The DC metro area also has a ridiculous number of law firms (lobbyists), federal contractors of every imaginable kind, and of course all the service industries needed for the huge population.
There is at least one federal contractor for every federal employee. In DC they are called the “shadow government”.
Even folks who have nothing to do with the government depend on people who do work for the government or federal contractors to be their customers.
That’s correct. About 10 years ago when sequestration was happening there was a lot of doom and gloom about how it was going to negatively impact Virginia’s economy.
Nothing has really changed since then, Virginia remains as dependent upon Federal government spending as ever.