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Place dossier plate
SheetPA-PHILADELPHIA-PA · Philadelphia, PA 1,582,432 pop · income 36th pct · 408 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Philadelphia
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Philadelphia on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Erie · lowest
43,397
Erie · lowest
43,397 median HH income
30.7% of the leader · rank #1
Tuolumne · near
60,694
Tuolumne · near
60,694 median HH income
42.9% of the leader · rank #2
Gardere · near
60,694
Gardere · near
60,694 median HH income
42.9% of the leader · rank #3
Portage Des S… · near
60,694
Portage Des S… · near
60,694 median HH income
42.9% of the leader · rank #4
Chamberino · near
60,694
Chamberino · near
60,694 median HH income
42.9% of the leader · rank #5
Philadelphia · this city
60,698
Philadelphia · this city
60,698 median HH income
42.9% of the leader · rank #6
San Jose · highest
141,565
San Jose · highest
141,565 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Philadelphia on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 1,582,432.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Philadelphia - the verdict
Philadelphia ranks in the 36th percentile for household income and the 3rd percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
36th
percentile, household income
51st
percentile, home value
54th
percentile, median rent
3rd
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia is a major U.S. city in Pennsylvania, home to 1,582,432 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Philadelphia brings in $60,698 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 17.5%. Typical homes in Philadelphia are valued around $232,400, and the median resident age is 35.1 years. About 34.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 58.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 2,962 residential building permits were authorized in Philadelphia (Construction Slowdown), down 35% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Philadelphia's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 5456.9 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Philadelphia's yearly average temperature at 56.3°F with 44.1 inches of precipitation per year and 23.1 inches of snowfall.
Pennsylvania tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Pennsylvania at 97.6 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,225 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $260 across Pennsylvania, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Commute times here average 26.8 minutes, with 46.7% driving alone and 16.4% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 67.4 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Philadelphia's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from schools and households to work and mobility to reported crime to comparison shortlist to population change to within-city variation to climate and hazard context to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Philadelphia, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, local building permits, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Philadelphia?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 303 public schools within the city match. 34.6% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
What does the journey to work look like in Philadelphia?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 46.7%. The reported mean trip to work is 26.8 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Which cities make useful reference points for Philadelphia?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Pennsylvania, the closest population matches are Pittsburgh (303,620 residents, $64,137 income); Allentown (125,320 residents, $53,403 income); Reading (94,836 residents, $45,599 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Phoenix, AZ (1,624,832 residents); San Antonio, TX (1,458,954 residents); San Diego, CA (1,385,061 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
What can 408 Census tracts reveal inside Philadelphia?
PlainCities matches 408 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Philadelphia?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 5456.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 139% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
5456.9
Violent rate
908.7
Property rate
4548.2
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Is Philadelphia growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -26,456 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 2,962 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
2020 estimate
1,600,737
2025 estimate
1,574,281
Period change
-1.7%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What physical conditions frame life in Philadelphia?
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 56.3°F, with 44.1 inches of precipitation and 23.1 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Pennsylvania is 67.4 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
67.4
Annual precipitation
44.1 in
Mean temperature
56.3°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
How far does income reach against housing in Philadelphia?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.8×
Home value
$232,400
Household income
$60,698
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Below median income · poverty 17.5% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.6 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Pennsylvania average
F
City profile score · Philadelphia, PA
33/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share B-
34.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living C-
97.6 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income F
$60,698
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
909 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Philadelphia profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 66/100 (B-) · 34.6%
Cost of living: 50/100 (C-) · 97.6 index
Household income: 36/100 (F) · $60,698
Poverty rate: 18/100 (F) · 17.5%
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 909 /100k
Where Philadelphia sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Philadelphia's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Philadelphia highlighted among 13 peers.Read the chart values
Philadelphia, PA (this city): home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Pittsburgh, PA : home $193,200, crime 2,707/100k
Allentown, PA : home $188,900, crime 1,841/100k
Reading, PA : home $109,800, crime 1,772/100k
Erie, PA : home $108,200, crime 2,305/100k
Bethlehem, PA : home $236,500, crime 1,575/100k
Scranton, PA : home $141,700, crime 1,627/100k
How does Philadelphia compare to other US cities?
Here's how Philadelphia stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income36% higher than other cities
Home value51% pricier than other cities
Median rent54% pricier than other cities
Safety3% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Pennsylvania alone, Philadelphia ranks #400 of 402 Pennsylvania cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Philadelphia against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Pennsylvania only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Pennsylvania-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Philadelphia near the bottom of Pennsylvania's cities
Among the 1,865 Pennsylvania cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Philadelphia ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Philadelphia only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,102 of 1,765
38th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,865
0th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Home Value
#462 of 1,790
74th percentile in Pennsylvania
Poverty Rate
#230 of 1,856
88th percentile in Pennsylvania
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#416 of 1,861
78th percentile in Pennsylvania
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Pennsylvania only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
36th percentile nationally for median household income · 3rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Philadelphia's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Philadelphia's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Philadelphia's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$232,40049th percentilemore affordable than 49% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Philadelphia's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,157 of 15,516
More affordable than 35% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2 of 9
Major cities (1 million+)
At 3.8×, Philadelphia sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,157 of 15,516 and #2 of 9major cities (1 million+).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$60,698Philadelphia, PA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Philadelphia, PA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Philadelphia, PA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)34.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,582,432
Median Income
$60,698
Median Home Value
$232,400
Median Age
35.1
Poverty Rate
17.5%
Labor force participation
58.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
34.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
5456.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
908.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
4548.2
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
56.3°F
Annual Precipitation
44.1"
Annual Snowfall
23.1"
Schools
Total Schools
303
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Philadelphia's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,600,737 residents
2021
1,590,224 residents
2022
1,572,341 residents
2023
1,565,822 residents
2024
1,572,735 residents
2025
1,574,281 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
2,962
housing units authorized
Single-Family
539
detached homes
Multifamily
2,423
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.9
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
4,566
894
3,672
$747.9M
2020
5,665
983
4,682
$823.8M
2021
25,257
1,553
23,704
$4144.8M
2022
3,223
478
2,745
$515.1M
2023
3,863
405
3,458
$587.0M
2024
2,962
539
2,423
$497.9M
Permit volume decreased 35% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
26.8 minutes
Drive Alone
46.7%
Carpool
7.6%
Public Transit
17.9%
Walk
7.5%
Work from Home
16.4%
Other
3.9%
Based on 722,263 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Pennsylvania statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $260
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Pennsylvania at $260 (electricity about $120 , water and sewer about $52 ).
These are Pennsylvania statewide averages, not a meter reading for Philadelphia. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Pennsylvania's BEA cost-of-living index is 97.6 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Philadelphia is $1,225/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Pennsylvania statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 67.4 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Pennsylvania statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Philadelphia sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Philadelphia compares to similar-size Pennsylvania cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.