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Demographic Characteristics

What characteristics make up the population of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania?

Goal:

Goal:

If you want to know the types of people that live in an area, you can research a city's demographic characteristics. This is the information about a population of people, such as their age, race, gender, ethnicity, marital status, income, education, and employment.

How is this information collected? Every ten years the government conducts a census, or survey, of all of the citizens living in the U.S.

A sample US Census form is seen in New York

These surveys provide the government with demographic information about the population.

Why is this information collected? It is important to know the demographics of a population to understand what characteristics make up an area of people and what draws people to live in an area.

Study the slides below to learn about the demographics of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which has a population of 1.5 million people.

Age

Man Lifecycle from birth to old age in silhouettes.

  • About 24% of people living in Philadelphia are between the ages of 0 and 14 years old.
  • About 64% of people living in Philadelphia are between the ages of 15 and 64 years old.
  • About 12% of people living in Philadelphia are 65 years or older.

Gender

Stock Vector Linear icon male and female.

  • 46.5% of the population of Philadelphia is male.
  • 53.5% of the population of Philadelphia is female.

Race

Collage made of sixteen headshots of adults.

  • 43% of people living in Philadelphia are African American.
  • 42% of people living in Philadelphia are white.
  • 7% of people living in Philadelphia are Asian.
  • 5% of people are other races.
  • 3% of people are two or more races.

Ethnicity

multi-culrural adults

Below is a list of the largest ethnic groups living in Philadelphia.

  • Irish
  • Italian
  • German
  • Polish
  • Jamaican
  • African American
  • Puerto Rican

Marital Status

Wedding Rings

About 30% of people who live in Philadelphia are married.

Income

Cropped hands of businessman opening envelope with paycheck

The average income is $35,418 per year.

Employment

Professional workers standing together, employment and teamwork concept

60% of the population in Philadelphia work, or are employed.

Education

Online Education

  • 15% of the population didn't graduate from high school.
  • 33% of the population have a high school degree.
  • 16% of the population have some college education.
  • 5% of the population have an associate's degree.
  • 15% of the population have a bachelor's degree.
  • 11% of the population have a graduate's degree.