Pew’s New State of the City Report Contains Lots of Good News for Philadelphia

A look at Philadelphia, which just received plenty of good news courtesy the new Pew State of the City report. (Photo via Visit Philly)

Check phillymag.com each morning Monday through Thursday for the latest edition of Philly Today. And if you have a news tip for our hardworking Philly Mag reporters, please direct it here. You can also use that form to send us reader mail. We love reader mail!

Here’s What Pew’s State of the City Report Reveals About Philadelphia

Every year, Pew releases a State of the City report. It’s an in-depth analysis of all sorts of statistics about Philadelphia. Sometimes it’s more bad news than good. This time around, the Pew State of the City report should, overall, make you feel good about where Philadelphia stands or at least the direction we’re headed.

Some key takeaways:

• Despite the Steve Keeley Effect, violent crime continues to fall, as I’ve told you time and time again. Some folks still don’t seem to believe this. In 2024, we had fewer homicides than we had seen in a long time. Consider this: Philly saw 562 murders in 2021, whereas we saw 269 last year. Nothing if not a dramatic drop. More than 1,000 people were shot in Philadelphia last year. Still far too many. But when you compare that to 2,253 people shot in 2022, it’s hard to deny that things are getting better.
• The high school graduation rate in Philadelphia is improving. We’re currently looking at a graduation rate for our public schools of about 75 percent. In 2013, that number was more like 65 percent.
• Philadelphia’s population increased last year. OK, OK. So an increase from 1.57 million to 1.573 million ain’t great. But it sure is better than a decline! I hope to be able to report one day in the not too distant future that we’ve returned to 1.6 million, which is where we were in 2020.
• Poverty is down. Alas, we are still the poorest big city in the country. But last year, we had about 20 percent of the population in poverty, which is ten percent less than the numbers we saw in 2013.
• Fewer teens are having babies. In 2012, about 2,500 teens had babies in Philadelphia. Last year, 958 teens did.

Naturally, the cynics among you are wondering, OK, so what about the bad news? It’s a fair question. Some of the negative nuggets: We’re spending way too much on overtime for city workers; staffing at the Philadelphia Police Department is woefully low, which is hugely concerning unless you are one of those Abolish the Police people; and nine bicyclists were killed in 2024, compared to three in 2023.

You can read all about this in Pew’s official report, found here.

Philly Joins the 21st Century

The city just launched an app to help you find free wifi near you.

The Wawa/Sheetz War Expands

First, Sheetz made a move on Montco. Now, the convenience store chain has its evil sights set on Chester County. Where will it end?! All I know is that Wawa’s hoagies might not be the greatest thing in the world, but they sure do trump the trash that Sheetz puts out.

Over Yonder In Delco

There’s a lot of angst over a brand new Gordon Ramsay show that focuses on “America’s filthiest restaurants.” And it sounds like this little restaurant might not have had a clue what they were signing up for.

By the Numbers

2nd: Ranking of the Phillies in the National League East. Second place isn’t bad. But first place, which is where we just were, sure felt better! Right now, we’re in the middle of a series with the Mets. We’re back home next Tuesday against the Nationals. Hopefully by then, we’ll have reclaimed our rightful position at the top.

40,000: Masochists taking part in the upcoming Broad Street Run. It’s the largest ten-mile run in the entire country. The race starts at Broad and Fisher (aka down the street from Central High School) and finishes in the Navy Yard.

2,600: People about to be unemployed thanks to Crozer Health announcing that it’s shutting down. The system is Delco’s largest healthcare network.

Local Talent

The Vogue cover has been graced over the years with the presence of Madonna, Nicole Kidman, and Michelle Obama, just to name a few. And you can now add to that list Overbrook High School grad Colman Domingo. Domingo looks downright dashing in his one-of-a-kind way on the latest cover, which you can see here.

Next up for Domingo: He plays Michael Jackson’s father in the upcoming Michael biopic; he has a role in a new version of Running Man (no, not the Arnold part); and he’s working on directing and starring in a film about the life of Nat King Cole. No wonder it’s so hard for me to get the guy on the phone these days!