Full-service restaurants in Washington, D.C., have seen strong employment growth since I-82 went into effect: Change in employment in full-service restaurants between 2023Q1 and 2024Q4 for DMV area counties, top 50 most populous counties, and U.S. total

Area Employment change
Falls Church City, Virginia 18.9%
Fairfax City, Virginia 12.8%
Montgomery County, Maryland 9.1%
District of Columbia 7.9%
Arlington County, Virginia 7.4%
Fairfax County, Virginia 6.9%
Loudoun County, Virginia 6.4%
Prince George’s County, Maryland 6.4%
Alexandria City, Virginia 4.6%
Charles County, Maryland 3.1%
Top 50 U.S counties 3.1%
U.S. total 2.7%
Prince William County, Virginia 2.4%
Manassas City, Virginia -2.4%
Frederick County, Maryland -2.5%
Economic Policy Institute

Notes: Private-sector employment in full-service restaurants. To account for seasonal changes in restaurant industry, four quarters of data are included in before (2022Q3 through 2023Q1) and after (2024Q1 to 2024Q4) periods. The implementation of I-82 began in May 2023 (2023Q2).

Source: EPI analysis of BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data.

View the underlying data on epi.org.