Gentrification Is Not Philly's Biggest Problem

Philly’s neighborhoods are changing—that’s for sure—but gentrification is not the primary reason why, a new report by the Pew Charitable Trusts finds. “The data indicate that, by our definition, gentrification is a relatively small part of the story for the city’s changing neighborhoods,” Larry Eichel, director of Pew’s Philadelphia research initiative, said in a statement.

A gentrified neighborhood, per the report, was predominantly low-income in 2000 (its median income less than 80 percent of the regional median at the time), for one. Second, it saw its median income increase by at least 10 percent in the next 14 years. Third, this 2014 median income was above the city-wide median.