Washington, DC is known worldwide as the seat of the United States government and the home of such monuments as the Lincoln Memorial, the Library of Congress, and the National Mall, but did you know that hundreds of thousands of people call this city home as well? The city was founded in 1790 as the official seat of government but has since grown and expanded in population even though the borders have remain fixed. Washington, DC's nearly 600,000 residents tend to disappear in importance under the waves of ambassadors, congressmen, bankers, and lobbyists, but they go about their lives nevertheless. They come from all corners of the earth, from other parts of the United States to Africa, Asia and South America, helping the city earn its unofficial nickname: "The Capitol of the World".

From the very beginning, Washington D.C. was designed to be a capitol city. Minutely planned to mirror the French Baroque style by the architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Washington, DC features broad avenues radiating from traffic circles and squares like the spokes of a bicycle, incorporating a system of landscaped parks that take up a whopping 19% of the available land. Most Washington, D.C. neighborhoods are heterogeneous, populated not just by detached homes or apartment buildings or row houses but by a mixture of the three. Within a single neighborhood like Mount Pleasant, you can find wealthy bankers, middle class civil servants, students, and working class immigrants.

The many architectural styles found in Washington reflect the diversity of its people. There are representatives of the neoclassical, French Second Empire, gothic, Georgian, and modern styles in the ranks of Washington's monuments and public buildings, while residential architecture tends to carry Victorian influences because of the period in which the city was built. Houses and historic buildings can be found in the Beaux-Arts, Chateauesque, Queen Anne, and Romanesque styles while row houses tend to be of a Federalist design. Regardless of the style however, since 1899 no building in Washington, D.C. is permitted to be taller than the Capitol.

If you're thinking of moving to Washington, DC, whether it's to study at Georgetown University, open a shop, or work in the civil service, you should be aware that the high population density has made housing fairly dear. The average price of housing is just over half a million dollars for a house or condo, and closer to three quarters of a million for detached houses, of which there aren't many. The cost of living is near the US average, but the housing costs have driven many people to live in neighboring cities like Arlington, Virginia, giving the city a commuter population nearly equal to its permanent one.