Basically every city has extensive height limits, especially outside of downtown. Look up you city's zoning code and there's a 99% chance you'll find something.
DC has multiple layers of height limits. There's the federally-imposed citywide height limit, which is the width a building fronts on plus 20 feet. But on top of that, the city's local zoning has more strict height limits in some places, such as residential neighborhoods (which of course make up most of the city's land).
Crystal City, which someone brought up further up the thread, has an FAA-imposed height limit because it's right next to National Airport and nobody wants planes flying into buildings. Less obvious than Crystal City but no less important, nearby Rosslyn also has a height limit for the same reason (though it's higher than Crystal City's):