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In real life, these comparisons aren't made. Have you ever heard someone on the street wonder if Philadelphia is more like Boston or Chicago. I didn't think so. All my family and friends in Chicago never compare Chicago any other city, either. It's Chicago, and that's enough.
Culturally more comparable to Chicago and Baltimore.
Agree about Baltimore, but as far as Chicago I'd have to disagree there. Chicago is a Midwestern city and doesn't have the same culture as Northeastern cities. Philadelphia is culturally more like Boston.
In real life, these comparisons aren't made. Have you ever heard someone on the street wonder if Philadelphia is more like Boston or Chicago. I didn't think so. All my family and friends in Chicago never compare Chicago any other city, either. It's Chicago, and that's enough.
No, but if someone got a job offer in Philly coming from Chicago, or they lived in Philly and got a job offer in both Boston and Chicago, etc. or if their spouse did, or if they just felt like they needed a fresh start, but wanted to go somewhere similar feeling, etc. etc. they would want to know how/if to compare. That's the whole point of city-data.com/forum
And overall if someone for whatever reason was moving from Philly to Chicago, or Chicago to Philly, it might be good to know that is a move that would require the least amount of adjustment.
Since this thread has been bumped up from six years ago, I'm going to say that although Philly has more in common with Boston from a historical perspective and a are similar geographic region.
as far as modern day size and cultural vibe, I'd say Philly is more like Chicago.
All three are similarly "urban" (in different ways, but using population density as the key indicator)
Philly is almost 2.5 X's the size of Boston, whereas Chicago is less than twice the size of Philly. I think most people would agree that population density being similar, a 1.5 million pop. city feels closer in size to a 2.7 million pop. city, than a 650,000 city.
Besides, Chicago and Philly are 3rd and 5th in size, whereas Boston is 24th in size.
Plus, one of the other key things, is that although every large city has its nice areas, as well as its bad areas, Chicago and Philly are certainly known for having large swaths of the city suffering from crime and urban decay. Chicago is further along, and got a head start on gentrification, (but Philly from what I understand is catching up). (This is not a slam on Chicago or Philly, even "boosters/homers" acknowledge this reality.
Chicago and Philly are similar in cost of living, and are seen as the two "affordable, urban cities" in the country. Boston is seen as being a "priced out" city.
Chicago and Philly are known for having a distinct geographic "corridor" of WASPy, old money affluence (North Shore and Main line), while the rest of the metro area as being middle class/blue collared/new money whereas in Boston area, "WASPy blue bloods" have a perception as still being the dominant cultural elite there.
This is just my two cents.
In conclusion, Chicago and Philly are larger, and beyond the threshold of what feels "big", and are both more Catholic/Blue collared/with significant run down/dangerous swaths that can be argued to hold the city back.
Boston, according to many, is small enough, and WASPy enough that it lacks a certain "urban edge". (these are not necessarily my words.
Boston and Philly however, are more similar to Chicago in terms of the surrounding region. Both cities are close to other east coast cities, and small, prosperous historically interesting towns, and prettier countryside. Chicago on the other hand, with a few exceptions, feels like Iowa or Kansas as one gets beyond the suburban belt.
Very good points that kind of break down some conceptions of what city Philly is more similar to. Obviously population-wise, and rank-wise ,Philly is much more like Chicago. Also the massive urban street grids in both cities are similar, with the same kind of segregation of crime and income level. Also both cities have a similar number of African Americans, though Chicago has three times as many Hispanics.
I think Chicago has the head start on Philly in gentrification because, well it's Chicago. The imminent investment of the country's only World Class city besides NY and LA will not allow run down and crime ridden neighborhoods to exist close to the city center for much longer. Chicago is starting to become more like NYC in that respect.f
Also, if the money and investment was there, Philly could literally build a Chicago-style skyline right now. Boston is pretty much out of room to build new skyscrapers. It's unfortunate that Bostons physical geography really put a cap on its future development right from the start. Plus, the city's building heights are limited.
I have lived in both Philly and Chicago. Visually there is obviously more of a resemblance to Boston, with the historical colonial architecture that runs through the city. However, in terms of infrastructure, especially at the neighborhood-level, I definitely see similarities to Chicago (not familiar enough with Boston as far as neighborhoods go). Demographically, it's probably more similar to Boston. Chicago definitely has a much larger Hispanic presence at about 1/3 of the pop (although they are mostly Mexican vs mostly Puerto Rican in Philly), but the white and black populations seem similar in terms of size and presence. Lots of historic ethnic neighborhoods and enclaves in each of the 3 cities.
Although, as many others have said, I don't think "smaller Chicago" or ""bigger Boston" would be good descriptions.
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