10 Trends That Have Changed Philadelphia in 10 Years

Philadelphia’s population has been growing steadily for more than a decade, ending more than a half-century of decline. Since bottoming out at 1,488,710 in 2006, the number has grown every year.

The growth has been fueled largely by two groups: young adults and immigrants. From 2000 to 2016, the number of foreign-born residents rose by roughly 95,000 while the number of U.S.-born Philadelphians fell by 44,500.

Philadelphia experienced a dramatic increase in the size of its immigrant population. More than a quarter of all Philadelphians are either immigrants or U.S. natives with immigrant parents. The number of immigrants jumped by 59 percent from 2000 to 2017—in recent years, the city has recorded its highest share of immigrants since 1950.

Beyond the numbers, where immigrants are coming from also plays a key role in shaping the city. Philadelphia’s immigrant population is diverse, and the greatest number of foreign-born residents have origins in Asia and the Americas. Chinese immigrants, the largest group, account for approximately 11 percent of the foreign-born population.

As population and immigration rose in Philadelphia, poverty remained a challenge. The city’s poverty rate has been stuck in the 26 percent range for the past five years. The deep poverty rate—defined as the share of households whose incomes are 50 percent below the federal poverty line—increased from 11.1 percent in 2008 to 14 percent in 2017.

According to the latest data, Philadelphia has the highest poverty rate among the nation’s 10 largest cities and the third-highest among the comparison cities studied in the “State of the City” report, behind only Detroit and Cleveland.

Crime in Philadelphia, while still relatively high in comparison to some other cities, is at its lowest level since the 1970s.

Over the past 10 years, the number of violent crimes—homicide, rape, robbery, and assault—has fallen 31 percent, with major crimes, including violent and property crimes, down 23 percent.

The city’s homicide numbers, however, represent a troubling trend. Although violent crime overall dropped slightly in 2018, the number of murders rose to 351, the highest total since 2007 and up 11 percent in a single year. Police officials attributed the increase, at least in part, to the city’s opioid crisis.

America’s opioid crisis is gripping Philadelphia, and the effects can be felt throughout the city. It’s increasing homicides, homelessness, and—most notably—overdose deaths.

Drug overdose deaths in the city have nearly tripled over the past decade. In 2017, more than 1,200 people died of drug overdoses—mostly related to opioid misuse—giving Philadelphia one of the highest drug death rates in the country; the total fell slightly in 2018. Drug overdoses were the third-leading cause of death among Philadelphia residents in 2017, totaling more than car accidents and homicides combined. By comparison, the city’s annual death toll from the AIDS epidemic peaked at 935 in the mid-1990s.

Infant deaths declined by more than a third in 10 years. In 2017, 178 infants died in Philadelphia, or 8.4 per 1,000 births, compared with 286 in 2007. The number of Philadelphia infants who died before their first birthdays has plateaued since 2014.

In recent years, the percentage of individuals without health insurance declined in Philadelphia and other cities in states that have exercised the option to expand Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act. In Philadelphia, the percentage dropped by 2.6 points from 2015 to 2017, to 7.1 percent.

Reflecting a larger national trend, Philadelphia has made a concerted effort in recent years to reduce the jail population. The number of people in Philadelphia jails fell by almost 40 percent over the past decade. And in a city that traditionally has had one of the country’s highest levels of incarceration, the jail population fell to 5,251 in 2018, down from 8,932 just five years earlier—perhaps the most dramatic sign of a broad attempt by the city to reshape its criminal justice system.

This finding means that the city met a goal, supported by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, to reduce the jail population by one-third from 2015 to 2018. The current aim, backed by another MacArthur grant, is to get the population under 4,000 by 2020.

The four-year high school graduation rate in public schools—now run by a local school board after nearly two decades of state control—continued its steady climb, reaching 69 percent for the Class of 2018, the highest it has been in many years. For the Class of 2008, the rate was only 57 percent.

With the population growing, the number of residential building permits has almost doubled over the past decade. Although the number of permits dipped slightly last year, it was still high by historical standards. How this new construction will change the dynamics of the city and everyday life for Philadelphians in the coming decades remains to be seen.

To examine these 10 trends in greater detail and access comprehensive data, charts, maps, and other findings, download the full 2019 "State of the City" report.