Philadelphia

United States of America COUNTRY

6,096,120 CITY POPULATION

Mayor–Council GOVERNMENT TYPE

Introduction

Philadelphia, known casually as Philly, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, and the sixth-most populous U.S. city with a 2019 estimated population of 1,584,064.[Since 1854, the city has had the same geographic boundaries as Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the eighth-largest U.S. metropolitan statistical area, with over 6 million residents as of 2017.Philadelphia is also the economic and cultural anchor of the greater Delaware Valley, located along the lower Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, within the Northeast megalopolis. The Delaware Valley's population of 7.2 million ranks it as the eighth-largest combined statistical area in the United States.Philadelphia is one of the oldest municipalities in the United States. William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city in 1682 to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony.Philadelphia played an instrumental role in the American Revolution as a meeting place for the Founding Fathers of the United States, who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 at the Second Continental Congress, and the Constitution at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787. Several other key events occurred in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War including the First Continental Congress, the preservation of the Liberty Bell, the Battle of Germantown, and the Siege of Fort Mifflin. Philadelphia remained the nation's largest city until being overtaken by New York City in 1790; the city was also one of the nation's capitals during the revolution, serving as temporary U.S. capital while Washington, D.C. was under construction. The city's population doubled from one million to two million people between 1890 and 1950. The Philadelphia area's many universities and colleges make it a top study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational and economic hub.

As of 2019, the Philadelphia metropolitan area is estimated to produce a gross metropolitan product of $490 billion. Philadelphia is the center of economic activity in Pennsylvania and is home to five Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is expanding, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016, including several nationally prominent skyscrapers. Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. The city is known for its arts, culture, cuisine, and colonial history, attracting 42 million domestic tourists in 2016 who spent $6.8 billion, generating an estimated $11 billion in total economic impact in the city and surrounding four counties of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia has also emerged as a biotechnology hub.Philadelphia is the birthplace of the United States Marine Corps,and is also the home of many U.S. firsts, including the first library , hospital , medical school , national capital , stock exchange , zoo , and business school . Philadelphia contains 67 National Historic Landmarks and the World Heritage Site of Independence Hall. The city became a member of the Organization of World Heritage Cities in 2015, as the first World Heritage City in the United States. Although Philadelphia is rapidly undergoing gentrification, the city actively maintains strategies to minimize displacement of homeowners in gentrifying neighborhoods.

Philadelphia has been described both as the elegant but rather jaded great lady and as the overage and sickly spinster of American cities.

Data and Facts

It is the 1st World Heritage City in the United States & 3rd most populous downtown in the country
It boasts the 6th largest workforce in the U.S. of just over 3 million, including highly skilled talent in key industries
The city is home to America's first zoo, the first hospital and the first medical school
Philadelphia is actually renowned for its medical sector. One out of every six doctors in the U.S. is trained here
Philly became home to the first general purpose computer in 1946, which weighed 27 tons
Boasting over 2000 outdoor murals, it’s been called the “mural capital of the U.S.”

Administration

From a governmental perspective, Philadelphia County is a legal nullity, as all county functions were assumed by the city in 1952. The city has been coterminous with the county since 1854. Philadelphia's 1952 Home Rule Charter was written by the City Charter Commission, which was created by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in an act of April 21, 1949, and a city ordinance of June 15, 1949. The existing city council received a proposed draft on February 14, 1951, and the electors approved it in an election held April 17, 1951. The first elections under the new Home Rule Charter were held in November 1951, and the newly elected officials took office in January 1952. The city uses the strong-mayor version of the mayor–council form of government, which is led by one mayor in whom executive authority is vested. The mayor has the authority to appoint and dismiss members of all boards and commissions without the approval of the city council. Elected at-large, the mayor is limited to two consecutive four-year terms, but can run for the position again after an intervening term.

Philadelphia County is coterminous with the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas is the trial court of general jurisdiction for the city, hearing felony-level criminal cases and civil suits above the minimum jurisdictional limit of $10,000. The court also has appellate jurisdiction over rulings from the Municipal and Traffic Courts, and some administrative agencies and boards. The trial division has 70 commissioned judges elected by the voters, along with about one thousand other employees.The court also has a family division with 25 judges and an orphans' court with three judges.As of 2018, the city's District Attorney is Larry Krasner, a Democrat. The last Republican to hold the office is Ronald D. Castille, who left in 1991 and later served as the Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from 2008 to 2014.The Philadelphia Municipal Court handles traffic cases, misdemeanor and felony criminal cases with maximum incarceration of five years, and civil cases involving $12,000 or less , and all landlord-tenant disputes. The municipal court has 27 judges elected by the voters.Pennsylvania's three appellate courts also have sittings in Philadelphia. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the court of last resort in the state, regularly hears arguments in Philadelphia City Hall.

Philadelphia was a bastion of the Republican Party from the American Civil War until the mid-1930s. The city hosted the first Republican National Convention in 1856. Democratic registrations increased after the Great Depression; however, the city was not carried by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt in his landslide victory of 1932 as Pennsylvania was one of only six states won by Republican Herbert Hoover. Voter turnout surged from 600,000 in 1932 to nearly 900,000 in 1936 and Roosevelt carried Philadelphia with over 60% of the vote. The city has voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1936. In 2008, Democrat Barack Obama drew 83% of the city's vote. Obama's win was even greater in 2012, capturing 85% of the vote. In 2016, Democrat Hillary Clinton won 82% of the vote.

As a result of the declining population in the city and state, Philadelphia has only three congressional districts of the 18 districts in Pennsylvania, based on the 2010 Census apportionment: the 2nd district, represented by Brendan Boyle; the 3rd, represented by Dwight Evans; and the 5th, represented by Mary Gay Scanlon. All three representatives are Democrats though Republicans still have some support in the city, primarily in the Northeast. Sam Katz ran competitive mayoral races as the Republican nominee in 1999 and 2003, losing to Democrat John Street both times.

Pennsylvania's longest-serving Senator, Arlen Specter, was an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania who opened his first law practice in Philadelphia. Specter served as a Republican from 1981 and as a Democrat from 2009, losing that party's primary in 2010 and leaving office in January 2011.

Economy

Many of Philadelphia’s business enterprises were established in the 1700s, but the city’s economy has changed greatly. Such old and once-dominant industries as textile mills met stiff competition from the South and from abroad. Industry was given a boost by World War II but began to decline later; thousands of jobs were lost in the 1960s. Nonmanufacturing and service industries, however, continue to increase employment and now dominate the economy. High-technology industries such as communications, computer software, and Internet commerce became important in the late 20th century. Printing and publishing and food processing are major factors in the modern economy. Manufactures include chemicals, industrial machinery, fabricated metal products, electronics, transportation equipment, scientific instruments, apparel, paper products, rubber and plastic products, and primary metals. A decline has been evident in the migration of both people and businesses from the city to the suburbs. The Valley Forge area, best known as a Revolutionary War historic site, has become a nest of business and industrial locations. Much of this relocation is under the sponsorship of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation.One of the mainstays of the economy in Philadelphia and much of eastern Pennsylvania from before the birth of the nation was the naval yard, which employed tens of thousands of workers in its prime. Ship building emerged as an important part of the economy in the late 18th century, and the Continental Congress commissioned five ships from Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War. A naval shipyard was opened in 1801 by an act of Congress of 1799, and the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard became one of the most important production sites for the navy. Efforts were made to keep the yard going even before it closed, and in 1997 an agreement was reached with a major Norwegian shipbuilder. Ship production began again in 2000, and the first ship built at the new Kvaener Philadelphia Shipyard was completed on March 2003.

Philadelphia is the center of economic activity in Pennsylvania with the headquarters of five Fortune 1000 companies located within city limits. As of 2019, the Philadelphia metropolitan area is estimated to produce a gross metropolitan product of $490 billion, an increase from the $445 billion calculated by the Bureau of Economic Analysis for 2017, representing the eighth largest U.S. metropolitan economy. Philadelphia was rated by the GaWC as a 'Beta' city in its 2016 ranking of world cities.With a gross domestic product of $388 billion, the city of Philadelphia alone ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. The city is also the nation's fourth-largest consumer media market, as ranked by the Nielsen Media Research.

The city is also home to the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. Philadelphia has shifted to an information technology and service-based economy. Financial activities account for the largest sector of the metro economy, and it is one of the largest health education and research centers in the United States. Philadelphia's history attracts many tourists, with the Liberty Bell receiving over 2 million visitors in 2010.

Philadelphia's economic sectors include higher education, manufacturing, oil refining, food processing, health care and biotechnology, telecommunications, tourism and financial services.The federal government has several facilities in Philadelphia. The Delaware Valley contains the headquarters of twelve Fortune 500 corporations, four of which are in Philadelphia proper. Fortune 500 companies in Delaware Valley include cable television and internet provider Comcast, insurance companies Colonial Penn, CIGNA and Lincoln Financial Group, energy company Sunoco, food services company Aramark and Crown Holdings Incorporated, chemical makers Rohm and Haas Company and FMC Corporation, pharmaceutical companies Wyeth and GlaxoSmithKline, aerospace and defense Boeing Rotercraft Systems and Lockheed Martin and automotive parts retailer Pep Boys.With the historic presence of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the large ridership at 30th Street Station, Amtrak maintains a significant presence in the city. These jobs include customer service representatives and ticket processing and other behind-the-scenes personnel, in addition to the normal functions of the railroad.The city is also a legal center. It is home to the law schools of Penn, Drexel, Temple, Rutgers , Villanova, and Widener. The headquarters of the American Law Institute is located in the city as well as the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Ten of the 100 largest law firms in the US have their headquarters or largest office in Philadelphia.Tourism is a major industry in Philadelphia, which was the 11th-most-visited city in the United States in 2008. It welcomed 710,000 visitors from foreign countries in 2008, up 29% from the previous year.

Shopping options in Center City include Fashion District Philadelphia, The Shops at Liberty Place, Jewelers' Row, South Street, Old City's 3rd Street Corridor, and a wide variety of standalone independent retailers. The Rittenhouse area, known as Philadelphia's outdoor shopping mall, includes Rittenhouse Row, a four-block section of Walnut Street, which has higher-end clothing chain stores and some hipster-inspired clothing stores. The parallel streets of Sansom and Chestnut have some high-end boutiques and clothing retailers. Old City, especially the 3rd Street corridor, has locally owned independent boutiques and art/design galleries. Midway between Old City and Broad Street is the Reading Terminal Market, with dozens of take-out restaurants, specialty food vendors, and small grocery store operators, a few of which are operated by Amish farmers from nearby Lancaster County.

Philadelphia has a few eclectic neighborhood shopping districts, which generally consist of a few blocks along a major neighborhood thoroughfare, such as in Manayunk or Chestnut Hill.

Business Environment

From its early days until the 1850s, Philadelphia was the financial capital of the United States, but it lost this position to New York City. It was the birthplace of American banking, and the first building and loan association was founded there. Philadelphia also supplies the stock and exchange services demanded by modern business. The Philadelphia Commercial Exchange was set up in 1868 as an outgrowth of the older Corn Exchange Association of 1863 to regulate the then-flourishing grain and flour trade. The Philadelphia Bourse was organized in 1891, and the Maritime Exchange was founded in 1875. Philadelphia has the oldest stock exchange in the United States. A U.S. Mint is located within the city.

Venture capital investments to Philly-based companies set a record in 2018, injecting about $1.4 billion and propelling the City of Brotherly Love into the top 10 regions for venture activity. Despite this great progress, there’s still much room to grow: A recent study ranked Philadelphia 22nd in tech talent attraction. In the same record-setting year of 2018, angel and seed investments dropped more than 8% from its peak of $108.4 million in 2014.

The budget puts in place funding for many vital programs and initiatives, which aims to satisfy the wants and needs of many audiences across Route 80, up and down Route 76, and everywhere in between.

But the budget does Pennsylvanians – and Philadelphia’s startup community, especially – a disservice. It closes job openings, bores innovation to death, bankrupts economic opportunity, and robs the world of an opportunity to become better. Since 2008, Pennsylvania lawmakers have cut its budget by nearly 50%, from $28 million to $14.5 million.

According to a 2010 study conducted by the Kauffman Foundation, young startups have accounted for nearly all of the net jobs created since 1977. And according to a 2015 study by Ilya Strebulaev of Stanford University and Will Gornall of University of British Colombia, of the approximately 1,330 public U.S. companies founded between 1979 and 2013, venture capital backed 42% of them.

Infrastructure

One of the first subway systems in the United States was established in the city in 1907 and remains a centrepiece of public transportation in Philadelphia. A complex system of public and private trolley and bus lines was consolidated in 1963 by the state legislature’s creation of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority to plan, develop, and coordinate a regional transportation system and to fund projects by the sale of bonds. Express buses provide rapid service between the inner and outer city. A high speed rail line connects Philadelphia with nearby communities in New Jersey and a ferry and rail line link the city with the renovated waterfront in Camden, New Jersey.

A joint New Jersey–Pennsylvania bridge commission operates 7 toll and 13 tax-supported bridges over the Delaware north of the city. The city is home to the first hospital in the British North American colonies, Pennsylvania Hospital, and the first medical school in what is now the United States, at the University of Pennsylvania . Penn, the city's largest private employer, also runs a large teaching hospital and extensive medical system. There are also major hospitals affiliated with Temple University School of Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University , and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Together, health care is the largest sector of employment in the city. Several medical professional associations are headquartered in Philadelphia. With Philadelphia's importance as a medical research center, the region supports the pharmaceutical industry. Philadelphia is served by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority which operates buses, trains, rapid transit , trolleys, and trackless trolleys throughout Philadelphia, the four Pennsylvania suburban counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery, in addition to service to Mercer County, New Jersey and New Castle County, Delaware .

[Philadelphia's 30th Street Station is a major railroad station on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor with 4.4 million passengers in 2017 making it the third-busiest station in the country after New York City's Pennsylvania Station and Washington's Union Station. The PATCO Speedline provides rapid transit service to Camden, Collingswood, Westmont, Haddonfield, Woodcrest , Ashland , and Lindenwold, New Jersey, from stations on Locust Street between 16th and 15th, 13th and 12th, and 10th and 9th Streets, and on Market Street at 8th Street. William Penn planned Philadelphia with numbered streets traversing north and south, and streets named for trees, such as Chestnut, Walnut, and Mulberry, traversing east and west. The two main streets were named Broad Street and High Street converging at Centre Square which later became the site of City Hall.

Interstate 95 traverses the southern and eastern edges of the city along the Delaware River as the main north–south controlled-access highway, connecting Philadelphia with Newark, New Jersey and New York City to the north and with Baltimore and Washington, D. Interstate 676 links I-95 and I-76 through Center City by running below street level between the eastbound and westbound lanes of Vine Street. Route 30 extends westward from West Philadelphia to Lancaster. Philadelphia is a hub for Greyhound Lines. The Greyhound terminal is located at 1001 Filbert Street in Center City, southeast of the Pennsylvania Convention Center and south of Chinatown.

Since the early days of rail transportation in the United States, Philadelphia has served as a hub for several major rail companies, particularly the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Railroad. The Pennsylvania Railroad first operated Broad Street Station, then 30th Street Station and Suburban Station, and the Reading Railroad operated Reading Terminal, now part of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The two companies also operated competing commuter rail systems in the area. Additionally, the PATCO Speedline subway system and NJ Transit's Atlantic City Line operate successor services to southern New Jersey.

[In 1911, Philadelphia had nearly 4,000 electric trolleys running on 86 lines. Philadelphia is a regional hub of the federally owned Amtrak system, with 30th Street Station being a primary stop on the Washington-Boston Northeast Corridor and the Keystone Corridor to Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. 30th Street also serves as a major station for services via the Pennsylvania Railroad's former Pennsylvania Main Line to Chicago. As of 2018, 30th Street is Amtrak's third-busiest station in the country, after New York City and Washington.

A 2017 study by Walk Score ranked Philadelphia the fifth most walkable major city in the United States with a score of 79 out of 100, in the middle of the «very walkable» range. The city was just edged out by fourth place Miami , with the top three cities being New York, San Francisco, and Boston. Philadelphia placed fifth in the public transit friendly category, behind Washington, D. The city ranked tenth in the bike friendly cities category, with the top three cities being Minneapolis, San Francisco and Portland. The city has two filtration plants on the Schuylkill River and one on the Delaware River.

Exelon subsidiary PECO Energy Company, founded as the Brush Electric Light Company of Philadelphia in 1881 and renamed Philadelphia Electric Company in 1902, provides electricity to about 1.6 million customers and more than 500,000 natural gas customers in the southeastern Pennsylvania area including the city of Philadelphia and most of its suburbs. PGW serves over 500,000 homes and businesses in the Philadelphia area. [ Founded in 1836, the company came under city ownership in 1987 and has been providing the majority of gas distributed within city limits. In 2014, the City Council refused to conduct hearings on a $1.86 billion sale of PGW, part of a two-year effort that was proposed by the mayor.

Southeastern Pennsylvania was assigned the 215 area code in 1947 when the North American Numbering Plan of the Bell System went into effect. The geographic area covered by the code was split nearly in half in 1994 when area code 610 was created, with the city and its northern suburbs retaining 215. Overlay area code 267 was added to the 215 service area in 1997, and 484 was added to the 610 area in 1999. Area code 445 was implemented as an overlay for area codes 215 and 267 starting on February 3, 2018.

Technology

During the 20th century, the city was a focal point of retail innovation. Suburban Square in Ardmore, Montgomery County, is sometimes considered the first modern shopping center in the world. Built in stages from 1927 to 1931, it was one of the first institutions to define the Pennsylvania Main Line in the 1920s.More importantly, it contains one of the oldest surviving department store branches in the country, a Strawbridge & Clothier, now a

Macy's as of recently. Since then, large malls such as Cherry Hill Mall and King of Prussia have opened nearby.

Some of the first modern discount stores followed. Much of Kmart's earlier growth was in the Philadelphia area during the early 1960s. Defunct chains such as Bradlees, Caldor, Jamesway, Ames, Woolco, Two Guys, Hills Department Stores, Zayre, Richway, Korvettes, Nichols, Gaylords, Murphy Mart, and later Value City were concentrated in Philadelphia and other East Coast markets. This growth occurred largely during the 1950s–1970s, before the national growth of Wal-Mart and Target in the 1980s. Another was Strawbridge's own Clover.

Philadelphia was the home of many pioneering supermarket chains during the same period, many of which had trademark architecture. The longest-running of these is Acme, formerly known as American Stores and Super Saver. More recently,[when?] the company acquired established Philadelphia/New York chain Pathmark. Many of these stores that have closed were replaced by franchises such as Shur-Fine, Supervalu, IGA, and Thriftway/Shop 'n Bag. Many other former supermarkets have become off-price stores such as Big Lots, Family Dollar, and Dollar General. Current major players in the region today include ShopRite, Save-a-Lot, Aldi, Giant-Carlisle, and local chain Genuardi's. Failed family-owned chains are Clemens and Giunta's. Newer upscale chains include Whole Foods, Wegmans, and Trader Joe's. There are few Wal-Mart Supercenters in the immediate area. In nearby markets, Safeway, Stop & Shop, Giant-Landover, Kroger, Food Lion, and formerly Grand Union operate.

Drug chains CVS, Rite Aid, and formerly Eckerd and Drug Emporium are common in the region. JCPenney also for many years operated the leading Thrift Drug chain. All these chains often anchored shopping centers along with a supermarket. Acme for many years also owned «Rea & Derick» drugstores under this arrangement, in partnership with the Rexall chain. Several J.M. Fields stores gave way to Bradlees as well. There once were many small enclosed malls in the area with a similar style, such as MacDade Mall.

Pennsylvania is also unique in that it has a «State Store» system for non-beer alcohol sales.

Wine and spirits are only sold at stores operated by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, which are ubiquitous in Philadelphia. For many years, these stores were called «State Store», only had «counter» service, and were strictly closed on Sundays. Many of them were and still are small but important anchors in shopping centers. In the 1970s, all but a few «urban» locations were made into conventional stores with aisles. Later, their hours, selection, and square footage have greatly been expanded. To this day, however, the stores lack a consistent name and logo. Some are called simply «liquor store», while most have some variation on the words «Wine & Spirits» or «Wine & Spirits Shoppe». The state also allows winery retail stores. Also important to the local economy are Wawa, Comcast, Citizens Bank, Sunoco, and Lukoil.

Social Wellness and Human Resources

According to the 2019 United States Census Bureau estimate, there were 1,584,064 people residing in Philadelphia, representing a 3.8% increase from the 2010 census. After the 1950 Census, when a record high of 2,071,605 was recorded, the city's population began a long decline. The population dropped to a low of 1,488,710 residents in 2006 before beginning to rise again. Between 2006 and 2017, Philadelphia added 92,153 residents. In 2017, the Census Bureau estimated that the racial composition of the city was 41.3% Black , 34.9% White , 14.1% Hispanic or Latino, 7.1% Asian, 0.4% Native American, 0.05% Pacific Islander, and 2.8% multiracial.The 2010 Census redistricting data indicated that the racial makeup of the city was 644,287 Black , 562,585 White , 96,405 Asian , 6,996 Native Americans, 744 Pacific Islanders, and 43,070 from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 187,611 persons ; 8.0% Puerto Rican, 1.0% Mexican, 0.3% Cuban, and 3.0% other. The racial breakdown of Philadelphia's Hispanic/Latino population was 63,636 White, 17,552 Black, 3,498 Native American, 884 Asian, 287 Pacific Islander, 86,626 from other races, and 15,128 from two or more races. The five largest European ancestries reported in the 2010 Census included Irish , Italian , German , Polish , and English .The estimated average population density was 11,782 people per square mile in 2017. In 2010, the Census Bureau reported that 1,468,623 people lived in households, 38,007 lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 19,376 were institutionalized. In 2013, the city reported having 668,247 total housing units, down slightly from 670,171 housing units in 2010. As of 2013, 87 percent of housing units were occupied, while 13 percent were vacant, a slight change from 2010 where 89.5 percent of units were occupied, or 599,736 and 10.5 percent were vacant, or 70,435.[103][107] Of the city's residents, 32 percent reported having no vehicles available while 23 percent had two or more vehicles available, as of 2013. As of 2010, 79.12% of Philadelphia residents age 5 and older spoke English at home as a primary language, while 9.72% spoke Spanish, 1.64% Chinese, 0.89% Vietnamese, 0.77% Russian, 0.66% French, 0.61% other Asian languages, 0.58% African languages, 0.56% Cambodian , and Italian was spoken as a main language by 0.55% of the population over the age of five. South Philadelphia remains one of the largest Italian neighborhoods in the country and is home to the Italian Market. The Pennsport neighborhood and Gray's Ferry section of South Philadelphia, home to many Mummer clubs, are well known as Irish neighborhoods. The Kensington, Port Richmond, and Fishtown neighborhoods have historically been heavily Irish and Polish. Port Richmond is well known in particular as the center of the Polish immigrant and Polish-American community in Philadelphia, and it remains a common destination for Polish immigrants. Northeast Philadelphia, although known for its Irish and Irish-American population, is also home to a large Jewish and Russian population. Mount Airy in Northwest Philadelphia also contains a large Jewish community, while nearby Chestnut Hill is historically known as an Anglo-Saxon Protestant community. Philadelphia has a significant gay and lesbian population. Philadelphia's Gayborhood, which is located near Washington Square, is home to a large concentration of gay and lesbian friendly businesses, restaurants, and bars.The Black American population in Philadelphia is the third-largest in the country, after New York City and Chicago. West Philadelphia and North Philadelphia are largely African-American neighborhoods, but many are leaving those areas in favor of the Northeast and Southwest sections of Philadelphia. A higher proportion of African-American Muslims reside in Philadelphia than in most other cities in America. West Philadelphia and Southwest Philadelphia are also home to various significant Afro-Caribbean and African immigrant communities.According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, 68% of the population of the city identified themselves as Christian. During the same time period, the enrollment in charter schools increased from 33,995 students in 2010 to 62,358 students in 2015. This consistent drop in enrollment led the city to close 24 of its public schools in 2013. During the 2014 school year, the city spent an average of $12,570 per pupil, below the average among comparable urban school districts.[Graduation rates among district-run schools, meanwhile, steadily increased in the ten years from 2005. In 2005, Philadelphia had a district graduation rate of 52%. This number increased to 65% in 2014, still below the national and state averages. Scores on the state's standardized test, the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment trended upward from 2005 to 2011 but subsequently decreased. In 2005, the district-run schools scored an average of 37.4% on math and 35.5% on reading. The city's schools reached their peak scores in 2011 with 59.0% on math and 52.3% on reading. In 2014, the scores dropped significantly to 45.2% on math and 42.0% on reading.Of the city's public high schools, including charter schools, only four performed above the national average on the SAT in 2014: Masterman, Central, Girard, and MaST Community Charter School. All other district-run schools were below average.Philadelphia has the third-largest student concentration on the East Coast, with more than 120,000 college and university students enrolled within the city and nearly 300,000 in the metropolitan area. More than 80 colleges, universities, trade, and specialty schools are located in the Philadelphia region. One of the founding members of the Association of American Universities is in the city, the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution with claims to being the oldest university in the country.