Philadelphia, apart from being famous for the Liberty Bell, Rocky, cheesesteaks, and the Mummers, has a nostalgic charm, colorful cultural vibe and rich history. Popularly known as the City of Brotherly Love, the city offers a great backdrop for urban lifestyle and has a well-established culture and friendly vibe. This terrific city has a lively downtown scene, excellent restaurants, major universities, and an impressive waterfront.
Also known as the city of firsts, it hosted America’s very first birthday, founded the first zoo, first medical school, first hospital and a lot more. Today, the city progressively continues to strike a balance on innovation and history in a vibrant cityscape that has a lot of job opportunities, too. It’s no surprise that migrants keep coming to the city for several reasons.
Job Opportunities and Employment
Philadelphia has a 1% annual increase in terms of job growth and there’s a lot of job and business opportunities, especially in the healthcare and education industries. Among the institutions that acquire the largest employment are the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania. Unemployment rate in the metro area is about 5%, the lowest it’s been since before the pandemic.
Cost of Living
Philadelphia is relatively expensive than other key cities but living here is a lot more affordable than in Washington DC or New York City. Housing is really affordable with an index of 66.3 versus the national. If you are moving to the city and you want a more convenient way to find apartments for rent in Philadelphia, Zumper got you covered.
What is Zumper? It is a site that features a lot of helpful information about renting in a certain city or neighborhood. Zumper data shows that 46% of the households in Philadelphia are renter occupied, proof that a lot of people are better off renting in the city. Currently, the average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in the city is $1,450. This is a 4% increase compared last year. Meanwhile the average rent for a studio apartment in the city has decreased by -5% to $1,000. Visit the site so you can compare the different rental prices in various neighborhood to get the best deals within your budget.
Transportation and utilities might be a bit higher than the national average, but the very low cost of housing is a great advantage.
Convenient Public Transportation
For both regional and local transit, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) offers a convenient public transport system which includes buses, subways, trains and even trolleys. Driving in your own car around the city can be an option but not ideally necessary. Philadelphia International Airport, the primary airport in the city serving almost 32 million passengers every year, is undergoing a multi-million infrastructural expansion to increase passenger capacity and augment passenger experience. The Port of Philadelphia has the highest percentage growth by tonnage loaded in 2017 among major U.S. seaports and still in the process of doubling its capacity to accommodate super-sized shipping vessels.
Diverse Neighborhood
Philadelphia neighborhoods has different features, from funky urban communities to upscale enclaves. There are neighborhoods suited for yuppies and students and of course for families looking for lovely suburbs with great public schools. The Center City which is the heart of Philadelphia has interesting attractions from cultural to historical, gastronomical to retail shopping adventures.
Chestnut Hill, an upscale neighborhood is home to an array of posh boutiques, specialty shops and pubs. The Queen Village, on the other hand offers an old-world charm dotted with art galleries, hip food joints and nostalgic colonial homes.