Philadelphia’s Public Workforce Returns to Pre-Pandemic Levels

Overview

Municipal workforces are crucial to shaping how local governments interact with their constituents. People in these roles provide key services for residents, including emergency, sanitation, water, and legal services. Having a fully outfitted public sector workforce helps cities thrive by ensuring that infrastructure is maintained, that citizens can interact with different branches of government as needed, and that people’s socioeconomic well-being is supported. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted many workers throughout the country to leave their jobs, straining public and municipal services.¹ Philadelphia and other major U.S. cities had difficulty filling the resulting staffing gaps—at least initially.

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Given the adverse socioeconomic impacts and other economic changes since the pandemic began, The Pew Charitable Trusts examined the state of the municipal workforce in 10 of the 15 most populous U.S. cities—including Philadelphia—using comparable fiscal year 2025 data to understand how municipal workforces evolved during this period. Examining the trends throughout this six-year span (from fiscal 2019 to fiscal 2025) made it possible to trace the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as a major economic disruption by comparing trends before and after it began, and to observe the recovery in major U.S. cities since then.

This research found that Philadelphia’s municipal workforce is now roughly the same size as it was before the pandemic, after having shrunk by 6% between fiscal years 2019 and 2022.

The research on Philadelphia and nine comparison cities—Austin, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; Fort Worth, Texas; Los Angeles; New York; Phoenix; and San Diego—also showed that:

• Half of all comparison cities—Charlotte, Columbus, Fort Worth, Philadelphia, and New York—experienced a decline in their public workforce per capita (per 10,000 residents) because of a decrease in city government personnel, with a concurrent increase in cities’ overall population. Fort Worth and Philadelphia were the exception; Fort Worth’s population decreased because population growth exceeded the increase in public personnel, and Philadelphia’s dropped because both population and personnel decreased by 1%.
• Despite the overall rebound in Philadelphia, the size of the city’s workforce has decreased substantially in departments such as the Police and Prisons departments and the Philadelphia Courts. This is also the case in New York and, to a lesser extent, in several other cities.
• In Philadelphia’s city government, the overall vacancy rate has increased since before the pandemic. Staffing declines in public safety and the addition of 3,762 budgeted (though not necessarily filled) positions over the past six years are the major reasons for the increase in vacancies. At the same time, staffing levels have risen in the Streets Department, the Managing Director’s Office, and the Water Department.

• Although the number of people working for the city is about the same as it was before the pandemic, spending on employee overtime has increased by 78%, from around $177 million in fiscal 2019 to $315 million by fiscal 2025. A Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (PICA) report found that the city’s need for public safety services and increased overall vacancy rates drove the increased spending.

In Philadelphia and elsewhere, municipal workforces have rebounded since the pandemic

While the size of Philadelphia’s municipal workforce decreased in the months and years following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city’s workforce is now once again about the same size as it was at the end of fiscal 2019. On June 30, 2019—the end of the last full fiscal year before the pandemic—the city had 28,084 people on payroll. On the same date in 2025, the total was 28,253.

That does not mean every department has roughly the same number of employees now as it did then. The Managing Director’s Office, as well as the Streets and Water departments, have more employees than they did before the pandemic. Yet the Prisons, Police, and Human Services departments and the Philadelphia Courts (First Judicial District) have fewer personnel; they are the only four of the city’s 10 largest departments that lost employees. The Police Department recorded the biggest decline in filled positions, from 7,402 to 6,309, a decrease of 1,093. Meanwhile, the Streets Department increased by 590 filled positions, from 1,736 to 2,326. (See Table 1.)

The Streets Department’s increase corresponded with a significant jump in the number of budgeted positions, from 1,912 to 2,705 positions—an increase of 793. The Police Department saw a slight increase in the number of budgeted positions, but its staffing levels continued to decline over the years.

Those in public safety saw the number of budgeted positions stay relatively flat while their staffing levels declined. The city has reported difficulties filling positions for these departments.²

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Pew’s analysis of the city’s data shows that within the six-year period of fiscal 2019 through fiscal 2025, the Police Department accounted for 21% of all departures, the most by department. In the same six-year period, 15% of all hires were within the Streets Department, the most of any department.

Declines in public safety staffing are not unique to Philadelphia. A 2025 survey of state and local government workforces reported that public safety roles were among the hardest to fill; 66% reported difficulty recruiting police and 57% cited corrections/jail.³

Comparisons of government functions (departments categorized by their main operation) using cities’ annual comprehensive financial reports show that public safety staffing declined in some of the most populous U.S. cities—Los Angeles, New York, and Charlotte—from fiscal 2019 through fiscal 2025. Yet Philadelphia saw the largest decline, at 17%. (See Figure 1.)

Half of all comparison cities—Charlotte, Columbus, Fort Worth, Philadelphia, and New York—saw a decrease in their public workforce per capita (per 10,000 residents). Most of these cities saw a decrease because of a drop in the number of public employees and an increase in population. However, Fort Worth saw a decline because of its population increasing at a faster rate than its government personnel. Meanwhile, Philadelphia’s decrease was due to a drop in both population and public personnel. (See Figure 2.)

As Philadelphia increases its total number of budgeted positions, vacancies are prevalent

Philadelphia city government has far more job vacancies now than it did before the pandemic.

In fiscal 2019, the city had 1,999 vacancies, representing 6.6% of all positions. Vacancies peaked in fiscal 2024, at 17.9%; by the end of fiscal 2025, they dropped slightly, to 16.5%, representing 5,592 unfilled positions. One of the main reasons for the increase in vacancies is the increase in the number of budgeted positions—from 30,083 by the end of fiscal 2019 to 33,845 by the end of fiscal 2025. (See Figure 3.)

To analyze where vacancies are prevalent in the city government, Pew categorized departments as follows:

• Public safety includes the Fire Department, Police Department, and Philadelphia Courts.
• Health and social services departments are the Office of Homeless Services, Department of Public Health, and Department of Human Services.
• Government administration departments are the Department of Planning and Development, Office of Sustainability, and Procurement.
• Executive and legislative departments are the Managing Director’s Office, Office of the Mayor, and the Law Department.
• Utilities are the Philadelphia Water Department and the Water, Sewer, and Storm Water Rate Board.
• City services and economic development include the Streets Department, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, and the Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity.

In most of the categories, the number of personnel and budgeted positions increased, with the latter creating the increase in vacancies. Only in the public safety departments did an increase in vacancy coincide with a decrease in the number of filled positions. (See Table 2.)

Among the major drivers of the increase in vacancies were staffing declines in public safety departments. From fiscal 2019 through fiscal 2025, the total number of filled positions in those departments decreased from 14,991 to 13,248, while the number of budgeted positions increased from 15,478 to 16,176. As a result, vacancies rose from 487 positions to 2,928. These job openings account for 52% of all vacancies in the city.

The Philadelphia Police Department—the city’s biggest department—had 7,402 filled positions and 7,537 budgeted positions in fiscal 2019, a vacancy rate of 1.8% (only 135 vacancies). By fiscal 2025, the number of budgeted positions was 7,883, but the number of filled positions fell to 6,309, increasing the number of vacancies to 1,574—a vacancy rate of 20%. The department alone accounted for 28% of all city government job vacancies in fiscal 2025.

Philadelphia and overtime spending

From fiscal 2019 through fiscal 2025, overtime spending in Philadelphia rose by 78%, from $177 million to $315 million. Over the same period, overall personnel spending (of which overtime is a part) rose by just 28%. The city exceeded its overtime budget in every year except fiscal 2024. On average, actual overtime spending exceeded budgeted overtime by $26 million over this period. (See Figure 4.)

A PICA report on overtime and staffing trends from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2025 shows that spending increases were driven by rising service demands among public safety personnel, an increase in citywide vacancy rates, and an increase in employee salaries, which raised the cost of each hour of overtime. Additionally, PICA found that four departments—Police, Fire, Prisons, and Streets—were responsible for the majority (87.9%) of overtime spending over the period analyzed. The group’s report states that this increase in costs can be absorbed because of the city’s current vacancy level. However, maintaining this level of spending with staffing increases can cause departments to overspend frequently.⁴

Conclusion

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The pandemic was a deeply disruptive period for U.S. cities, resulting in declines in staffing levels and challenges in recruiting new municipal workers. Although Philadelphia—like other U.S. cities—has returned to previous employment levels, vacancies across government functions have also increased because of a rise in the number of budgeted positions that are vacant.

A fully functioning city government enables residents to get the services they rely on and expect the government to deliver. Philadelphia and other cities are poised to strengthen these services not only by hiring new talent but also by sufficiently staffing critical government functions.

Appendix

To analyze which department had the most hires and departures, Pew used the city’s earning data, accessed through OpenDataPhilly. The data was filtered to represent fiscal 2019 through fiscal 2025. Any public identification number that first appeared after 2019 was considered a hire. Any public ID number that stopped appearing in the six-year period following 2019 was considered a departure.

To create the following tables, Pew grouped Philadelphia’s departments into categories based on their primary functions: utility, public safety, health and human services, government administration, executive and legislative, and city services and economic development.

The following tables show how individual departments were categorized.

Population, city government staffing, and city workforce per capita change

Cities	2025 Total population	City Government 2025 total	Public workforce per capita 2025	2019 Total population	City Government 2019 total	Public workforce per capita 2019	Change in per capita	Change in population	Change in city government
Austin, TX	1,002,632	7,425	74	979,263	6,882	70	4	2.4%	7.9%
Charlotte, NC	964,784	8,022	83	885,707	8,923	101	-18	8.9%	-10.1%
Columbus, OH	938,396	9,020	96	902,073	9,148	101	-5	4.0%	-1.4%
Dallas	1,329,491	14,021	105	1,343,565	12,474	93	12	-1.0%	12.4%
Fort Worth, TX	1,028,117	7,829	76	913,656	7,203	79	-3	12.5%	8.7%
Los Angeles	3,869,089	32,337	84	3,979,537	33,059	83	1	-2.8%	-2.2%
New York	8,584,629	287,422	335	8,336,817	300,442	360	-25	3.0%	-4.3%
Philadelphia	1,574,281	28,273	180	1,584,064	28,659	181	-1	-0.6%	-1.3%
Phoenix	1,665,481	10,610	64	1,680,988	9,990	59	5	-0.9%	6.2%
San Diego	1,406,106	13,096	93	1,423,852	11,598	81	12	-1.2%	12.9%

Utility

Departments	Actual positions # 2019	Budgeted positions # 2019	Vacancy # 2019	Vacancy % 2019	Actual positions # 2025	Budgeted positions # 2025	Vacancy # 2025	Vacancy % 2025	Change in share of vacancy	Change in filled positions
Philadelphia Water Department	1,891	2,188	297	13.6%	2,118	2,557	439	17.2%	3.6%	12.0%
Water, Sewer, and Stormwater Rate Board	1	1	-	-	2	1	(1)	-100.0%	-100.0%	100.0%
Total	1,892	2,189	297	13.6%	2,120	2,558	438	17.1%	3.6%	12.1%

Public safety

Departments	Actual positions # 2019	Budgeted positions # 2019	Vacancy # 2019	Vacancy % 2019	Actual positions # 2025	Budgeted positions # 2025	Vacancy # 2025	Vacancy % 2025	Change in share of vacancy	Change in filled positions
Department of Prisons	2,130	2,325	195	8.4%	1,549	2,186	637	29.1%	20.7%	-27.3%
Office of the Sheriff	355	410	55	13.4%	338	459	121	26.4%	13.0%	-4.8%
Philadelphia Police Department	7,402	7,537	135	1.8%	6,309	7,883	1,574	20.0%	18.2%	-14.8%
Office of the Inspector General	18	21	3	14.3%	21	26	5	19.2%	4.9%	16.7%
Philadelphia Fire Department	2,737	2,851	114	4.0%	2,920	3,473	553	15.9%	11.9%	6.7%
First Judicial District of Pennsylvania	2,349	2,334	(15)	-0.6%	2,111	2,149	38	1.8%	2.4%	-10.1%
Total	14,991	15,478	487	3.1%	13,248	16,176	2,928	18.1%	15.0%	-11.6%

Health and social services

Departments	Actual positions # 2019	Budgeted positions # 2019	Vacancy # 2019	Vacancy % 2019	Actual positions # 2025	Budgeted positions # 2025	Vacancy # 2025	Vacancy % 2025	Change in share of vacancy	Change in filled positions
Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services	262	277	15	5.4%	286	341	55	16.1%	10.7%	9.2%
Department of Public Health	901	1,050	149	14.2%	924	1,082	158	14.6%	0.4%	2.6%
Department of Human Services	1,535	1,790	255	14.2%	1,497	1,898	401	21.1%	6.9%	-2.5%
Office of Homeless Services	174	188	14	7.4%	179	188	9	4.8%	-2.6%	2.9%
Total	2,872	3,305	433	13.1%	2,886	3,509	623	17.8%	4.7%	0.5%

Government administration

Departments	Actual positions # 2019	Budgeted positions # 2019	Vacancy # 2019	Vacancy % 2019	Actual positions # 2025	Budgeted positions # 2025	Vacancy # 2025	Vacancy % 2025	Change in share of vacancy	Change in filled positions
Department of Fleet Services	364	389	25	6.4%	340	403	63	15.6%	9.2%	-6.6%
Department of Public Property	135	150	15	10.0%	111	158	47	29.7%	19.7%	-17.8%
Office of Property Assessment	196	225	29	12.9%	184	226	42	18.6%	5.7%	-6.1%
Department of Planning and Development	109	114	5	4.4%	137	168	31	18.5%	14.1%	25.7%
Office of Sustainability	11	9	(2)	-22.2%	27	29	2	6.9%	29.1%	145.5%
Board of Building Standards	1	1	-	0.0%	1	1	-	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Department of Labor	22	23	1	4.3%	35	57	22	38.6%	34.3%	59.1%
Procurement Department	43	52	9	17.3%	37	55	18	32.7%	15.4%	-14.0%
Board of Pensions and Retirement	56	73	17	23.3%	60	73	13	17.8%	-5.5%	7.1%
Office of Innovation and Technology	369	413	44	10.7%	488	580	92	15.9%	5.2%	32.2%
Department of Revenue	611	669	58	8.7%	534	621	87	14.0%	5.3%	-12.6%
Office of the Director of Finance	116	123	7	5.7%	129	147	18	12.2%	6.5%	11.2%
Office of the City Controller	125	134	9	6.7%	123	138	15	10.9%	4.2%	-1.6%
Register of Wills	70	70	-	0.0%	76	85	9	10.6%	10.6%	8.6%
Board of Revision of Taxes	11	15	4	26.7%	16	17	1	5.9%	-20.8%	45.5%
Department of Records	55	59	4	6.8%	57	60	3	5.0%	-1.8%	3.6%
City Treasurer's Office	16	16	-	0.0%	22	23	1	4.3%	4.3%	37.5%
Office of Human Resources	77	85	8	9.4%	96	99	3	3.0%	-6.4%	24.7%
Total	2,387	2,620	233	8.9%	2,473	2,940	467	15.9%	7.0%	3.6%

Executive and legislative

Departments	Actual positions # 2019	Budgeted positions # 2019	Vacancy # 2019	Vacancy % 2019	Actual positions # 2025	Budgeted positions # 2025	Vacancy # 2025	Vacancy % 2025	Change in share of vacancy	Change in filled positions
Office of the Mayor	60	56	(4)	-7.1%	81	113	32	28.3%	35.4%	35.0%
Office of the Chief Administrative Officer	56	66	10	15.2%	81	100	19	19.0%	3.8%	44.6%
Office of the City Commissioners	94	105	11	10.5%	173	200	27	13.5%	3.0%	84.0%
Managing Director's Office	375	369	(6)	-1.6%	634	716	82	11.5%	13.1%	69.1%
Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations	32	34	2	5.9%	32	35	3	8.6%	2.7%	0.0%
Board of Ethics	10	12	2	16.7%	13	14	1	7.1%	-9.6%	30.0%
Philadelphia District Attorney's Office	566	589	23	3.9%	670	712	42	5.9%	2.0%	18.4%
Philadelphia City Council	197	195	(2)	-1.0%	212	215	3	1.4%	2.4%	7.6%
Law Department	180	183	3	1.6%	277	277	-	0.0%	-1.6%	53.9%
Civil Service Commission	2	2	-	0.0%	2	2	-	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Total	1,572	1,611	39	2.4%	2,175	2,384	209	8.8%	6.3%	38.4%

City services and economic development

Departments	Actual positions # 2019	Budgeted positions # 2019	Vacancy # 2019	Vacancy % 2019	Actual positions # 2025	Budgeted positions # 2025	Vacancy # 2025	Vacancy % 2025	Change in share of vacancy	Change in filled positions
Department of Licenses and Inspections	380	438	58	13.2%	377	449	72	16.0%	2.8%	-0.8%
Board of License and Inspection Review	2	2	-	0.0%	2	2	-	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Department of Streets	1,736	1,912	176	9.2%	2,326	2,705	379	14.0%	4.8%	34.0%
Philadelphia Parks & Recreation	674	779	105	13.5%	732	960	228	23.8%	10.3%	8.6%
Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity	23	36	13	36.1%	86	109	23	21.1%	-15.0%	273.9%
Free Library of Philadelphia	661	708	47	6.6%	868	1,017	149	14.7%	8.0%	31.3%
Mural Arts Philadelphia	11	12	1	8.3%	9	10	1	10.0%	1.7%	-18.2%
Total	3,487	3,887	400	10.3%	4,400	5,252	852	16.2%	5.9%	26.2%

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This brief was researched and written by Jun Ho Phue and Karim Sharif of Pew’s Philadelphia research and policy initiative. It was edited by Larry Eichel, a senior adviser; Katie Martin, a project director; and Jennifer Clendening, a manager with the initiative, along with Erika Compart and Tricia Olszewski.

Acknowledgments

This brief benefited from the insights and expertise of external reviewer Marisa Waxman, executive director of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority. The piece does not necessarily reflect the opinions of this reviewer or her organization.

Endnotes

1. Jacob Gottlieb and Julia Bauer, “The Municipal Workforce Through the Pandemic,” National League of Cities, 2022, https://www.nlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Municipal-Workforce-Through-the-Pandemic-Brief.pdf.
2. Anna Orso, “Philly Is Slowly Rebuilding Its City Workforce After the Pandemic Exodus—but Key Jobs Remain Hard to Staff,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 31, 2026, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/philadelphia/philadelphia-jobs-hiring-vacancies-understaffing-20260331.html.
3. MissionSquare Research Institute, “2025 State and Local Government Workforce Survey Results,” 2025, https://research.missionsq.org/content/media/document/2025/5/2025_State_Local_Workforce_Report.pdf.
4. Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, “General Fund Overtime and Staffing FY18-25,” 2026, https://picapa.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Overtime-and-Staffing-Report-FY18-25-1.pdf.