Overviewa river town the District grew around

Life in the Palisades, DC

Every city needs one neighborhood that refuses to act like one. In Washington, that job belongs to the Palisades.

Strung along MacArthur Boulevard on the bluffs above the Potomac, it behaves like a small river town that the District grew around and never digested: a commercial strip where the hardware store knows your porch project, a farmers market that owns Sunday mornings, and a Fourth of July parade that has been the neighborhood's true annual meeting for generations.

Below the bluff, the C&O Canal towpath runs flat toward Georgetown; behind it, Battery Kemble's woods climb toward Kent. Between the two sits some of upper northwest's most varied housing, streetcar-era cottages to homes with river views, which is why the Palisades manages a trick its grander neighbors cannot: it has a front door at almost every price a fine neighborhood can ask.

Dining, Entertainment, Shopping

Explore amazing things to do in the Palisades

Name	Type	Distance
James I. Mayer Center for Environmental Education2845 North Marcey Road	Museum	0.36 mi
Del Popolo4885 MacArthur Boulevard Northwest	Italian	0.39 mi
Black Salt Fish & Market4883 MacArthur Boulevard Northwest	Restaurant	0.40 mi
Solar Electric Demonstration Panel	Theatre	0.41 mi
Little China Cafe4830 MacArthur Boulevard Northwest	Chinese	0.42 mi
Inga's	Clothes	0.42 mi
Henry's Salon	Hairdresser	0.43 mi

Places data from OpenStreetMap contributors. Community maintained, so coverage varies and it is not a complete listing. Distances are approximate straight-line distances from the guide’s reference point.

Within the Palisades

Notable Neighborhoods in the Palisades

The Village BlocksAround the strip, most walkable
The Bluff LanesRiver views, the bluff
The Canal SlopeTowpath-close, tucked
Toward Kent & BerkleyUphill, larger lots, quieter still

Schools in the Palisades, DC

The public schools below are listed because their attendance area covers part of the Palisades, and the share column is how much of it each one covers. Private schools have no attendance area, so they are listed because they sit in the Palisades. Attendance is assigned by address, so confirm the assignment for a specific property with DC Public Schools before you rely on it.

Name	Grades	Share of the Palisades	Students	Per teacher	DC CAPE proficiency
Mann Elementary School4430 Newark St. NW, Washington, DC 20016	PK-5	15.9%	397	12.4	ELA75.3%Math76%
Key Elementary School5001 Dana Pl. NW, Washington, DC 20016	PK-5	84.1%	337	13	ELA82%Math82.9%

DC CAPE figures are the share of students meeting or exceeding expectations in 2025-26, as OSSE publishes them.

Demographics and Employment Data for the Palisades, DC

4,150Total population

4,277 / sq miPopulation density

48 / 52%Men vs women

Population by age group

0 to 911.9%

10 to 1715.2%

18 to 246.6%

25 to 6444.6%

65 to 7412.2%

75 and over9.5%

Education level

Less than high school48 (1.7%)
High school graduate100 (3.6%)
Some college or associate55 (2%)
Bachelor's degree583 (21.2%)
Graduate or professional1,965 (71.4%)

Educational attainment covers the population 25 and over, not the whole population.

SourceU.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2019 to 2023

Area measuredThe Palisades, three covering Census block groups, 0.970356964176936 square miles of land

Area basisThe Palisades is not a Census place, so these figures cover the three Census block groups that hold 96.6% of it. Two of the three are almost entirely inside it; the third reaches south into Foxhall and the parkland, so the combined area is about half again the size of the neighborhood.

MediansMedians cannot be added together, so no median is shown for the combined area. Median household income runs from 208,000 to 250,001 across the three groups. Median age runs from 44.6 to 49.1 across the three groups.

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Nearby Neighborhoods

Spring ValleyAdjacent to The PalisadesLearn more →Wesley HeightsAdjacent to The PalisadesLearn more →KentAdjacent to The PalisadesLearn more →ArlingtonAdjacent to The PalisadesLearn more →

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