When you visit the DC beltway, it looks nothing like flyover country.
The first thing you notice is NOT seeing “available” or “for lease” signs on 50% of the commercial buildings.
I’ve counseled several recent grads to head down that way and they got good jobs and prospered. But it’s a prosperity based on fake govt money and onerous taxation.
Actually, the private commercial properties do have a good deal of vacant office space. In some quarters it’s like a Potemkin Village.