Phoenix vs Philadelphia

A side-by-side comparison of Phoenix and Philadelphia: population, income, housing, and more.

Phoenix and Philadelphia are places in Arizona and Pennsylvania respectively. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Phoenix has the higher population (1,624,832 vs 1,582,432 in Philadelphia). Phoenix has the higher median household income ($77,041 vs $60,698 in Philadelphia). Phoenix has the higher median home value ($381,900 vs $232,400 in Philadelphia).

Population, income & housing

	Phoenix	Philadelphia
Population	1,624,832	1,582,432
Median age	34.8 yrs	35.1 yrs
Median household income	$77,041	$60,698
Median home value	$381,900	$232,400
Median gross rent	$1,458	$1,323
Housing units	642,867	739,725
Homeownership rate	57.1%	52.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.3%	34.6%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	8.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Phoenix	Philadelphia
Population	1,633,017 → 1,624,832 (-0.5%)	1,579,075 → 1,582,432 (+0.2%)
Median household income	$57,459 → $77,041 (+34.1%)	$45,927 → $60,698 (+32.2%)
Median home value	$235,400 → $381,900 (+62.2%)	$163,000 → $232,400 (+42.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,053 → $1,458 (+38.5%)	$1,042 → $1,323 (+27.0%)

Phoenix

Population

1,633,0171,624,832

Median household income

$57,459$77,041

Median home value

$235,400$381,900

Median gross rent

$1,053$1,458

Philadelphia

Population

1,579,0751,582,432

Median household income

$45,927$60,698

Median home value

$163,000$232,400

Median gross rent

$1,042$1,323

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Phoenix	Philadelphia
Under 5	6.1%	6.1%
5 to 17	18.0%	15.3%
18 to 24	9.9%	9.8%
25 to 34	16.3%	18.7%
35 to 44	14.1%	13.4%
45 to 54	12.5%	10.9%
55 to 64	11.2%	11.5%
65 to 74	7.4%	8.6%
75 and over	4.4%	5.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Phoenix	Philadelphia
White (non-Hispanic)	41.3%	33.6%
Black or African American	7.4%	38.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.4%	0.1%
Asian	3.8%	7.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.7%
Two or more races	3.6%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	41.8%	15.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Phoenix	Philadelphia
No high school diploma	15.6%	12.6%
High school graduate	23.1%	29.8%
Some college or associate's	29.0%	22.9%
Bachelor's degree	19.9%	19.4%
Graduate or professional degree	12.5%	15.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Phoenix	Philadelphia
Drove alone	66.1%	46.7%
Carpooled	10.9%	7.6%
Public transit	2.0%	17.9%
Walked	1.6%	7.5%
Bicycle	0.4%	1.9%
Worked from home	16.9%	16.4%
Other means	2.0%	2.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Phoenix	Philadelphia
1-unit, detached	59.9%	8.4%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	56.4%
2 to 4 units	6.2%	14.1%
5 to 19 units	10.9%	6.1%
20 or more units	15.3%	14.6%
Mobile home & other	3.0%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Phoenix	Philadelphia
Poverty rate	14.3%	22.0%
Average household size	2.66	2.29
Mean commute (minutes)	26	32
Median year structure built	1984	1949