DC CAP Innovation · Data & Insights

In Washington, DC, a bachelor's degree pays $55,661 more a year than a high-school diploma.

That gap runs well above the national average of about $30,000, and over a 40-year career it adds up to about $2.23 million. Where a child grows up shapes the odds of earning that degree. This map traces opportunity across DC's 206 neighborhoods, from mobility and income to education and health, alongside the public high schools our scholars attend.

Explore the map

Why this matters

In Ward 3, 89% of adults hold a bachelor's degree and the median household earns about $174,000. In Ward 8, the figures are 27% and roughly $64,000. The two wards sit eight miles apart.

Education is the lever. Across the District, the neighborhoods with the strongest college attainment are the same ones with higher incomes, better health, and greater economic mobility for the children who grow up there. The map below lets you see those patterns tract by tract.

Bar chart comparing DC median annual earnings: a high-school diploma earns $39,810 and a bachelor's degree $95,471 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year 2024), a gap of $55,661 a year. Held flat over a 40-year career, that gap adds up to about $2.23 million.
DC median annual earnings, ages 25+ (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year 2024). The 40-year figure holds the annual gap flat (no raises, compounding, or inflation adjustment).
89% → 27%
Adults with a bachelor's degree, Ward 3 vs. Ward 8
$2.23M
What the $55,661-a-year gap adds up to over a 40-year career in DC, held flat (no raises assumed).
67–100%
DC CAP scholars who finish college within five years at active partners

DC CAP exists to change that trajectory for first-generation, low-income students. Our scholars earn their degrees at 67 to 100% within five years across active partner universities (DC CAP program data, Class of 2021). For context, about 37% of DC students who enroll in college finish within six years (D.C. Policy Center), and the national six-year completion rate for first-generation, low-income students is about 21% (The Pell Institute).

Opportunity, neighborhood by neighborhood

Select a metric to recolor the map. Click any neighborhood to compare it to the DC average. Toggle ward boundaries and the high schools, which are colored by four-year graduation rate.

Select a metric

Reading upward mobility: for children raised in families at the 25th income percentile, this score shows their expected adult income percentile. A score of 37 means they reach the 37th percentile as adults. DC average: 37. National average: 43.
Selected neighborhood

Click a neighborhood on the map.

Map layers

higher grad rate   lower grad rate

How the wards compare

Every figure is averaged across the census tracts within each ward, weighted by population.

Demographics & economics

Education & schools

Health indicators

Where the data comes from

Every number on this page comes from public sources. Measures are reported at the census-tract level and aggregated to wards using population weights.

Change the trajectory

If you work with DC students, families, or partner institutions, I'd welcome hearing how this data changes the conversation.

Learn about DC CAP