Methodological Benchmark: Washington, D.C. '24-Hour Economy Study' (MONC & Jon Stover, 2019)

How Washington, D.C.'s Mayor's Office of Nightlife and Culture (MONC) mapped 2,400 nightlife establishments ($7.1B output, 64,980 jobs, $562M local tax revenue) and proved that 54% of the District's late-night workforce commutes across state lines from Maryland and Virginia.

Benchmark Study Metadata

Washington, D.C. Mayor's Office of Nightlife and Culture (MONC) & DSLBD

Primary publication source ↗

Authors

Jon Stover & Associates

Hours Window

18:00–06:00 (focused on evening/late-night hospitality, entertainment, and cultural establishments)

Headline Employment

64,980 jobs

Headline Output

$7.1B

Methodology: Linking ABCA Licenses, OTR Sales Taxes & LODES Commute Flows

Commissioned by the D.C. Mayor's Office of Nightlife and Culture (MONC) and prepared by Jon Stover & Associates, the District's landmark 24-Hour Economy Study combined three granular administrative datasets:

Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) Licensing Registry: Geocoded 2,400+ hospitality, dining, bar, nightclub, and cultural establishments across 18 distinct D.C. commercial corridors, finding that 96% of alcohol-licensed entertainment venues in D.C. are locally owned independent businesses rather than national chains.
D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) Micro-Aggregated Receipts: Directly measured the District's 10.0% on-premises dining and beverage sales tax alongside commercial property taxes paid by nightlife parcels—documenting $562 million in direct annual local tax revenue on $7.1 billion in industry output and 64,980 jobs.
Census LEHD LODES Residence-to-Workplace Commute Flows: Showed that 54% of D.C.'s nightlife and hospitality workers reside outside the District (primarily in Prince George's County, MD, Montgomery County, MD, and Arlington/Fairfax/Alexandria, VA).

Direct Alignment with CVL's Workforce & Mobility Layers

On the CVL Nighttime Economy Platform's state:11 / county:11001 (District of Columbia) and cbsa:47900 (Washington-Arlington-Alexandria Metro Area) pages, our LEHD LODES (fact_workforce) and GTFS Late-Night Transit (fact_mobility) layers reproduce this exact cross-border dynamic—explaining why MONC prioritized DDOT Nightlife Pick-Up/Drop-Off (PUDO) zones and WMATA's 24/7 DC Metrobus network.