City · Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is a city in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, part of the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro area. It has 1,579,706 residents. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has a quality-of-life score of 24 out of 100 (low), ranking #11,939 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Pennsylvania it ranks #987 of 997 cities and towns. It ranks best on access to exercise opportunities (high), distance to an emergency room (low) and distance to an Amtrak station (low). It ranks worst on property crime rate (high), child care cost burden (high) and drug overdose deaths (high).

24Low

Quality-of-life score: #11,939 of 15,651 cities and towns
Pennsylvania: #987 of 997 in PA
Population: 1,579,706 (2020-2024)
Land area: 134 mi²
Density: 11,760.3 /mi²
FIPS code: 4260000

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety4#15,017/15,637
Economy20#12,567/15,631
Housing34#9,819/14,977
Health27#11,450/15,609
Healthcare69#4,822/15,650
Environment21#12,175/15,453
Education16#13,196/15,649
Infrastructure38#9,743/15,650
Community56#6,848/15,651
Leisure & amenities71#4,528/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Philadelphia County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Access to exercise opportunities · high100.0%
100/100Pennsylvania 86.3%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePhiladelphia County value
Distance to an emergency room · low1.6 mi
100/100Pennsylvania 5.0 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesPhiladelphia County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · low3 mi
100/100Pennsylvania 21 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauPhiladelphia County value
Public transit commuters · high16.7%
99/100Pennsylvania 3.6%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301
Grocery stores · high4.3 /10k
99/100Pennsylvania 1.9 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPhiladelphia County value
Average weekly wage · high$1,651
91/100Pennsylvania $1,429United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPhiladelphia County value

Weaknesses

Property crime rate · high4,420 /100k
0/100Pennsylvania 1,324 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationPhiladelphia County value
Child care cost burden · high55.2%
0/100Pennsylvania 34.6%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePhiladelphia County value
Drug overdose deaths · high50.0 /100k
1/100Pennsylvania 19.6 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataPhiladelphia County value
Violent crime rate · high838 /100k
1/100Pennsylvania 227 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationPhiladelphia County value
Math scores · low2.29
1/100Pennsylvania 3.12United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePhiladelphia County value
Reading scores · low2.43
1/100Pennsylvania 3.10United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePhiladelphia County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

New homes permittedWorsening
15.8 /1k (2021) → 3.0 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−81%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
76.8% (2015-2019) → 89.1% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Public transit commutersWorsening
24.9% (2015-2019) → 16.7% (2020-2024)
−8.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B08301US 5.0% → 3.2%
Median household incomeImproving
$45,927 (2015-2019) → $61,953 (2020-2024)
+35%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Child poverty rateImproving
34.8% (2015-2019) → 29.0% (2020-2024)
−5.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
29.7% (2015-2019) → 35.4% (2020-2024)
+5.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania improved on 11 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 1 moved within the margin of error and 1 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved11

Child poverty−5.9 points34.8% → 29.0%
Bachelor's++5.7 points29.7% → 35.4%
Broadband+12 points76.8% → 89.1%
High school++3.1 points84.7% → 87.8%
Poverty−3 points24.3% → 21.4%

Declined2

Transit use−8.2 points24.9% → 16.7%
Price / income+0.4×3.5× → 3.9×

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	33.6 min2015-2019	31.7 min2020-2024	−1.9 min	Improved	70%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.7%2015-2019	35.4%2020-2024	+5.7 points	Improved	72%
Broadband subscriptions	76.8%2015-2019	89.1%2020-2024	+12 points	Improved	70%
Child poverty rate	34.8%2015-2019	29.0%2020-2024	−5.9 points	Improved	72%
Effective property tax rate	0.96%2015-2019	0.85%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Little change	38%
High school diploma or higher	84.7%2015-2019	87.8%2020-2024	+3.1 points	Improved	69%
Home price to income ratio	3.5×2015-2019	3.9×2020-2024	+0.4×	Declined	56%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5182015-2019	0.5132020-2024	−0.005	Within the margin of error	55%
Median household income	$45,9272015-2019	$61,9532020-2024	+35%	Improved	65%
Poverty rate	24.3%2015-2019	21.4%2020-2024	−3 points	Improved	70%
Public transit commuters	24.9%2015-2019	16.7%2020-2024	−8.2 points	Declined	3%
Rent as share of income	32.5%2015-2019	31.4%2020-2024	−1.1 points	Improved	63%
Rent-burdened households	54.3%2015-2019	52.3%2020-2024	−2 points	Improved	63%
Unemployment rate	9.2%2015-2019	8.1%2020-2024	−1 points	Improved	70%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	9.3%2015-2019	8.2%2020-2024	−1.1 points	Improved	60%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Philadelphia, Pennsylvania five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania itself moved +4.8 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

1,579,706 residents

Men
Women

80 and over
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

679,428 households (±2,660)

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under $25k23%158,047
$25k–50k19%129,176
$50k–75k16%106,664

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

679,428 households (±2,660)

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Own52%351,905
Rent48%327,523

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (−1.2 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

726,419 workers (±6,081)

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Drive alone46%333,901
Carpool7.8%56,438
Public transit17%121,228

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Philadelphia County, the county holding most of Philadelphia's residents.

Philadelphia County has 29,460 employer establishments, 188 for every 10,000 residents (0.76× the US rate of 248; 0.80× Pennsylvania's), with 699,212 paid employees at an average annual pay of $71,231. The Census Bureau also counts 140,536 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 29,460; 140,536 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 188; US 248 · Pennsylvania 236
Paid employees: 699,212
Average annual pay: $71,231; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Philadelphia County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Restaurants and other eating places	3,155	20.1	1.10×About typical	41,959	$26,217	1,318
Ambulatory health care services	2,162	13.8	0.66×Fewer than typical	49,028	$67,388	7,937
Limited-service restaurants	1,478	9.4	1.18×About typical	14,619	$22,161	746
Lessors of real estate	1,313	8.4	0.68×Fewer than typical	8,717	$82,144	10,607
Full-service restaurants	1,209	7.7	1.01×About typical	22,762	$29,502	391
Grocery and convenience stores	1,040	6.6	2.24×More than typical	12,260	$28,686	1,012
Legal services	1,000	6.4	1.19×About typical	16,509	$155,823	1,124
Personal care services	967	6.2	1.29×More than typical	4,370	$25,484	6,869
Specialty trade contractors	884	5.6	0.36×Fewer than typical	7,522	$87,910	5,684
Individual and family services	755	4.8	1.72×More than typical	43,364	$42,714	1,039
Child day care services	740	4.7	1.94×More than typical	7,228	$31,685	2,210
Construction of buildings	734	4.7	0.62×Fewer than typical	3,562	$87,061	4,110

Rank places for an industry Open Philadelphia County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 1,565,822 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $732.5M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: $464 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $732.5M; −42% vs FY2025
Per resident: $464; US $1,994
Sole-source: 25%; US 30%
Single offer: 14%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Department of the Navy$200.8M27%
Department of Veterans Affairs$121.4M17%
National Institutes of Health$82M11%
Defense Logistics Agency$73.8M10%
Public Buildings Service$38.7M5.3%
Department of the Army$32.7M4.5%
Office of Procurement Operations$29.6M4.0%
National Park Service$17.1M2.3%

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

927.3MFY2017
878.7MFY2018
988.6MFY2019
1.1BFY2020
1.3BFY2021
1.3BFY2022
1.4BFY2023
1.2B

Top industries (NAICS)

Architectural, engineering, and related services · 5413$117.6M16%
Computer systems design and related services · 5415$73.6M10%
Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing · 3254$71.2M9.7%
Nonresidential building construction · 2362$70.2M9.6%
Management, scientific, and technical consulting services · 5416$53.6M7.3%

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

TH-73A FULL RATE PRODUCTION$664.8M
LEONARDO HELICOPTERS US CORPORATION· Philadelphia County, PA· Weapons, aircraft, ships & vehicles· Jan 13, 2020 – Apr 23, 2026· N6134020C0007
DESIGN-BID-BUILD, RENOVATE BLDG. 77H, FFG-62 LAND BASED ENGINEERING SITE (LBES), PHILADELPHIA NAVY YARD (PNY) PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA$115.1M
WHITING-TURNER CONTRACTING COMPANY, THE· Philadelphia County, PA· Construction & real property· Nov 27, 2024 – Jun 11, 2026· N4008525C2501
UTILITY SERVICES$103.3M
PHILADELPHIA AUTHORITY FOR INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT· Philadelphia County, PA· Facilities & utilities· Apr 26, 2017 – Jun 11, 2026· N6247099C3633

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, so they do not add up across cities.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's figures are part of those of Philadelphia County, PA ($732.5M in FY2026), never added to them: 100.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Philadelphia is mostly in Philadelphia County.

See federal money in Philadelphia County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Philadelphia County36100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD73

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/4260000

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends