Out of step with the rest of America and its own suburbs, Philadelphia has remained stubbornly mired in poverty while its median household income has plummeted, a stunning development that puzzles experts and belies the city’s self-styled image as a revitalized metropolis on the rise.
Two reports from the U.S. Census Bureau released Wednesday and Thursday show that as poverty has declined and income has increased nationwide, Philadelphia’s poverty rate remained stuck at 25.7 percent in 2017, the same as in 2016, and close to 2015’s level of 25.8 percent.
