To do business in Washington is to mostly do business with the U.S. government, which accounts for 27% of DC's jobs. Every major government agency is present in the city and the suburbs, drawing virtually every category of business or industrial concern you could think of. Defense and civilian contractors, professional, scientific and technical services, information, retailing, finance and insurance, manufacturing and wholesale trade represent the bulk of the civilian companies that thrive in Washington.

Overall, the workforce in Washington, DC is relatively small, numbering only 294,000 with a high 7.6% unemployment rate. However, the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area has a workforce of 2.86 million and unemployment of only 3.6%, underscoring the fact that while business is done in Washington, most of it is done in the suburbs. Fannie Mae, Pepco Holdings and Danaher Corp. are major companies with corporate headquarters in DC. A plethora of other Fortune 500 listers have headquarters in the suburbs, including AES, Capital One Bank, Gannett, Lockheed Martin, Mariott International, Coventry Health Care, Nextel Communications Corp. and Kellog Brown & Root. Major defense contractors such as General Dynamics, Computer Sciences Corp., and Orbital Sciences Corp. are also located in the metro area.

Top non-government employers in Washington include George Washington University with some 13,000 employees, Georgetown University and Washington Hospital Center, along with Howard University and Fannie Mae. Washington is also ranked among the best U.S. cities for entrepreneurism and development of technology. Surprisingly, the business of fine arts is a strong source of income and employment in DC. Cultural and non-profit arts groups spend in excess $1.24 billion annually, with the bulk of that, some $746 million, by the Smithsonian. Full-time jobs in this sector totaled 26,000 in 2005. Tourism, which provides some $5 billion in annual economic impact, also provides some 26,000 jobs.

In nearby Fairfax County, VA, more than 23,000 firms operate, employing more than 410,000 people and generating some $14 billion in wages. General Dynamics corporate headquarters is located in Fairfax County, and the largest employers include Inova Health Systems, Exxon Mobil, Columbia Energy Group, AT&T and First Virginia Bank. In Montgomery County, MD, Marriott International, Lockheed-Martin, the National Naval Medical Center and Discovery Communications have corporate operations. Nearby Prince George's County has some 14,000 businesses, and counts among it's government employers Andrews Air Force Base, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the U.S. Census Bureau.

So, if you're looking to do business in Washington, look first to the Virginia and Maryland suburbs where the majority of companies and jobs are situated.