Quick facts about District of Columbia

• Location: See map on the right side of the page.
• Size⁽¹⁾: 61 square miles. If the District of Columbia was a state it would be by far the smallest. Rhode Island, the smallest current state, is 17 time larger than the District of Columbia. Alaska, the largest state, is more than 9,000 times larger than the District of Columbia!
• Population⁽²⁾: 550,521 people. If the District of Columbia was a state it would have the second lowest population. The next more populous state would be Vermont and the next less populous state would be Wyoming.
• Population Density: 9,024.93 people per square mile. If the District of Columbia was a state it would have by far the greatest population density due to its urban environment. The next less densely populated state would be New Jersey.
• Bordering States: If the District of Columbia was a state it would share a border with 2 states: Maryland and Virginia.
• Admission to the Union: Not yet, but someday if the D.C. Statehood movement ever succeeds.
• Capital: Although the District of Columbia serves as the capital of the United States, there is not separate capital for the District of Columbia itself.
• Highest Point: 409 feet at Fort Reno. See SummitPost's Fort Reno page.
• Lowest Point: 1 foot at the Potomac River.
• Government website: Washington, District of Columbia .
• Official Tourism website: Official Tourism Site of Washington, DC.
• Still not enough? See Wikipedia's District of Columbia page.

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United States Capitol Building on a Brisk Winter Day

Interesting District of Columbia geography trivia

• The District of Columbia was originally laid-out as a square with 10 mile sides, for a total of 100 square miles. It is only 61 square miles now. The other 39 square miles were returned to Virginia in 1847, forming what is today Arlington County and much of the City of Alexandria.
• An individual can stand in all four quadrants of the District simultaneously by visiting the center of the dome room in the United States Capitol building.
• Because of its unique Constitutional status, the District of Columbia does not have voting representation in Congress. As a symbol of protest, Washington DC license plates feature the motto "Taxation without Representation."

Possible Counties if the District of Columbia was a State

Quadrants

Source of underlying map: Wikipedia from a public domain document

1. Northwest: Theodore Roosevelt Island; National Zoo Bird House Flight Cage; Capitol City Brewing Company - Downtown; District Chophouse & Brewery; Dock Street Brewing Co.; Gordon Biersch Brewing Company; John Harvard's Brew House
2. Northeast: Capitol City Brewing Company - Capitol Hill
3. Southwest: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum [VIDEO]
4. Southeast: Thomas O'Connor Residence - 1924; Library of Congress Geography and Map Division

Wards

Source of underlying map: District of Columbia Office of Planning

1. Ward 1
2. Ward 2: Theodore Roosevelt Island; Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum [VIDEO]; Capitol City Brewing Company - Downtown; Dock Street Brewing Co.; Gordon Biersch Brewing Company; John Harvard's Brew House
3. Ward 3: National Zoo Bird House Flight Cage; Washington, DC Highpoint Dedication
4. Ward 4
5. Ward 5
6. Ward 6: Thomas O'Connor Residence - 1924; Library of Congress Geography and Map Division; Capitol City Brewing Company - Capitol Hill; District Chophouse & Brewery
7. Ward 7
8. Ward 8

(1) U.S. Census Bureau American FactFinder: 2005 Population Estimates; Table GCT-T1.
(2) U.S. Census Bureau FedStats - MapStats: 2000 Land Area; United States.

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