Philadelphia 2026
The State of the City
Overview
This is a year of celebration and remembrance for the United States. Commemorations for the nation’s 250th anniversary are taking place throughout 2026, nationwide and in Philadelphia and the metro region. Events include art installations and performances, TED Democracy speakers, museum exhibitions, and parades. In addition, Philadelphia and the surrounding area will be hosting major sporting events, including the FIFA World Cup tournament, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, and the PGA Championship. It is a busy and exciting year for Philadelphians.
It’s a time to point to notable progress that the city has made on many of the most challenging issues facing its residents, including reductions in homicides and shootings, overdose deaths, and the poverty rate. But there are also troubling signs, including stagnating educational attainment, median income, and population. These metrics, which had been bright spots for the city in recent decades, have been impeded since the COVID-19 pandemic and pose a long-term risk to the city’s success.
Public safety concerns—such as those relating to increased gun violence during the pandemic—have stabilized, and the 2020 through 2023 surge is looking more like an exception rather than the new normal. In 2025, Philadelphia recorded 222 homicides—the lowest total since 1966 and a 17.5% decline from the previous year— and total shootings dropped below 1,000 for the first time in more than 20 years. These decreases were part of a national trend, with most large U.S. cities recording meaningful declines in homicides and shootings. But the progress may also reflect the investment in and attention to public safety from Mayor Cherelle Parker and Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel.
The city’s poverty rate continued its incremental, steady decline, moving below 20% as of 2024. This reduction was marked by Philadelphia no longer having the highest percentage of residents living in poverty among the largest U.S. cities. However, poverty rates remain high for Philadelphia, with more than 300,000 residents who have incomes of $33,000 or less for a family of four.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose to 5.1% in 2025—the city’s highest since 2021. Still, that percentage is lower than those in the years following the Great Recession of 2007-09. Last year, the unemployment rate in the metro area and nationwide also rose, to 4.3%.
Remarkably, the city’s unintentional overdose deaths continued to decline, falling to an estimated 1,000. The city made multiple investments to reduce overdose deaths, including the January 2025 opening of Riverview Wellness Village, a facility providing housing and treatment for individuals transitioning out of substance use rehabilitation and detox. These efforts were paired with ramped-up drug enforcement patrols and arrests, particularly focused in the Kensington neighborhood, the city’s epicenter of the opioid epidemic. The Pew Charitable Trusts’ 2025 polling found that 1 in 3 Philadelphians personally know someone who has died from an overdose. The epidemic, even as it seems to be exiting its most acute period, continues to devastate Philadelphians and their families.
Despite some genuinely positive changes, there are some worrying signs for Philadelphia. The population has decreased since the 2020 census and remains low at the midpoint of the decade. Last year, there were 1,574,281 Philadelphians, an increase of around 1,500 from the year before. The growth that had marked a period of revival for the city in the 2000s and 2010s has stalled.
Increases in education attainment have lapsed since the pandemic. After multiple years of steady growth, the number of Philadelphians with a bachelor’s degree or higher plateaued at around 36% from 2021 to 2024. Meanwhile, other U.S. cities continue to build on their residents’ educational gains, particularly from individuals under 40 years old. And many jobs increasingly require applicants to have a college degree.
Furthermore, increases to median household income have slowed. In the latest data, Philadelphia’s median household income was $60,521. While the median household income for non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic Philadelphians rose slightly from 2023 to 2024, it declined for non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Asian residents. These shifts—the increase to the unemployment rate and the flattening of educational attainment and household income—threaten residents’ financial stability.
Housing in Philadelphia continued to include some positive changes amid ongoing affordability concerns. The 17,338 home sales last year were on par with the years prior to the pandemic, and new building permits issued remained steady at 3,366, following a steep decline in 2022 after the city ended its 10-year property tax abatement program. In 2025, the Parker administration focused on receiving approval for its investment in new, preserved, and rehabilitated housing, with the passage of the Housing Opportunities Made Easy Initiative. In January 2026, the City Council passed a bill authorizing the city to borrow $800 million to partially fund the program.
In this year of milestones and celebrations, Philadelphia has plenty to applaud. Many of the city’s most persistent challenges are trending in the right direction. At the same time, some of the city’s recent strengths are showing strain.
