Philadelphia's undeclared tax break vs. suburbs

Since 2000, local and state taxes fell as a proportion of income for middle income families in Philadelphia. Over the same period, the median state-and-local tax burden rose in 236 suburbs. The combination has left Philadelphia more competitive with the suburbs on state and local taxes. The city is still heavier taxed than most of the suburbs that we studied, but its ranking improved considerably from 3rd to 48th heaviest. That's one finding of our study Residential Taxes 2000 to 2012: A Narrowing Gap Between Philadelphia and Its Suburbs. One big driver was property assessments, which lagged fair-market values in Philadelphia more than they did in the suburbs. Also, Philadelphia's annual wage tax cuts through 2000-2012 pushed down the city's tax burden, while many suburbs raised their local income tax rates. Importantly, our study does not reflect the situation of every family or the quality of schools or services it gets. Rather, it only shows what a hypothetical middle-income family of four would have paid in property taxes, sales taxes, and local income taxes in each municipality.

Use our interactive map to find the median tax burden for each town in relation to Philadelphia. Read news coverage at Metropolis, The Inquirer, Daily News, listen at WHYY/Newsworks, or watch NBC10@Issue.

Philadelphians coming and going, especially to NYC

Where are Philadelphia taxpayers coming from and going to? Recent data from the Internal Revenue Service shows that the net outflow of taxpayers and their families—the difference in number of people moving away from those moving in—hit its lowest point in 2009 since the early 1990s, when the IRS started releasing the data. Philadelphia's net outflow grew slightly in 2010, the last year available. Most of the movement was to or from the city's suburbs. (See our 2010 migration report). Outside this region, New York City has been the single biggest source of newcomers. But more and more Philadelphians also have been moving to the Big Apple. In 2010 their migration eclipsed the flow from New York City for the first time since 1997, with 3,156 Philadelphians moving to NYC compared with 3,095 New Yorkers coming to Philly. Click here for an interactive map of Philadelphia's inflow from and outflow to select counties in 2010. (Map hosted at Batchgeo.com).

New insights and input on Philly jobs

Three organizations this past month produced new information, or asked for input, about Philadelphia's labor market. The Center City District released a study and interactive map analyzing where the city's private-sector jobs are located and where the workers live. The Philadelphia Cultural Alliance released a report finding that culture-sector jobs account for a higher share of the economy in this region than in many others. And the publicly funded Philadelphia Works Inc., which was the subject of our study earlier this year, is asking for comments on its new strategic plan for using millions in federal tax dollars to help prepare Philadelphians for jobs. 

Philadelphia among top growing downtowns

Center City Philadelphia has been gaining population for many years. Now, the Census Bureau has tallied and ranked (PDF) the downtown populations of many cities, with "downtown" defined as the area within a two-mile radius of a local City Hall. New York City’s Lower Manhattan population around its City Hall grew by 9 percent between 2000 and 2010; Philadelphia’s population in and around Center City rose by 10 percent; Washington’s population around the D.C. government buildings near the White House was up 14 percent; Chicago’s North Loop population rose by 36 percent. How many Philadelphians have lived within two miles of City Hall? There were 235,529 as of 2010, up from 214,760 a decade earlier.

Philly311 and IT upgrade begins

More than two years after we documented troubles with the computer technology linking Philly311 and other city agencies, the Nutter administration has put out a request for bids to upgrade the system. No potential cost on Philly311 was disclosed. It's part of a five-year $120 million upgrade to many city systems.

How Philadelphia compares on shelter population

A new report based on the 2010 Census (PDF) looks at the Americans, 209,325 in all, who were in emergency and transitional shelters when the count was being taken. Philadelphia had 3,750 people in shelters, or about 2.5 of every 1,000 city residents. Among the 10 cities with the largest shelter populations, Philadelphia’s per capita figure was larger than those for Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles but smaller—in some cases a lot smaller—than for Atlanta, Boston, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington. The Census Bureau stresses that its report is not a count of the homeless population because "there is no standard or agreed upon definition of what constitutes homelessness."

Young adults better educated, older adults not

Philadelphia has seen a growing percentage of young adults in its population, a promising sign for any city. Now we can also say that these folks are quite well educated. According to new numbers from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 37.5 percent of Philadelphians between the ages of 25 and 34 have bachelor’s degrees or higher. That is 6 percentage points above the national average for the age group. Among people 35 and over, though, Philadelphia ranks far behind the national norms in percentages of college graduates.