Photo: James Case · CC BY 2.0Philadelphia draws 5,382 commuters a day, with 2.2 jobs for every working resident
Philadelphia has 6,174 jobs; 2,779 of its residents have a job. The two grades for Philadelphia are D for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Measured by household income, Philadelphia is behind 87% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Philadelphia and work: the main findings
Philadelphia draws workers from far and wide
The 6,174 jobs in Philadelphia are filled from a wide area. Philadelphia’s own residents hold 13% and the ten next-biggest home towns 10%; the other 77% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Philadelphia is where the jobs are
Philadelphia has 6,174 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 10,000 people are in town, 50% more than the 6,900 who live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Philadelphia workers earn over $40,000 a year
40% of Philadelphia’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Income, poverty and work: Philadelphia’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Philadelphia is better than 7% of U.S. towns, #81 of 99 in Mississippi. Job access by car holds Philadelphia’s grade up (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (25.6%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Philadelphia could be anywhere from D− to C.
Where Philadelphia’s workforce comes from
Where Philadelphia clocks in
7% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The workday shuffle in and out of Philadelphia
On a workday 1,987 residents head out to work and 792 work right here.
About 10,000 people are in Philadelphia on a workday afternoon, 50% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
What Philadelphia’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Philadelphia, 2013 → 2023: 7,153 → 6,174. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Philadelphia’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Philadelphia spends getting to work: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Philadelphia workers work from home, vs 6% across Mississippi. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,538 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Mississippi: 87% drive alone, <1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Near or far: the trip to work from Philadelphia
About 29% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Philadelphia
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Philadelphia is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns, #8 of 101 in Mississippi. Both inputs place Philadelphia near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,643 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 8.2% of Philadelphia households have no vehicle (Mississippi 6.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Philadelphia’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 4,800 to 9,300, and where Philadelphia sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 968 | Gulf Park Estates MS | 6,264 | $66K | 5.0% | 1.0% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 977 | Saltillo MS | 5,060 | $81K | 6.8% | 1.3% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,567 | Vancleave MS | 5,078 | $70K | 6.2% | 3.0% | 10% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,084 | Adel GA | 5,854 | $44K | 23.9% | 6.8% | 21% | D |
| 3,085 | Ripley MS | 5,377 | $55K | 20.1% | 10.7% | 19% | D |
| 3,086 | Philadelphia MS | 6,858 | $51K | 25.6% | 8.0% | 28% | D |
| 3,087 | West Frankfort IL | 7,105 | $48K | 29.0% | 15.2% | 14% | D |
| 3,088 | Fairfield IA | 9,220 | $51K | 20.7% | 11.8% | 50% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,229 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Philadelphia, the top three, the last and three more from Mississippi.
Philadelphia and its neighbors: 13% work next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Philadelphia workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia | – | D | A− | 25 min | $50,788 |
| Pearl River | 13% | D | D− | 17 min | $50,922 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Pearl River. Darker towns draw more of Philadelphia’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Philadelphia: questions
What is the median household income in Philadelphia?
$50,788 (±$6,460) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $56,447 across Mississippi and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Philadelphia?
25.6%, against 18.9% across Mississippi and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Philadelphia?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Mississippi and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Philadelphia work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pearl River (13%, 7 mi), Meridian (7%, 37 mi), Jackson (5%, 71 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Philadelphia walkable?
Philadelphia is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Philadelphia without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Philadelphia, from the people who make the trip.
More of Philadelphia
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.