Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Philadelphia ranks 67th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 49th for income. A household earns $90,850 a year while median rent runs $1,567/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 3% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is education (44th of 300), while commute is the soft spot (273rd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 224th and home prices 200th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Philadelphia, your take-home is worth about $57,541 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 49th of 300↑21.9%$90,850
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 256th of 300103 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $88,587
- Per-capita income
- $50,684
- Full-time pay
- $51,862
Housing
- Median rent
- 224th of 300↑34.9%$1,567/mo
- Home value
- 200th of 300↑42.2%$375,100
- Property tax
- $5,016/yr · 1.3%
- Sales tax
- 6.34%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 189th of 3004.8%
- Bachelor's+
- 44th of 30043.3%
- Avg commute
- 273rd of 30029.7 min
People
- Population
- 6,330,422
- Population change
- +3.7%
- Median age
- 39.5 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 12.4%
- Broadband
- 94.6%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 255th of 30053
- Natural-hazard loss
- 77th of 300$10/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 70th of 30016.3%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 9.7%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Education
- + Hazard safety
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Commute
- – Air quality
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — phila intl ap.
What jobs pay in Philadelphia
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $294,430
- IT managers
- $173,470
- Lawyers
- $170,660
- Financial managers
- $166,920
- Pharmacists
- $148,740
- Software developers
- $133,040
- General & operations managers
- $121,630
- Registered nurses
- $101,180
- Civil engineers
- $99,410
- Web developers
- $94,570
- Police officers
- $89,580
- Accountants & auditors
- $85,990
- Secondary school teachers
- $80,560
- Elementary school teachers
- $78,570
- Plumbers
- $74,860
- Electricians
- $74,590
- Carpenters
- $61,780
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $59,370
- Construction laborers
- $55,120
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $50,200
- Customer service reps
- $47,070
- Janitors
- $36,930
- Waiters & waitresses
- $36,570
- Retail salespersons
- $34,810
- Cashiers
- $33,050
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Philadelphia metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Pennsylvania are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- New York18,521
- Florida7,348
- California6,021
- Virginia5,692
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Philadelphia
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Philadelphia metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Philadelphia metro?
- Median gross rent across the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro Area is $1,567 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Philadelphia.
- What is the median household income in the Philadelphia metro?
- A typical household in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro Area earns $90,850 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Philadelphia expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro Area runs about 3% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Philadelphia metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $88,587 (versus its face value of $90,850). CityLedger rates the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Philadelphia metro?
- The median home value across the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro Area is $375,100 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Philadelphia metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro Area is 4.8% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).