Pew Charitable Trusts has released its 2024 State of the City report outlining Philadelphia’s challenges and progress.

While Philadelphia has seen tangible improvements in its poverty rate and violent crime statistics, challenges like the opioid epidemic remain a massive hurdle, writes Kenny Cooper for WHYY.

“In 2023, the city’s unemployment rate was 4.2% on average, the lowest in more than 30 years, while the number of jobs in the city—an average of 765,400—was the highest in 40 years,” Pew said in the report’s overview.

According to Pew metrics, Philadelphia’s median household income is $56,517, paling in comparison to the national average of $74,755.

Philadelphia has long held the unofficial distinction as America’s poorest big city.

However, Philadelphia’s 21.7 percent poverty rate in 2022 was its lowest since the 1990s. 

Philadelphia’s homicide rate dropped six percentage points in 2023, and while violent crime has reached a 20-year low, property crime has skyrocketed.

While some advancements were made in addressing its poverty and crime rates, the opioid epidemic remains at crisis level with an estimated 1,300 unintentional drug overdose deaths in 2023.

That was the seventh straight year with more than 1,100 such deaths reported.

According to Pew, Philadelphia had the highest rate of drug overdose deaths among its eight peer cities. 

Read more about Philadelphia metrics in WHYY.

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