Evening star., 1953-01-28
Capital Area
Incomes Rise
To S3.4 Billion
Per Cupito Figure
Here Of $3.50 Tops
National Average


Residents of the Metropolitan
Area had an aggregate income
Of $3.4 billion in 1852, of which
$1.8 billion was received by Dis
trict residents.
These figures were made pub
lie by a Commerce Department
official, in a special estimate pre-
pared for the Washington Board
Of Trades first Outlook Confer
ence in the Shoreham Hotel yes
terday.
M. Joseph Meehan of the de-
partment's Office of Business
Economics, said the District in
come was 512 per cent above
that for 1851. It amounted to
an average District per capita
figure of about $2.15O-nearly
one-third above the national
average Of $1,650.
Sharp Change Since 1899.
With SO per cent of the areas
$3.4 billion income received in
the District, Mr.. Meehan assert
ed, the remainder was split
about evenly in nearby Mary
land and Virginia. He pointed
out a sharp divergence from
such a breakdown in 1899, when
the District accounted for about
70 per cent of the total area
income.
Accounting for the difference,
Mr.. Meehan said, was a popu-
lation increase far exceeding
that Of other areas of the Ma
ton. A comparison study for
the period 1940-50 with 1863 other
metropolitan areas, for example.
he said, showed:
/. Population of central cities
Of the 1913 areas increased IA
per cent. The Districts in
creased 81 per cent.
2. Population of outlying parts
Of the areas increased SO per
cent. That in Maryland and
Virginia suburbs went up an
average of lit per cent. Il
In another, more comprehen-
sive, analysis of population.
racial and economic trends.
Homer Hoyt. president Of Homer
Hoyt Associates, estimated the
average income of white families
in the District at $5,825. He es-
timated that of colored families
in the city at $4,000 per year.
He estimated today's area pop
ulation at about IL million. He
said the present suburban popu-
lation Is about 835.0OO..
Now Studying Counties.
Mr.. Hoyt, an urban land spe.
cialist, last year made an eco
nomic study, for Arlington
County, of future business, popu-
lation and other economic PROS
poets. He is new making similar
studies for Fairfax, Montgom-
cry and Prince Georges Coun-
ties.
Mr.. Hoyt warned that the Dis
trict, to hold its retail business,
must take steps that include
better parking and highway
facilities.
1T is faced" he added, with
a loss of purchasing power, due
to the replacement of a higher
income white population by q
lower-income non-white popu-
lation."
He estimated white families
are leaving Washington at the
rate of 4,500 a year. In 1852, he
said, there were II 200 non-white
households in the District, COM
pared with 12,700 in the suburbs.
Mr.. Hoyt said white families with
young children are those doing
most OF the migrating"
although the non-white fam
lilies in the District constituted
only 80 per cent of the total
families Tin 1882, they have
54.2 per cent of the children in
the public schools" he declared,
Another Example.
AS another example of this
trend, he said, the population Of
Falls Church and Fairfax went
up 159 per cent between 1940-
1850, but the number of children
under S years of age increased
325 per cent.
Mr.. Hoyt said he has reached
no conclusion on prospects Of
Federal employment trends. But
he said it is not reasonable to
assume Federal jobs will keen
pace with past increase rates.
In another address, James A,
Remon, vice chairman of the
National Capital Planning Com
mission, said nothing has hap
pened to shake that groups
prediction that the Districts
population will level of at about
l million persons by 1880, with
another million living in the
suburbs.
Mr.. Remon stressed also that
the mueh-publicized flight to
the suburbs" need not mean that
the central city is about to be-
come vacuum" It is to be ex-
pected, he said, that a higher
rate Of growth will be in nearby
States. He stressed also that the
District has 1000 acres Of pri-
vately owned vacant land-plus
Federal and private institutional
holdings-which might ulti-
mately be used for residential
development.
William A. zeckendorf, presi-
dent of Webb & Knapp. Inc. Of
New York, described his firms
experience in buying the present
site Of the United Nations head
quarters, and converting it from
q slum-ridden, low-value slaugh-
ter-house area.
Mr.. Zeckendorf said he was
very, very favorably impressed"
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