More choose to live in Philadelphia than to move away

A new Pew Charitable Trust study shows that more people are moving into Philadelphia to live than decide to move away. The study is based on IRS data from 1993 to 2008.

It could be that Philadelphia is not a bad place to live after all. The number of people moving into the city is increasing, according to a new study out today by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The report looked at IRS data to track migration into and out of the city.

Residents of Philadelphia began fleeing to the suburbs decades ago. And they still are. But now, the number of people actually moving into the city is rising.

Larry Eichel runs Pew’s Philadelphia Research Initiative. He looked at IRS data from 1993 to 2008 to perform the study.

“It does confirm this idea that the city is not losing population that it may be gaining population,” he says. “If the city is really growing now then there’s a certain mindset that takes over.”

Eichel says one surprising trend is the sharp drop in migration from Philadelphia to South Jersey. In the last 6 years it’s declined by 74 percent.

Although more New Yorkers moved to Philadelphia after 9/11, more recently the data show a rise in Philadelphians who choose the Big Apple over the City of Brotherly Love.