Philadelphia 2022: State of the City

Posted by Pew Charitable Trust on May 3, 2022

The Pew Charitable Trust recently released a study of the City two years into the pandemic.

Among the highlights:

• Over 300,000 Covid cases, over 5,000 deaths since March 2020
• Unemployment dropped back to its pre-pandemic rate of 5.8%
• 2021 population dropped 1.7%, reversing increases since 2007

As of April 2022, the city had recorded more than 300,000 COVID-19 cases and over 5,000 deaths since the virus was first detected in Philadelphia in March 2020. A decline in coronavirus cases in the early fall of 2021 had offered the promise of recovery—a prospect disrupted by a surge of new cases in late 2021 and early 2022. By February 2022, the city’s case numbers had declined sharply, although new surges in Europe and Asia around the same time added fresh uncertainty about the future trajectory of COVID-19 cases in Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, the city’s economy is showing positive signs. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.8% by December 2021, returning to the same rate the city had reported just before the pandemic. Although job growth is still variable by sector, the professional and technical sectors are rebounding to pre-pandemic employment levels. Delinquency in paying bills among Philadelphia’s small and midsize businesses steadily declined through 2021; though, at 7.1%, these late payments remain at their highest point since March 2020.

Full study analysis and the study itself can be found here.