Philadelphia is a very large city located in the state of Pennsylvania. With a population of 1,550,542 people and 409 associated neighborhoods, Philadelphia is the largest community in Pennsylvania. Much of the housing stock in Philadelphia was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Philadelphia is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Philadelphia is a city of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Philadelphia who work in office and administrative support (11.08%), management occupations (9.10%), and sales jobs (7.87%). Also of interest is that Philadelphia has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 13.84% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. One downside of living in Philadelphia is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Philadelphia, the average commute to work is 33.11 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the city, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative. In addition, it is also a pedestrian-friendly city. Many of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods are dense enough and have amenities close enough together that people find it feasible to get around on foot. One of the benefits of being a big city like Philadelphia is having a public transportation system, but in Philadelphia the transit system is the mode of choice for lots of people getting to and from work every day. You will find many people using the bus for their daily commute, even though other transportation options exist. If you ask these commuters, many will tell you that not having to drive in the snarl of big city traffic is one of main reasons for leaving the car at home, or even not owning a car at all. With so many people taking the bus Philadelphia benefits from a reduction in air pollution and traffic.In terms of college education, Philadelphia is substantially better educated than the typical community in the nation, which has 21.84% of the adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree: 33.61% of adults in Philadelphia have a college degree. The per capita income in Philadelphia in 2022 was $35,553, which is middle income relative to Pennsylvania, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $142,212 for a family of four. However, Philadelphia contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Philadelphia is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Philadelphia home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Philadelphia residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Philadelphia also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 15.67% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Philadelphia include Irish, German, Italian, English, and Polish. The most common language spoken in Philadelphia is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.
