Philadelphia

Philadelphia (also spelled Filadelfiya) is the largest city in the state of Pennsylvania in the United States, located in the northeast of the country near the Atlantic coast. It sits at the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. The city and county share a single administration, meaning their boundaries are identical.

The 2020 national census showed the city's population exceeded 1.6 million, representing the largest growth since the 1950s. Between 2010 and 2020, approximately 78,000 people were added. Philadelphia is the center of the broader Delaware Valley region, which includes counties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.

Name and founding

The city was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English member of the Quaker religious sect. Penn made the city the capital of his Pennsylvania colony. The name 'Philadelphia' derives from Greek and means 'brotherly love,' which is why it is called the 'City of Brotherly Love.' Penn designed the city on a grid plan with streets running parallel, an approach that influenced the design of many American cities.

Historical role in U.S. government

Philadelphia was the site where the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the U.S. Constitution (1787) were written and signed. The building known as Independence Hall was where these meetings took place. The city served as the capital of the United States from 1790 to 1800, when the federal government moved to Washington, D.C.

Independence Hall was added by UNESCO to the World Heritage List in 1979. The building is owned by the city of Philadelphia and managed by the federal National Park Service as part of Independence National Historical Park.

Economy

The city's economy is now primarily centered on higher education and healthcare—locally known as 'eds and meds.' The largest employers include the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson University, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and Temple University. A 2024 analysis by the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia found that of the twenty largest employers in the city, only four are for-profit firms; the rest are educational institutions, healthcare organizations, or nonprofits.

The concentration of these institutions provides the city with stable employment less vulnerable to economic downturns. However, recent economic data suggests the city still has higher poverty rates compared to other major American cities.