Philadelphia's Immigrants

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.

To inform local policymakers and the public about this demographic shift, The Pew Charitable Trusts is producing this series on Philadelphia’s immigrants, defined as people born as citizens of other countries who now live in the city. (The terms “immigrants” and “foreign-born” are used interchangeably throughout the series, regardless of people’s legal status.) The series is focused on local demographic realities, not on federal immigration policy. 

In many instances throughout the series, Philadelphia and its metropolitan region are benchmarked against nine other U.S. cities and their surrounding metro areas. Six of them—Baltimore; Denver; Minneapolis; Portland, Oregon; San Jose, California; and Seattle—are “re-emerging immigrant gateway” cities, as identified by the Brookings Institution. Four are other Northeastern U.S. cities: Baltimore, Boston, New York, and Washington. Baltimore and Philadelphia belong to both groups.

A methodology—including including a detailed description of how each data point was compiled, along with a glossary of key terms used throughout this series—accompanies each item in the series.