Philadelphia

About Philadelphia

Philadelphia ( FIL-ə-DEL-fee-ə), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the sixth-most populous city in the United States. Its population was 1.60 million at the 2020 census and estimated at 1.57 million in 2025. The Philadelphia metropolitan area, also known as the Delaware Valley, is located in both the Mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States; home to 6.33 million residents, it is the nation's ninth-largest metropolitan area. Philadelphia is known for its culture, cuisine, and history, maintaining contemporary influence in technology and business, sports, and music.

Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English Quaker and advocate of religious freedom, and served as the capital of the colonial era Province of Pennsylvania. It then played a vital role during the American Revolution and Revolutionary War. It served as the central meeting place for the nation's Founding Fathers in hosting the First Continental Congress (1774) and the Second Continental Congress, during which the Founders formed the Continental Army, elected George Washington as its commander, and adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. During the Revolutionary War's Philadelphia campaign, the city fell to the British Army, which occupied Philadelphia for nine months from September 1777 to June 1778. Following the end of the Revolutionary War, the U.S. Constitution was ratified at the Philadelphia Convention. Philadelphia remained the largest U.S. city until 1790, and it served as the nation's first capital from May 10, 1775, until December 12, 1776, and on four subsequent occasions until 1800, when construction of the new national capital in Washington, D.C. was completed.

With 17 four-year universities and colleges in the city, Philadelphia is one of the nation's leading centers for higher education and academic research. As of 2023, the Philadelphia metropolitan area had a gross metropolitan product of US$557.6 billion and is home to 13 Fortune 500 corporate headquarters. Metropolitan Philadelphia ranks as one of the nation's Big Five tech venture capital hubs, facilitated by its proximity central to both the financial ecosystems of New York City and the regulatory environment of Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Philadelphia is also a biotechnology hub and has garnered the nickname "Cellicon Valley" for its central role in the development of immunotherapies to treat different cancers. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange, owned by Nasdaq since 2008, is the nation's oldest stock exchange and a global leader in options trading. 30th Street Station, an important national railway crossroads, is the third-busiest Amtrak rail hub in the U.S., handling over 5.5 million passengers in 2025. In part aided by its central Mid-Atlantic U.S. geolocation, Philadelphia International Airport has become the largest transatlantic hub for American Airlines. The city's multimodal transportation and logistics infrastructure also includes the expanding PhilaPort seaport, and Interstate 95, the spine of the north–south highway axis linking the cities of the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.

Philadelphia has a culturally and philanthropically active LGBTQ+ community. The city has also played an influential historic and ongoing role in the development and evolution of American music, especially R&B, soul, and rock. The city hosts more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other city in the nation. Fairmount Park, when combined with adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the same watershed, has an area of 2,052 acres (830 ha), representing one of the nation's largest urban parks and the world's 55th largest. With five professional sports teams and one of the nation's most loyal and passionate fan bases, Philadelphia is often ranked as the nation's best city for professional sports fans.

Philadelphia is a city of many firsts, including the nation's first library (1731), hospital (1751), medical school (1765), national capital (1774), university (by some accounts) (1779), central bank (1781), stock exchange (1790), zoo (1874), and business school (1881). Philadelphia hosts 67 National Historic Landmarks, including Independence Hall. From the city's 17th century founding through the present, Philadelphia has been the birthplace of or home to many prominent and influential Americans.

Text: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Philadelphia weather: 7-day forecast

Source: National Weather Service (NOAA).

Live webcams in Philadelphia

Webcams: Windy.com

Living in Philadelphia

Median household income

$61,953

Median home value

$243,100

Median rent

$1,397/mo

Median age

35.3

Map of Philadelphia

Tap any street on the map to see it in Street View below. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Philadelphia Street View

Drag the image to look around and tap the arrows on the ground to move. If it says there is no imagery, tap a nearby street on the map above.

Philadelphia, PA population

Philadelphia had 1,603,797 residents in the 2020 Census.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Decennial Census.

Philadelphia at a glance

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (Gazetteer, ZCTA), USGS GNIS, Wikidata.

Towns near Philadelphia

• Oak Lane3.4 mi N
• Melrose Park3.8 mi N
• Cheltenham Village4.3 mi NE
• Elkins Park4.7 mi N
• Cheltenham4.8 mi N
• Pennsauken, NJ4.9 mi SE
• Bala Cynwyd5.0 mi W
• Palmyra, NJ5.2 mi E
• Camden, NJ5.2 mi S
• McKinley5.3 mi N
• Rockledge5.5 mi NE
• Wyncote5.7 mi N

Straight-line distance between town centers.

Frequently asked questions about Philadelphia