D.C.-Area Residents Are The Nation's Most Confident About Economy

WASHINGTON -- Residents of the D.C. metro area are the nation's most confident about the state of the economy, according to a Gallup poll released Thursday.

This is not D.C.'s first time at the top. In 2011, The New York Times reported that residents in the District of Columbia were more optimistic about the economy than any of the 50 states:

In every state, most residents think the economy is getting worse; in the nation’s capital, fully 60 percent think the economy is getting better.

Some theories for the sunny outlook: D.C. has a higher per-capita income than any state, favors recession-proof jobs and also had the nation's strongest housing market in 2011.

The Times cited one other possibility as well:

“If ever there were a place where people not only tend not to face economic facts, but it’s almost their purpose not to face economic facts, it’s Washington,” said P. J. O’Rourke, a contributing editor at The Weekly Standard and a political satirist.

News that'll raise optimism even more: Gallup notes that outlooks are already improving nationwide for 2012.