Residential street with sun shining along the powerlines
Topic

Improve Economic Advancement

Overview

Economic opportunity is the foundation of American society. Pew supports national, state, and local efforts to expand opportunity and promote financial well-being. Our work helps people pay off student loans, navigate court proceedings such as debt collection, buy or rent a home, access affordable internet, and save for their retirement.

Featured

Student Loan Borrowers May Struggle With Financial Security

Less than a year after the October 2023 resumption of federal student loan repayments, half of student loan borrowers (51%) said they did not feel financially secure, according to new data from The Pew Charitable Trusts. In addition, an overwhelming majority (74%) of borrowers said they had experienced at least one negative financial event in the last 12 months—such as not being able to pay the full amount due on their mortgages or rents on time, overdrawing their checking accounts, or applying for public assistance programs.

Philadelphia 2025: The State of The City

As 2025 began, Philadelphia appeared to be entering a new and different phase after years of pandemic-related reverberations. The question is which effects from the past few years will turn out to have been temporary and which will prove more enduring. The answers are beginning to come into sharper focus.

A Complex Landscape Requires Pension Management Review

Effective management of state pension investments is crucial to ensuring the sustainability of retirement benefits for millions of public sector employees, so The Pew Charitable Trusts has tracked state pension investment practices and outcomes since 2012. This chartbook is the latest installment of that work and offers a detailed analysis of recent investment trends, focusing on asset allocation, investment performance, and management fees for 73 major public pension plans in fiscal years 2021 and 2022.

Pennsylvania's Housing Slowdown Leads to Shortage, High Costs

Housing costs rise when there are not enough homes to meet demand. Pennsylvania, in part because of restrictive zoning regulations, ranked 44th among the 50 states on rate of housing built from 2017 to 2023. The average rent in the 23 Pennsylvania counties tracked by Zillow’s rent estimate was $1,013 in 2017 and $1,476 in 2023, a 46% increase. That is much larger than the increase in wages and prices for other goods and services from 2017 to 2023.

Pandemic Lessons Can Help States Manage Federal Funding

To help states address the economic and public health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government provided the largest influx of emergency relief funds in the nation’s history, a massive infusion of one-time dollars totaling more than $800 billion across six legislative packages.

Fact of the Matter

4-7M
NEW U.S. HOMES
are needed to address the housing shortage.
1/3
OF U.S. PRIVATE SECTOR
don’t have a retirement savings plan through their employers.
25–33%
OF U.S. STATES’ REVENUES
come from the federal government historically.

Latest

Our Work

Professional psychologist doctor listening and giving the consult to female patients

Good health is important to everyone. Pew conducts research and provides information and fact-based recommendations to state agencies, hospitals, researchers, and other health partners to help them provide better care. We find and share evidence-based practices to improve Americans’ health and well-being, including services that can prevent suicide, improve mental health care, and treat substance use disorder.

Bustleton Free Library in Philadelphia, PA, on Thursday September 12 2024.

Communities throughout the country share common needs: affordable connections to broadband Internet, modern and reliable energy infrastructure, effective responses to mental health challenges, and ways to resolve legal disputes more quickly and fairly. To address these issues, Pew collaborates with states and local governments to find and promote evidence-based solutions that help provide stability and opportunity.

High angle helicopter shot of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. at twilight on a clear evening in Fall, with Pennsylvania Avenue beyond.

Nonpartisan, fact-based improvements in federal policy can create jobs, lower costs, and help the nation prepare for the future. When our research shows that small changes can have a big impact, we work across party lines to improve national challenges like housing affordability, internet access, energy reliability, and health care.

Sunshine

Economic opportunity is the foundation of American society. Pew supports national, state, and local efforts to expand opportunity and promote financial well-being. Our work helps people pay off student loans, navigate court proceedings such as debt collection, buy or rent a home, access affordable internet, and save for their retirement.

Turkish world record-holder free-diver and divers of the Underwater Federation Sahika Encumen dives amid plastic waste in Ortakoy coastline to observe the life and pollution of Bosphorus in Istanbul,

The global ocean teems with life, and it contributes to the vital cycles that keep people and our planet healthy. But the seas are vulnerable to overfishing, loss of habitat such as seagrasses and mangroves, ineffective fisheries management, plastic pollution, and declining biodiversity. These mounting losses affect the coastal communities that depend on the ocean for food and jobs.

The House Chamber at the Kentucky State Capitol is shown as the legislature tries to wrap up its session

States and cities are the “laboratories of democracy” in America—the places where lawmakers and governors look for new ways to help their communities succeed. Whether in Pew’s hometown of Philadelphia or any of the 50 state capitals, we help elected leaders respond to the needs of their citizens, use public dollars wisely, fix outdated policies, and build a better future for all.

A view of steep cliff, grand canyon and Colorado river from Toroweap overlook.

Conserving natural spaces conveys benefits far beyond the gains to wildlife and their habitats. As scores of studies show, protecting and restoring lands and waters, particularly when done in close partnership with local communities, also improves people’s lives—and local economies—by increasing tourism and outdoor recreation.