Cost of Living inPhiladelphia, PA, United States
Image credit: King of Hearts
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). United States: $75,489/capita.
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 21% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Income Category
Happiness
6.7 / 10
#22 globally
GDP per Capita
City Population
Monthly Costs
Rent
Food
Transport
Utilities
Education
Child Education
Public-school quality + expat access, alongside international and private school cost — the two paths a relocating family weighs.
Public schools
Public-schooling rules are set nationally for United States; Philadelphia, PA-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.
Quality
Mixed public-school option
Expat access
Available to residents
conditionalInstruction
English
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
The United States has many excellent public schools, but quality varies sharply by district and neighborhood.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Resident families can use local public schools, but school quality depends heavily on district assignment and housing location.
🗺️ Homeschooling
Varies by stateHomeschooling is legal in all 50 US states but regulations vary dramatically. Some states (TX, AK, ID) have minimal oversight; others (NY, PA, MA) require notification, testing, and curriculum approval. Most worldschooling families establish residency in low-regulation states.
Homeschool legality in United States — check current regulations before committing.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
International & private schools
Childcare & Domestic Help
Current nanny and household-help pricing snapshot for Philadelphia, PA, United States.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$2,950-$3,850
monthly · confidence 0.65
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$3,550-$4,550
monthly · confidence 0.65
Source: curated family relocation research
Getting Around
The concrete mobility picture for Philadelphia: airport access, urban transit, and rideshare practicality.
Airport
Major Northeast air hub
Philadelphia International gives the metro strong domestic service plus practical transatlantic reach, with Newark and New York airports providing nearby backup depth.
Urban transit
Metro, commuter rail, tram, and bus
SEPTA rail, trolley, and bus networks make car-light family life realistic across much of Philadelphia and the inner suburbs even though outer suburban trips still widen the gaps.
Rideshare
Uber and Lyft available
Ride-hailing is a standard complement for airport trips, suburb-to-suburb gaps, and lower-frequency links beyond the strongest rail corridors.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in United States.
Method: country metrics come from public system indicators, facility coverage reflects mapped providers we can inventory, direct pricing only reflects observed self-pay pages, and relative care cost can fall back to broad cost-of-living healthcare indices. Sparse pricing does not imply sparse healthcare availability.
Healthcare system
StrongHigh national coverage, strong doctor availability, and deep nursing capacity support this rating.
Public care
GoodBroad public coverage and relatively low patient cost-sharing help, but the tracked facility mix leans away from public providers.
Private care
GoodA meaningful tracked hospital and clinic network and a clearly private facility base help, but self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.
UHC coverage
88/100
2023
Physicians
3.68/1k
2022
Hospital beds
2.68/1k
2022
Out of pocket
11%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
78.9 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
17/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
3.7/1k
2024
International patient readiness
GoodA visible private hospital base and multiple facilities have websites help, but price transparency is still sparse.
Pricing transparency
LimitedMultiple facilities have crawlable websites help, but published self-pay prices are scarce.
Facility coverage
Self-pay pricing visibility
No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in United States yet.
This usually reflects low online price transparency rather than a lack of healthcare providers.
Notable facilities
System metrics: World Bank WDI · Updated 2026-06-01
Safety & Governance
Street Safety
Source: Numbeo where a city row is matched; otherwise World Bank WGI and country-level safety context.
Political Stability
World Bank WGI scale: -2.5 to +2.5.
Wages by Sector
| Sector | Median |
|---|---|
| Information & Technology | $175,820/yr |
| Finance & Insurance | $140,388/yr |
| Professional & Scientific Services | $135,562/yr |
| Utilities | $130,832/yr |
| Manufacturing | $114,511/yr |
| Transport & Logistics | $107,874/yr |
| Mining & Quarrying | $105,882/yr |
| Healthcare & Social Work | $89,338/yr |
| Real Estate | $88,272/yr |
| Other Services | $87,101/yr |
| Retail & Wholesale Trade | $84,576/yr |
| Education | $84,533/yr |
| Construction | $81,433/yr |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | $80,762/yr |
| Administrative & Support Services | $74,690/yr |
| Agriculture & Farming | $56,078/yr |
| Hospitality & Food Service | $44,264/yr |
2025 annual wages in Philadelphia, PA, United States · Source: BLS OEWS (MSA-adjusted)
Price Comparison vs. US
Visa Information (US passport)
Long-Term Visa Programs
investment
US EB-5 Immigrant Investor (Standard)Quick comparison FAQ
Structured from the deltas already shown on this page — no invented facts, no extra data sources.
How far does your money go in Philadelphia compared with the US?
Your money goes roughly the same distance in Philadelphia as in the US — Philadelphia is close to purchasing-power parity with the baseline market right now.
Is Philadelphia cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?
Philadelphia is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 22% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Philadelphia.
How does rent in Philadelphia compare with New York City?
Rent in Philadelphia is about 58% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City).
How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Philadelphia?
Groceries in Philadelphia are about 15% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 26% cheaper than the same benchmark.
About Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the sixth-largest in the United States, a 1.57-million-person Northeast hub wedged between New York and Washington on the Amtrak Northeast Corridor. Relocators get genuine big-city infrastructure at a meaningful discount to its neighbors: SEPTA covers subway, regional rail, and trolleys, and the cost of housing in well-connected neighborhoods like Fishtown, Graduate Hospital, or West Philly still undercuts Brooklyn or DC. The economy leans on healthcare, higher education (Penn, Drexel, Temple), pharma, and a growing tech and life-sciences corridor. Winters are cold but not extreme, summers are humid, and the row-house housing stock keeps single-family living within reach for middle earners.
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