As seen in PR Week:

Although it has long been considered a Washington offshoot, Northern Virginia is in breakout mode. Tracy Schario, president of the National Capital chapter of PRSA (which encompasses both DC and Northern Virginia), says many of her chapter members are focused heavily on certain business sectors in order to distinguish them from the public affairs-heavy DC field. "The job market is strong in Northern Virginia," she adds. "A lot of it is driven by Homeland Security money."

Schario, who is the head of media relations at George Washington University, says some government agencies seemed to pull back from PR after some of 2005's controversies. But chapter members tell her that strong markets in other fields like healthcare have more than made up for that caution. "With the increasing growth of Northern Virginia... healthcare PR is very strong," she says. "If I had to pick one industry to keep my eye on," that would be it.