Poverty on the decline in Philly while job growth outpaces national average, says Pew State of the City 2025 report

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Poverty in Philadelphia continues to decline while violent crime, unemployment and education have improved, according to data crunched by The Pew Charitable Trusts for its 2025 State of the City report.

Overall, Pew researchers say the city’s economy is stronger than during the COVID-19 pandemic five years ago, but that some disparities still remain.

“What we really found is that Philadelphia is emerging from the pandemic period,” said Katie Martin, project director for Pew’s Philadelphia Research and Policy Initiative, about high crime, unemployment and economic uncertainty. “But there are some new challenges that the city is going to be facing in the years to come.”

Those new challenges include losing federal funding for public service programs, tariffs and federal policies aimed at curbing immigration.

Poverty in Philly

Philadelphia’s poverty rate was 20.3% in 2023, the year with the most recent poverty data available. In 2013, the rate was 26.3%.

But 20.3% is still higher than in peer cities like Houston, New York, San Antonio, Chicago and Los Angeles, which have had poverty rates under 20%.

This year, for a family of four, the federal poverty level is at $32,150. For individuals, it’s $15,650.

But racial disparities persist. In 2023, about 12.5% of white, non-Hispanic Philadelphia residents lived in poverty. By comparison, 26% of Hispanic residents, 24.5% of Black residents and 19% of Asian residents lived in poverty.

Violent crime continues to drop

While violent crime spiked during the pandemic, it has since fallen to pre-pandemic levels, Martin said.

“Many of those pandemic-era trends have subsided, and most dramatically and importantly is the reduction of homicides,” she said. “What we’re seeing right now is that crime is decreasing and public safety in Philadelphia has been increasing since the pandemic.”

In 2021, there were 562 homicides in the city. In 2024, there were 269 (compare that to 2014, when there were 248). That means Philadelphia’s homicide rate was lower than in Baltimore, Detroit, Cleveland, Washington, D.C. and Chicago in 2024.

The number of shooting victims has declined, as well. In 2023, there were 1,657. In 2024, there were 1,080.

At the neighborhood level, Allegheny West and Roxborough were tied for the largest declines in violent crime between 2022 and 2024 — both down 23%. But there are some neighborhoods that saw an uptick during that time frame: Violent crime increased by 14% in Frankford, 13% in Wynnefield, 5% in Mantua and 2% in Northeast Philadelphia.

More jobs, immigrants in Philly

The average unemployment rate in Philadelphia in 2024 was 4.5%, up slightly from 4.2% in 2023 but down from 12.4% in 2020. The national unemployment rate was 4.1% in 2024; Philadelphia had lower unemployment than in Detroit, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Cleveland.

And the city’s job growth was 2.1% in 2024, outpacing the national average of 1.3%. Job gains were led by growth in the education, health services, business and government sectors.

Philadelphia continues to have a sizable population of foreign-born residents: 15% in 2023, higher than the national average of 14.3%. The city has more immigrants than Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland and Detroit, but fewer than Houston, Boston, Chicago and Phoenix.

The three largest immigrant populations based on country are China, with 25,930 residents, the Dominican Republic with 21,600 residents and India with 12,360 residents. There are about 92,000 Puerto Ricans living in the city, but the report does not include Puerto Ricans since Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory. The second-most-common language spoken in the city is Spanish, followed by Mandarin and Cantonese.

International immigration remains a key driver for Philadelphia’s population growth, as the city’s overall population grew by 10,000 people between 2023 and 2024.

Income, education and homeownership

Household income did lag behind peer cities, though, as the median income in Philadelphia was $60,302 in 2023 — lower than in Washington, D.C., Boston, Phoenix, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Houston.

“We’ve seen some increases in the last year in employment, in jobs, and Philadelphia’s median household income rose,” Martin said. “It’s the first time that we’ve been higher than $60,000, but there are significant disparities that remain by race and ethnicity.”

White, non-Hispanic households in Philadelphia had the highest median income of $82,940, compared to $66,969 for Asian households, $50,786 for Hispanic households and $45,483 for Black households.

And educational attainment improved in the city. The four-year high school graduation rate increased in 2023 from 72% to 74%. Around 35.7% of adults in 2023 had at least a bachelor’s degree, roughly on par with the national average. For Philadelphians between the ages of 25 and 34, more than 50% hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.

“But it’s really concentrated, people with a bachelor’s degree or higher predominantly living in Center City, Northwest,” Martin said.

In general, the higher the educational attainment an individual has, the more money they earn in the city, she said.

In 2023, the city’s homeownership rate was 52.3%. About 58.5% of Asian residents were homeowners, compared to 57.6% of white, non-Hispanic residents, 49% of Hispanic residents and 47.9% of Black residents.

“Housing affordability really stood out as a key challenge that the city is facing in the coming years. There was a 10% increase in people experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia last year,” Martin said. “And more than half of Philadelphians are cost-burdened, which is a challenge to be able to afford anything else in your life when you’re spending that much of your income on your housing.”

“Cost-burdened” means individuals spent 30% or more on housing.