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Philly is a beautiful city with a beautiful unique culture and alot of potential. But as a minority who loves being around his own, I cant picture raising my family in a place like North Philly or West. Black/Latino neighborhoods in Boston are easily much safer.
I grew up on the Main Line(west of Phila). I'm black. There have been minority communities in the Phila. suburbs for over a century. And there are okay neighborhoods in W. Phila that have been majority black( if that's what you want) for decades.
Doesn't the Philadelphia area have more fortune 500s than the Boston area though, not to mention some huge private giants like Vanguard and Wawa.
Unless we are talking city limits, then yes, its Comcast, but the Philadelphia metro punches right where it should for a major metropolitan area, very similar to Boston. I don't think 1 is clearly above the other...
Actually two in Philadelphia -- Comcast and Aramark; 15 in Philadelphia Metro.
Although educational attainment is not referenced as listed criteria in the OP's post, I question education attainment as a meaningful measure or proxy for city prosperity. With the student loan burden and the educational premium relative to earnings, it seems to me that there needs to be a better way to measure how the majority of citizens are doing economically and no I don't think per capita income captures it either. In other words what is the population distribution of actual economic prosperity regardless of educational attainment. How does having high educational attainment make a city a more desirable place?Slightly off topic so I'll end here.
I completely agree with you, actually. Unfortunately, Western society has indoctrinated us into thinking that both wealth and education are the be-all and end-all for prosperity and happiness. Of course, money and education are correlated with good health outcomes and general quality-of-life, but neither guarantees happiness or personal fulfillment. That's far more nuanced.
Just so I don't get too philosophical, I think MarketStEl was right on the money by explaining that while Boston does somewhat better, especially comparing cities proper, on the upper-echelons of wealth (i.e., a seemingly larger population of the top 5-10% by US standards). The Philly metro does appear to have a less-stressed, somewhat more robust middle-to-upper-middle class, (say, the 50th to 80th percentile of earners by US standards) by comparison.
I think speaks a lot of volumes as to the the economic accessibility and better balance of the Philly region. It's much more welcoming to young newcomers without legacy wealth (i.e., trust fund baby types) especially.
Philadelphia certainly has a larger and less stressed pure middle class. IMO middle class QOl is better in the Philadelphia area Both metro and city proper. Boston has more rich people both metro and city wide. Boston and Philadelphia poverty is pretty similar but the QOL poor folks in the Boston area is better.
When i say Boston area i exclude Southern new Hampshire and rather just take all of eastern MA (east of Worcester County) except the capes and Islands.
Philadelphia certainly has a larger and less stressed pure middle class. IMO middle class QOl is better in the Philadelphia area Both metro and city proper. Boston has more rich people both metro and city wide. Boston and Philadelphia poverty is pretty similar but the QOL poor folks in the Boston area is better.
When i say Boston area i exclude Southern new Hampshire and rather just take all of eastern MA (east of Worcester County) except the capes and Islands.
I actually thought the Philadelphia metro had more high income households than the Boston metro, but on a % basis, Boston is higher.
Does Mercer County, NJ, make that much of a difference?
That's the one county the OMB puts in the New York CSA that arguably still belongs in the Philadelphia CSA.
The other counties in the New York CSA don't have the ties to Philadelphia that would warrant their inclusion in its CSA, not even Lehigh and Northampton.
As you should. I roll my eyes at people getting hung up on the stereotypical foods of each city. I have done 3 cheesesteaks in Philly. Geno's, Pat's, and Molly Malloy's. I'm glad I did them, but they're the least memorable parts of eating out in Philadelphia which has one of the best restaurant scenes in the country in my opinion. Same for Boston which has some of the best seafood in the country. You're not anywhere close to it if you just do chowder at Legal and a lobster roll at the Barking Crab.
When was the last time you were in Philadelphia? I'm asking because while I agree that Boston is definitely more polished right now, Philadelphia is booming too. There's a ton of investment going on there.
It's not Chow-der (like in the rest of America) It's Chow-Da!, or Chow-Dah or let me see.. Chow-Duh, Come on now you got to do it with the Boston Accent...Chow-Dah!
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