Maryland's 8th congressional district

Maryland's 8th congressional district
Map
Interactive map of district boundaries since January 3, 2023
Representative
Area297.06 sq mi (769.4 km2)
Distribution
  • 88.08% urban
  • 11.92% rural
Population (2023)771,551
Median household
income
$132,789[1]
Ethnicity
Cook PVID+29[2]

Maryland's 8th congressional district is concentrated almost entirely in Montgomery County, with a small portion in Prince George's County.[3] Adjacent to Washington, D.C., the 8th district takes in many of the city’s wealthiest inner-ring suburbs, including Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Potomac. It also includes several more economically and racially diverse communities, the most populous of which are Rockville and Silver Spring.

With a median household income of $120,948, it is the ninth-wealthiest congressional district in the nation. The 8th district also has the eighth-highest share of residents with at least a bachelor's degree, at 63.9%. Those above-average numbers are largely due to the substantial presence of the federal government in nearby Washington, where thousands of the 8th district’s residents commute to work on a daily basis. Several federal agencies are likewise located within the 8th district, including the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Two Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in the district: Lockheed Martin and Marriott International.[4] Almost 40% of the district's residents are immigrants, with the largest numbers coming from El Salvador, Ethiopia, India, China, Korea, Guatemala, and Peru. The district includes the Little Ethiopia area of Silver Spring and Takoma Park, and has the largest Ethiopian American population of any congressional district.[5]

Politically, the district is heavily liberal. It has consistently sent Democratic representatives to Congress by wide margins since 2002. In 2020, Joe Biden won nearly 80% of its vote. Democrat Jamie Raskin has represented the seat since 2017.

  1. ^ "My Congressional District".
  2. ^ "2022 Cook PVI: District Map and List". The Cook Political Report. July 12, 2022. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  3. ^ "Congressional District Maps". Prince George's County. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  4. ^ "Visualize the Fortune 500". Fortune. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  5. ^ "The Demographic Statistical Atlas of the United States - Statistical Atlas". statisticalatlas.com. Retrieved January 14, 2024.