D.C.’s explosive growth continued over the past decade, census data shows | Washington Post

Sunaina Kathpalia, a demographics researcher at the D.C. Policy Center, said that the slowed population growth in the latter half of the decade is “not a sign of some kind of doom.”
“It is part of a cycle,” she said. “D.C. had a dramatic boom in population, and now it’s just leveling out. Births in the District remain really strong and so does international migration, and I think they will continue to offset any losses.”
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Kathpalia identified the District’s turning point as, ironically, the Great Recession.
“When the nation’s economy is not doing too well, more people come into the city because there’s a steady flow of jobs,” she said. “On the other hand, when it’s doing better, we see a relatively larger outflow of residents, because there’s generally more opportunities regardless of the location, and a better cost of living.”