MAKERS OUTDONE BY TAKERS: Swamp’s gold: 6 of 10 richest counties in America are DC suburbs, 10 of the top 20. “The area is not a manufacturing or Internet hub, and instead is the home of much of the federal government. . . . Federal workers in the Washington area earn an average of about $110,000 a year, about $25,000 more than the average federal salary. And that is before benefits like 40 days off, 18 percent retirement matching, and ample health care insurance choices are added in. Many households have two federal workers, and many more have former federal workers receiving a pension now working for federal contractors, “double-dipping,” so to speak.”