Bethesda () is an
unincorporated,
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
in southern
Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of
Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the
Washington metropolitan region and a national center for medical research. According to the
2020 census, the community had a population of 68,056.
Etymology
It takes its name from a local church, the
Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in turn took its name from
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
's
Pool of Bethesda.
History
Bethesda is located in the traditional territory of the indigenous Native
Piscataway and
Nacotchtank at the time of
European colonization. Fur trader Henry Fleet became the first European to visit the area, reaching it by sailing up the
Potomac River. He stayed with the Piscataway tribe from 1623 to 1627, either as a guest or prisoner (historical accounts differ). Fleet eventually secured funding for another expedition to the region and was later granted proprietary rights to 2,000 acres of land in the nascent colony and became a member of Maryland's colonial legislature.
Raids from the
Senecas and
Susquehannock resulted in the creation of the Maryland division of Rangers in 1694 to patrol the
frontier.
Most settlers in colonial Maryland were tenant farmers who paid their rent in tobacco, and colonists continued to expand farther north in search of fertile land.
Henry Darnall (1645–1711) surveyed a area in 1694 which became the first land grant in Bethesda.
Tobacco farming was the primary way of life in Bethesda throughout the 1700s. The city avoided seeing action during the
Revolutionary War, although it became a supply region for the fledgling
Continental Navy. The establishment of
Washington, D.C., in 1790 deprived Montgomery County of its economic center at Georgetown, although the event had little effect on the small farmers throughout Bethesda.
Between 1805 and 1821, Bethesda became a rural way station after the development of the
Washington and Rockville Turnpike, which carried tobacco and other products between
Georgetown and
Rockville, and north to
Frederick. The Bethesda Meeting House, a Presbyterian church, was built in 1820. The church burned in 1849 and was rebuilt the same year about south, and its former location became the Cemetery of the Bethesda Meeting House.
In 1852, the postmaster general established a post office in the area and appointed Rev. A. R. Smith its first postmaster. By 1862, a small settlement had grown around a store and tollhouse along the turnpike known as "Darcy's Store" for the store's owner, William E. Darcy. It consisted of a blacksmith shop, a church and school, and a few houses and stores. In 1871, postmaster Robert Franck renamed the settlement for the church.
A streetcar line was established in 1890 and suburbanization increased in the early 1900s, and Bethesda grew in population. Communities near railroad lines had grown the fastest during the 19th century.
In 1910, the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad completed its
Georgetown Branch line from
Silver Spring to
Georgetown, including a storage yard there and multiple sidings serving industries in Bethesda. B&O successor
CSX ceased train service on the line in 1985, so the county transformed it into
a trail in the rails-to-trails movement. The tracks were removed in 1994, and the first part of the trail was opened in 1998; it has become the most used rail-trail in the United States, averaging over one million users per year.
Subdivisions began to appear on old farmland in the late 19th century, becoming the neighborhoods of Drummond, Woodmont, Edgemoor, and Battery Park. Farther north, several wealthy men made Rockville Pike famous for its mansions. These included
Brainard W. Parker ("Cedarcroft", 1892),
James Oyster (
"Strathmore", 1899),
George E. Hamilton ("Hamilton House", 1904; now the
Stone Ridge School),
Luke I. Wilson ("Tree Tops", 1926),
Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor ("Wild Acres", 1928–29), and
George Freeland Peter ("Stone House", 1930). In 1930,
Armistead Peter's pioneering manor house "Winona" (1873) became the clubhouse of the Woodmont Country Club on land that is now part of the
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...
(NIH) campus.
Merle Thorpe's mansion "Pook's Hill" (1927, razed 1948) became the home-in-exile of the
Norwegian royal family during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
Before the passage of the
Fair Housing Act of 1968, restrictive covenants were used in Bethesda to exclude racial and ethnic minorities—primarily African-Americans, but also Asian-Americans and ethnic groups regarded as "Semitic", including Armenians, Jews, Iranians, Greeks, Turks, and Syrians. One 1938 restrictive covenant in the Bradley Woods subdivision of Bethesda said, "No part of the land hereby conveyed, shall ever be used, or occupied by or sold, demised, transferred, conveyed, unto, or in trust for, leased, or rented, or given to negroes, or any person or persons of negro blood or extraction or to any person of the Semitic Race, blood, or origin, which racial description shall be deemed to include Armenians, Jews, Hebrews, Persians, Syrians, Greeks and Turks, or to any person of the Mongolian Race, blood, or origin, which racial description shall be deemed to include Chinese, Japanese, and Mongolians, except that this paragraph shall not be held to exclude partial occupancy of the premises by domestic servants of the purchaser or purchasers." In practice, covenants excluding "Semitic races" were generally used to exclude Jews as Montgomery County did not have notable Armenian, Greek, Syrian, or Turkish populations at the time.
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and the subsequent expansion of government fed the rapid growth of Bethesda. Both the
National Naval Medical Center (1940–42) and the NIH complex (1948) were built just to the north of the developing downtown, and this drew government contractors, medical professionals, and other businesses to the area.
Bethesda became the major urban core and employment center of southwestern Montgomery County.
This recent vigorous growth followed the 1984 expansion of
Metrorail with
a station in Bethesda. The Bethesda Metro Center was built over the
Red Line metro rail, which opened up further commercial and residential development in the immediate vicinity. In the 2000s, the strict height limits on construction in the District of Columbia led to the development of mid-and high-rise office and residential towers around the Bethesda Metro station.
Geography

According to the
U.S. Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , of which is land and (0.38%) is water. The main commercial corridor that passes through Bethesda is
Maryland Route 355 (known as Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda and as Rockville Pike and Hungerford Drive in more northern communities), which, to the north, connects Bethesda with the communities of
North Bethesda and
Rockville, ending, after several name changes, in
Frederick. Toward the South, Rockville Pike becomes Wisconsin Avenue near the
NIH Campus and continues beyond Bethesda through
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1976), where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment b ...
,
Friendship Heights and into
Washington, D.C., ending in
Georgetown.
The area commonly known as Downtown Bethesda is centered at the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue, Old Georgetown Road and East-West Highway. This intersection is about two and one-half miles from Washington, D.C.'s western boundary, making Bethesda a close-in suburb of the nation's capital. Other focal points of downtown Bethesda include the Woodmont Triangle, bordered by Old Georgetown Road (Maryland Route 187), Woodmont and Rugby Avenues, and the Bethesda Row, centered at the intersection of Woodmont Avenue and Bethesda Avenue. Much of the dense construction in that area followed the opening of the
Bethesda station on the
Red Line of the
Washington Metro rapid transit system, also located at this intersection and the centerpiece of the Bethesda Metro Center development. The Medical Center Metro stop lies about 0.7 miles north of the Bethesda stop,
Medical Center, which serves the NIH Campus, the
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and the
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
Demographics
2000
As of the
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 55,277 people, 23,659 households, and 14,455 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 24,368 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 85.86%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 2.67%
Black or
African American, 0.17%
Native American, 7.92%
Asian, 0.05%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 1.23% from
other races, and 2.11% from two or more races. 5.43% of the population were
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino of any race.
There were 23,659 households, out of which 28.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.4% were
married couples living together, 6.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 32.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30, and the average family size was 2.92.
In the CDP, 21.8% of the population was under the age of 18, 4.6% from 18 to 24, 29.2% from 25 to 44, 27.1% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.0 males.
Bethesda is a very wealthy and well-educated area. According to the 2000 census, Bethesda was the best-educated city in the United States of America, with a population of 50,000 or more. 79% of residents 25 or older have bachelor's degrees, and 49% have graduate or professional degrees. According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the CDP was $117,723, and the median income for a family was $168,385. Males had a median income of $84,797 versus $57,569 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the CDP was $58,479. About 1.7% of families and 3.3% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 1.8% of those under age 18 and 4.1% of those age 65 or over. Many commute to
Washington, D.C., for work. The average price of a four-bedroom, two-bath home in Bethesda in 2010 was $806,817 (which ranks it as the twentieth most expensive community in America).
Bethesda is often associated with its neighboring communities,
Potomac,
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1976), where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment b ...
,
Great Falls,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, and
McLean, Virginia, for their similar demographics.
2020
The ethnic makeup in 2020 was 69.5% non-Hispanic white, 8.9% Hispanic or Latino, 4.9% black, 11.7% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, and 8.2% of two or more races. 24.4% of the population was foreign-born.
Landmarks

Important medical institutions located in Bethesda include the
National Institutes of Health campus,
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and the adjoining
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, as well as a number of other military medical and research institutions. Other federal institutions include the
Consumer Product Safety Commission and the
Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division.
The headquarters of defense conglomerate
Lockheed Martin, managed health care company
Coventry Health Care and hotel and resort chains
Marriott International and
Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. are located in Bethesda. Software company
Bethesda Softworks was originally located in and named after Bethesda but moved to
Rockville in 1990. The
Discovery Channel also had its headquarters in Bethesda before it moved to
Silver Spring in 2004. On the professional services side, numerous banks (PNC, Capital One Bank) brokerage firms (MorganStanley, Merrill Lynch, Charles Schwab, Fidelity) and law firms (Ballard Spahr, JDKatz, Paley Rothman, Lerch Early & Brewer) maintain offices in Bethesda. Bethesda has two
farmers markets: the Montgomery Farm Woman's Cooperative Market and the Bethesda Central Farmer's Market. In summer 2021,
Fox Television Stations moved the broadcast facilities of its Washington-area television stations,
WTTG and
WDCA, to Bethesda.
Bethesda is the home of
Congressional Country Club, which is recognized as one of the world's most prestigious private country clubs. Congressional has hosted four major golf championships, including the
2011 U.S. Open, won by
Rory McIlroy.
The National, a golf tournament hosted by
Tiger Woods, was played at Congressional seven times between 2007 and 2016. Bethesda is also home of the exclusive
Burning Tree Club, Bethesda Country Club, and the
Bethesda Big Train, a summer collegiate baseball team.
A number of ambassador residences are in Bethesda, including those of
Bangladesh
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
,
Haiti,
Cape Verde
Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...
,
Guyana,
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
,
Lesotho
Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...
,
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
,
Nicaragua
Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
,
Uruguay
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
, and
Zimbabwe.
Also located in downtown Bethesda is one of the ''
Madonna of the Trail'' monuments, erected by the National Old Trails Association with the
Daughters of the American Revolution; U.S. President
Harry S. Truman presided over the dedication of the Bethesda monument, on April 19, 1929. Nearby is the Bethesda Post Office. Also starting in the heart of downtown Bethesda is the
Capital Crescent Trail, which follows the old tracks of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from
Georgetown in Washington, D.C., to Silver Spring. Walter Reed Medical Center and the Bethesda Theater are two important
Art Deco architectural structures in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Bethesda Row

Federal Realty Investment Trust has developed much of the west side of downtown Bethesda into an area called Bethesda Row, incorporating principles of
new urbanism
New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating Walkability, walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has ...
and a mixed-use district including residential apartments and condos (100,000 ft
2), retail (300,000 ft
2), dining, office space (100,000 ft
2), hotels, entertainment, public art and fountains, forming the new core of revitalized downtown Bethesda.
Retail stores include an
Apple Store,
Anthropologie, and Bethesda Bagels.
Media
Fox 5 DC
Local Fox affiliate Fox 5 DC,
WTTG, is located in Bethesda in the Wilson building at 7272 Wisconsin Avenue. The studio often films with a live shot facing north on Wisconsin Avenue capturing the skyline of downtown Bethesda.
Education
Bethesda is located in the
Montgomery County Public School District.
Public primary schools located in Bethesda include:
* Ashburton Elementary School
* Bannockburn Elementary School
* Bethesda Elementary School
* Bradley Hills Elementary School
* Burning Tree Elementary School
* Carderock Springs Elementary School
* Seven Locks Elementary School
* Westbrook Elementary School (The only building in Montgomery County MD built under the WPA)
* Wood Acres Elementary School
* Wyngate Elementary School
Public middle schools located in Bethesda include:
* North Bethesda Middle School
*
Thomas W. Pyle Middle School
*
Westland Middle School
Public high schools located in Bethesda include:
*
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School
*
Walt Whitman High School
*
Walter Johnson High School
Private schools located in Bethesda include:
* Bethesda Community School
* Feynman School
*
Rochambeau French International School – The secondary campus/administrative headquarters (Forest Road Campus) and the preschool campus (Bradley Campus) is in Bethesda. Circa 2022, the school plans to open a new preschool, and elementary campus in Bethesda.
*
Georgetown Preparatory School
* The Harbor School
*
Holton-Arms
*
Landon
* Little Flower School (K–8)
*
Mater Dei School
*
Norwood (in the
Potomac CDP)
* Oneness-Family School
* Our Lady of Lourdes School
* St. Andrew's Episcopal School (in the
Potomac CDP)
* St. Bartholomew (Blue Ribbon elementary school PK–8)
* Saint Jane de Chantal Catholic School (preK–8)
*
Sidwell Friends School (Lower School)
*
Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart
* Washington Episcopal School (N–8)
*
Washington Waldorf School
*
The Woods Academy
Bethesda is home to a federally funded and operated health science university, the
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU). The primary mission of USU is to prepare graduates for service in the
Medical Corps of the
U.S. Army,
Navy, and
Air Force, and the
Public Health Service. The university consists of the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, a medical school, and the Graduate School of Nursing, a nursing school.
National Intelligence University is also in Bethesda.
The Washington Japanese Language School, a
supplementary weekend Japanese school, holds its classes at the Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda.
[Home]
Archive
. Washington Japanese Language School. Retrieved on April 16, 2015. "学校事務局 Holy Cross Church, Quinn Hall 2F. 4900 Strathmore Avenue, Garrett Park, MD 20896 ..��舎 ストーンリッジ校 Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart 9101 Rockville Pike Bethesda, MD 20814" The WJLS maintains its school office in
North Bethesda, adjacent to
Garrett Park.
[Map]
Archive
. Town of Garrett Park. Retrieved on April 30, 2014.[2010 CENSUS – CENSUS BLOCK MAP: North Bethesda CDP, MD]
Archive
. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on April 30, 2014. The institution, giving supplemental education to Japanese-speaking children in the
Washington, D.C., area, was founded in 1958,
[English]
." Washington Japanese Language School. Retrieved on April 30, 2014. "Washington Japanese Language School c/o Holy Cross Church, Quinn Hall, 4900 Strathmore Avenue, Garrett Park, MD 20896" making it the oldest Japanese government-sponsored supplementary school in the U.S.
The
Writer's Center in Bethesda publishes ''
Poet Lore'', the longest continuously running poetry journal in the United States.
Economy

Notable companies based in Bethesda include:
*
AdvisorShares
*
AREVA (U.S. headquarters)
*
ASCII Group
*
Calvert Investments
*
Cambridge Information Group
*
Clark Construction
*
Coventry Health Care
*
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
*
Enviva
*
Fox Television Stations
**
WTTG and
WDCA
*
HMSHost
*
Host Hotels & Resorts
*
International Neuroethics Society
*
JBG Smith
*
Lockheed Martin
*
Marriott International
*
NBC Sports Washington
*
ProShares
*
Ritz Carlton
*
RLJ Companies
*
United States Enrichment Corporation
*
Youth For Understanding USA
*
Wellness Corporate Solutions
Management
Downtown Bethesda is managed by the Bethesda Urban Partnership, a non-profit organization established in 1994 by Montgomery County.
[
]
Transportation
Washington Metro's Red Line services two primary locations in Bethesda: the downtown area at the Bethesda station, and the area near the National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...
and the Walter Reed Medical Center at the Medical Center station. The Maryland Transit Administration's Purple Line, a light rail line currently under construction, will provide a direct connection from Bethesda to Silver Spring, the University of Maryland, College Park, and New Carrollton. The Purple Line will allow riders from Bethesda to move between the Red, Green, and Orange lines of the Washington Metro transportation system, as well as to MARC and Amtrak trains, without needing to ride into central Washington, D.C.
Local buses include:
* WMATA's Metrobus
*The Montgomery County Ride On bus system also has several routes through Bethesda.
Bethesda Circulator
a free loop bus that operates Monday-Saturday and covers most of downtown Bethesda.
Long-distance buses include:
* Fairfax Connector Route 798 provides service from Tysons, Virginia to downtown Bethesda.
* Vamoose Bus and Tripper Bus, both of which provide service from downtown Bethesda to the proximity of Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...
, New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.
**Tripper Bus, a privately owned company, provides service from Bethesda 4681 Willow Ln, Bethesda, MD 20814 at the corner of Wisconsin Ave., opposite side of Panera Bread, the same side of Bethesda's Farm Women's Market to New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
between 8th and 9th Ave near Penn Station, in close to proximity to Port Authority Bus Terminal.
Notable people
* Jonathan Allen, journalist
* José Andrés, chef
* Trace Armstrong, former NFL player
* Red Auerbach, former NBA coach
* Aran Bell, ballet dancer
* Deane Beman, PGA Tour Commissioner and professional golfer
* Ezra Taft Benson, the Secretary of Agriculture under President Eisenhower
* Wolf Blitzer, journalist
* Mike Brey, basketball coach
* James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...
, sportscaster
* Preston Burpo, soccer player
* Patrick Byrne, entrepreneur
* Chuck Carey, soccer player
* Andrea Carroll, soprano
* Michael Cerveris, actor
* William Dean Christensen, serial killer known as “The American Jack the Ripper”
* Connie Chung, television journalist
* Colin Cloherty, NFL player
* Steve Coll, journalist and author
* Candy Crowley, journalist
* E. J. Dionne, journalist, political commentator, and author
* David Dobkin, director, screenwriter, and producer
* Michael Dunn (born 1994), National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
(NFL) offensive lineman
* William Eacho, former U.S. ambassador to Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
* Gregg Easterbrook, sports columnist.
* Thomas Francis Edwards, serial killer nicknamed The Bethesda Butcher
* Jo Ann Emerson, former U.S. Representative, Missouri
Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
* Kenneth Feinberg, attorney
* John Feinstein, author
* Janet Foutty, businessperson, author, and public speaker
* Thomas Frank, journalist and author
* Neal Fredericks, cinematographer
* Thomas Friedman, journalist and author
* Merrick Garland, 86th United States Attorney General
The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the Federal government of the United States, federal government. The attorney general acts as the princi ...
* Carol Guess, American poet and fiction writer
* Howard Gutman, former U.S. ambassador to Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
* Mark Halperin, journalist and author
* Steve Handelsman, journalist
* Laura Hillenbrand, author
* Henry Hodges, actor, played Horace Robedaux in The Orphans' Home Cycle.
* Antawn Jamison, basketball player
* Walter Johnson, baseball player
* Spike Jonze, director, producer, screenwriter, and actor
* Larry Kaufman, chess Grandmaster
* Brett Kavanaugh, United States Supreme Court Justice
* Judith Kent, business executive and philanthropist
* Julie Kent, ballet dancer
* Greg Koch, former NFL player
* Ferenc Körmendi, Hungarian novelist and broadcaster
* Judy Kuhn, actress
* Tim Kurkjian, ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
analyst
* Katie Ledecky, Olympic champion swimmer
* Nils Lofgren, musician
* Julia Louis-Dreyfus, actress
* Allison Macfarlane, chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
* Justin Maxwell, MLB player
* Matt McCoy, actor
* Alice McDermott, author
* Sean Murray, actor
* Alondra Nelson, sociologist and Dean of Social Science at Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
* Martin O'Malley, politician, former governor of Maryland, former Democratic presidential candidate
* Maynard Olson, chemist and molecular biologist
* Reza Pahlavi, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
ian royalty, son of Iran's last monarch.
* Nick Palatas, actor
* Periphery, progressive metal band
* Maury Povich, television host
* Mark Pryor, former U.S. Senator, Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
* Giuliana Rancic, celebrity news personality
* Patricia Richardson, actress, '' Home Improvement''
* James Risen, journalist
* Alexandra Robbins, author
* Cokie Roberts, journalist and author
* Wayne Rooney, British soccer player
* Richard Schiff, actor
* Dan Shanoff, sports columnist
* David Simon, author, journalist, and television producer
* Gordon Smith, former U.S. Senator, Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
* Daniel Stern, actor
* John J. Sweeney, Former President of the AFL-CIO
* Jacob Tamarkin, mathematician
* George Spiro Thanos, martial artist champion
* Jeff Tremaine
Jeff Tremaine (born September 4, 1966) is an American film and television director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for co-creating the MTV reality stunt show ''Jackass (TV series), Jackass'' with Spike Jonze and Johnny Knoxville.
...
, director, screenwriter, and producer
* Christopher Weaver, software developer
* Meredith Whitney (born 1969), businesswoman
* Thomas Wieser, American-Austrian economist
* Michael Wilbon, journalist, sportscaster
* Gedion Zelalem, professional footballer (soccer)
See also
* Washington metropolitan area
References
External links
Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce
Bethesda Urban Partnership
{{Authority control
Populated places established in 1820
1820 establishments in Maryland
Census-designated places in Montgomery County, Maryland
Census-designated places in Maryland
Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area