557 |
| 20017 | Washington | 21,208 | $2,394 | $526,600 |
| 20018 | Washington | 19,562 | $2,155 | $537,886 |
| 20012 | Washington | 17,519 | $2,177 | $789,996 |
| 20024 | Washington | 15,888 | $2,476 | $380,246 |
| 20015 | Washington | 15,653 | $2,604 | $1,355,977 |
| 20037 | Washington | 13,156 | $2,678 | $517,899 |
| 20005 | Washington | 13,131 | $2,565 | $498,001 |
| 20036 | Washington | 4,605 | $2,500 | $363,690 |
| 20004 | Washington | 1,831 | $2,781 | $418,759 |
| 20006 | Washington | 1,362 | $2,017 | $225,024 |