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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

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Home > Community Development > Community Profiles > Philadelphia, PA Metropolitan Division (MD) > Demographics and Economic Data

Community Profile: Philadelphia, PA Metropolitan Division (MD)

Demographics and Economic Data

Included in this section is a brief summary of demographic and economic data. Detailed data can be accessed through the following websites:

• Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council : The website includes a geocoding/mapping system that allows users to obtain census data based on specific street addresses and a census report system that provides census information by census tract within a county or MSA.
• PolicyMap : This geographic information system, which includes an interactive mapping tool developed by The Reinvestment Fund, allows users to create custom maps, tables, and charts for over 10,000 indicators and provides the ability to plot external data.
• U.S. Census Bureau American FactFinder : Official source for population, housing, economic, and geographic data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Included below is a summary of the following data:

• Population
• Income
• Poverty Level
• Housing Units
• Housing Permits
• Local Industries
• Unemployment Rate
• Education

Population1

The population of the Philadelphia, PA MD rose from 3,728,909 in 1990 to 3,849,647 in 2000, representing a 3.2 percent increase. During the same period, the state of Pennsylvania experienced a 3.4 percent increase in population, while the city of Philadelphia’s population decreased 4.3 percent.

Table 1 shows the racial composition of the state of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia MD, and city of Philadelphia based on the 2000 census. In the city of Philadelphia, 43.0 percent of the population was black or African American, compared to 9.9 percent of the population for the state and 21.6 percent for the Philadelphia, PA MD. The last line of the table represents the percentage of the total population who stated they were Hispanic or Latino in origin. For example, in the city of Philadelphia, 8.5 percent of the population stated they were Hispanic or Latino.

The racial composition of the Philadelphia, PA MD is illustrated in Figure 1.

The racial composition of those who reported they were Hispanic or Latino in origin within the Philadelphia, PA MD (4.7 percent of the total population for the MD) is illustrated in Figure 2.

Income1

The 1999 median household income for the Philadelphia, PA MD was $47,464 and the median family income was $57,764.2 Statewide, the median household income was $40,106, and the median family income was $49,184.1 In the same year, the median household income for the city of Philadelphia was $30,746, and the median family income was $37,036.1

The term low- and moderate-income persons (LMI) is used for CRA and community development purposes and includes people and communities whose income is less than 80 percent of the area median income. People and communities whose income is less than 50 percent of the area median income are considered low income and those whose income exceeds 50 percent, but does not exceed 80 percent, are considered moderate income.

In 2000, there were 1,459,708 households within the Philadelphia, PA MD. Of all households in all census tracts, 25 percent were households with low incomes and 15.5 percent were households with moderate incomes. A household's income is not necessarily an indicator of the income of the census tract in which it resides. As Table 2 indicates, 43.1 percent of all households with low incomes resided in middle- and upper-income census tracts, and 59.2 percent of all households with moderate incomes resided in middle- and upper-income census tracts.3

In 2007, there were 987 census tracts in the Philadelphia, PA MD. Of the total, 121 were low-income tracts and 192 were moderate-income tracts. In the city of Philadelphia, there were 381 census tracts. Of the total, 109 were low-income tracts and 140 were moderate-income tracts.3

Poverty Level1

In 1999, the Philadelphia, PA MD had 459,397 residents living below the poverty line, representing 12.3 percent of the MD population. Statewide, 11 percent of the population was living below the poverty line. The city of Philadelphia had 336,177 residents (22.9 percent of the total population) living below the poverty line.

Information about how the U.S. Census Bureau measures poverty is available through its website.

Housing Units1

In 2000 the Philadelphia MD had a total of 1,565,641 housing units, of which 93.2 percent were occupied and 6.8 percent were vacant. Of the occupied housing units, 68.4 percent were occupied by the owner, and 31.6 percent were occupied by a renter. The state of Pennsylvania had a total of 5,249,750 housing units, of which 91 percent were occupied and 9 percent were vacant. The city of Philadelphia had a total of 661,958 housing units, of which 89.1 percent were occupied and 10.9 percent were vacant.

The reasons for the vacancies are illustrated in Figure 3.

Housing Permits4

In January 2008, 1,076.8 housing permits for new, privately owned houses in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA were issued. (The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA includes the Philadelphia, PA MD.) Of this group, 721.8 housing permits were for 1- to 4-unit homes. These numbers have been seasonally adjusted.

More current information regarding housing permits in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA and other areas within the Third Federal Reserve District is available through a database on the regional employment, unemployment, and housing page of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Research Department.

Local Industries4

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Research Department maintains a database of monthly employment data by industry for the Philadelphia, PA MD . Please note that all values for industry employment in this file are in thousands.

Unemployment Rate5

In 2007, the Philadelphia, PA MD had an annual unemployment rate of 4.4 percent, compared to a rate of 4.4 percent for the state of Pennsylvania. The city of Philadelphia had an annual unemployment rate of 6.0 percent for the same year. More recent unemployment data are available through the Bureau of Labor Statistics' website.

Education1

In the Philadelphia, PA MD, 28.8 percent of the population that is 25 years of age or older has a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the city of Philadelphia, however, only 17.9 percent of the population that is 25 years of age or older has received a bachelor’s degree or higher. For the state of Pennsylvania, this figure is 22.4 percent. See Figure 4 for more details.

• 1 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, “2000 Census — Summary File 3,” http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en 
• 2 Source: Estimates for median household income and median family income provided by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, “2000 Census — Summary File 3,” http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en . Actual median household income falls within the range of $45,000 to $49,999. Actual median family income falls within the range of $50,000 to $59,999.
• 3 Source: Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), http://www.ffiec.gov. 
• 4 Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Research Department, "Regional Economy: Third District Historical Data," http://www.philadelphiafed.org/econ/regionaldata/index.cfm
• 5 Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Local Area Unemployment Statistics,” 2007 annual data, http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/outside.jsp?survey=la

• Last updated: Thursday, October 30, 2008