Pew’s Philadelphia research and policy initiative seeks to inform discussions on important issues facing the city and the region and to provide policymakers and other decision-makers with data, analysis, and examples of promising practices that may help them address key challenges.
We regularly release reports that often offer comparisons with other major U.S. cities, and we conduct polling to determine Philadelphians’ views on policy issues, elected officials, and various aspects of life in the city.
We also combine our local capacity with our state- and national-level expertise to convene city and regional stakeholders with experts and officials from around the country to discuss effective, evidence-based solutions being implemented in other jurisdictions and the impacts of those reforms.
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.
For decades, Philadelphia has had a reputation for being a relatively affordable place to buy a home—at least when compared with New York, Boston, Washington, and some other major cities—a reputation that has held steady even in an era of rising home prices nationwide.
When Philadelphians talk about their local government, the conversations often involve places where the city provides services to residents—facilities such as the parks, libraries, fire stations, and city office buildings that Philadelphia creates, maintains, and improves with funding from its capital budget.
Nonprofit organizations play a critical role in Philadelphia and represent a major source of area employment. They accounted for 30% of the city’s private sector jobs in 2022, according to federal data. City residents rely on these organizations to provide critical services to Philadelphia’s communities.
Philadelphia’s economy was performing well in the decade before the pandemic—matching and, in some years, outperforming the nation in job generation. But COVID-19 halted that progress, and the city’s recovery has lagged that of the national economy. That’s especially troubling given that Philadelphia’s pre-pandemic job growth did not extend to workers of color in the city.
Over the past three decades, immigrants have become a main source of population growth in Philadelphia, an influx not seen at such levels for more than a century. This diverse population is transforming what it means to be a Philadelphian, just as immigrants themselves are adapting to the city and the United States.
Media Contact
Elizabeth Lowe
Manager, Communications
215.575.4812
