Seattle and D.C. just told you they got more kids, and every headline says “family-friendly.” Bullshit. They got richer kids. The poor ones got priced out.
Look at the receipt. In D.C., the number of children in households earning over $100,000 shot up 37% in ten years. The number of kids in households earning under $100,000 dropped 9%. In Seattle, lower-income kids fell 31%. Higher-income kids rose 34%. That’s not a family boom. That’s a goddamn swap. The kids who used to be there got pushed to the suburbs, or pushed out of the count entirely.
D.C.’s poorest ward — Anacostia, Ward 8 — saw births fall 29%. Black children in the city dropped 10%. Asian children rose 71%, Hispanic 36%, white 16%. So when the press writes “D.C. is keeping its families,” what they mean is D.C. is keeping the families who can pay to stay. The other families got the door.
The universal pre-K since 2008? Cute. Beautiful policy. But the families who actually use it now are the ones with a six-figure household and a bilingual school within walking distance. The single mom in Ward 8 whose kid would’ve used that pre-K ten years ago? She’s in Prince George’s County now, paying $1,800 for the same classroom, if she’s lucky enough to find a seat.
They call this family-friendly because they got more kids. They don’t mention which kids. They never do. Seattle’s “ton of parks” and “outdoorsy” lifestyle costs a mortgage that pushes a teacher’s kid to a rental in Kent. D.C.’s “great public schools” only stay great for the families whose tax base moved in to replace the ones who couldn’t hold on.
This is what happens when “family values” means “family with portfolio values.” Same lie, different zip code. The donor class gets the school, the park, the bilingual program. The working family gets the highway out.
Eat shit, urban planners. You didn’t keep the kids. You kept the credit score.
Source story: Seattle and D.C. child populations grew 10% from 2015 to 2024.