Immigration is driving Philadelphia’s population gains, Census data shows

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Philadelphia County gained 10,500 new residents between 2023 and 2024, pushing its population to 1.57 million people, according to recently released U.S. Census estimates.

That’s a significant change after four years of losing residents since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, when Philadelphia had 1.6 million residents.

For example, Philadelphia County — which has the same boundaries as the city — lost about 7,200 residents between 2022 and 2023, according to revised Census estimates.

International migration of foreign-born residents outweighed domestic migration out of the city and there were more births than deaths, data shows.

More than 21,300 individuals immigrated to Philadelphia between 2023 and 2024, compared to 15,300 U.S. born residents who left. About 18,700 people were born during that time frame, while 14,100 died.

“For a long time, the city of Philadelphia has been losing population,” said Emilio Parrado, professor of sociology and director of the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania. “Then with international migration in the 1990s and 2000s we started gaining population again. Then COVID-19 hit and we went back to losing population. We had not recovered in terms of population growth until last year.”

International migration has boosted the population of many cities across the Northeast for decades, but it’s important to note that Puerto Ricans are counted as foreign-born residents, Parrado said, despite the fact that native-born Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.

Between 2000 and 2022, the Latino population in Philadelphia grew from 130,000 people to 252,000, according to Pew Charitable Trusts. About 40% of that growth was led by individuals migrating from Latin America countries, such as the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia, according to Pew Charitable Trusts’ data.

Philadelphia also had more births than deaths between 2023 and 2024, which bucks the trend across Pennsylvania counties that have aging populations.

“Philadelphia is still a place that’s attracting young people, professionals forming families and they are having children,” Parrado said.

Philadelphia’s growth lags behind red-hot growth of communities across the Sun Belt, such as Harris County in Texas, which added 105,800 residents between 2023 and 2024.

Philadelphia is also behind Cook County, Illinois, where Chicago sits, which added 40,000 residents, as well as Brooklyn, New York, which added 24,600 people.