Metropolitan Growth

Information on how the region is expected to develop is essential to forecast transportation conditions and the plan’s performance—and the Washington region’s population and employment are expected to continue growing over the coming decades. The region (defined as the Washington DC-MD-VA Metropolitan Statistical Area) is forecast to grow by more than 1.3 million people and nearly 1 million jobs between 2008 and 2030—a 26 percent increase in population and a 31 percent increase in employment. Forecasts indicate that by 2030, the region will include 6.6 million people and 4.2 million jobs. These estimates are from the results of Round 7.1 of the Cooperative Land Use Forecast.

Change in Total Population and Employment 2008 - 2030

While the region as a whole is fast growing, some areas are growing faster than others. The outer suburbs is expected to grow much faster than the regional core, with dramatic increases in population and employment. The result of this growth pattern is that the inner suburbs and regional core are expected to have the highest concentrations of jobs in 2030, while the inner and outer suburbs are expected to have most of the population.

What will these trends mean for the future? While our region grows to accommodate more jobs and more people and as jobs and households become increasingly further apart, greater demands will be placed on the transportation system. However, funding—even for rehabilitation and
maintenance—will continue to remain in short supply. The result will be more cars squeezed onto our roads and more people squeezed into our buses and trains.

Regional Distribution of Metropolitan Growth 2008 - 2030

Regional Core: District of Columbia; Arlington County and the City of Alexandria in Virginia.

Inner Suburbs: Montgomery and Prince George 's counties in Maryland; Fairfax County, the City of Fairfax and the City of Falls Church in Virginia.

Outer Suburbs: Loudoun, Prince William, and Stafford counties, and the Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park in Virginia; Frederick, Calvert and Charles counties in Maryland.