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 (10.45%), management occupations (9.46%), and sales jobs (7.70%). 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. A relatively large number of people in Philadelphia telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 16.41% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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. In Philadelphia, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 32.55 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average. One bright side is that local public transit is widely used, so it may be an option to avoid the headache of driving in the heavy traffic by leaving the car at home and taking transit. In addition, the city is also quite pedestrian-friendly, because many neighborhoods are very dense 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.The education level of Philadelphia citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (21.84%): 34.64% of adults in Philadelphia have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree. The per capita income in Philadelphia in 2022 was $37,669, which is upper middle income relative to Pennsylvania and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $150,676 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 15.20% 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.
