Philadelphia is no longer the poorest big city in the United States, as the city’s poverty rate has dropped below 20 percent for the first time since at least 1979.
However, that is not all cause for celebration, write Nate File and John Duchneskie for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
According to new U.S. Census Bureau data, Philadelphia’s poverty rate dropped to 19.7 percent in 2024. While this is reduced from past years, roughly 300,000 Philadelphians are still currently living in poverty.
With that, Houston is now the poorest big city in the nation with a 21.2 percent poverty rate.
Tiffany Thurman, chief of staff to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, said that while the data shows that “Philadelphia is headed in the right direction,” the Parker Administration takes no comfort in knowing that 1 in 5 Philadelphians are still living in poverty.
Recent research from Harvard University economist Raj Chetty shows that the Philadelphia region ranked 50 out of 50 for economic mobility in U.S. metropolitan regions.
To this end, Thurman said that goal is to minimize cyclical generations of poverty in the city.
Emily Dowdall, president of policy solutions at Reinvestment Fund, added that it’s critical to not only reduce poverty, but also have strategic investments in affordable housing, healthcare, and economic development.
Read more about Philadelphia’s declining poverty rate in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
_____
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on PHILADELPHIA.Today in September 2025.
