WEEK 3:

Philadelphia vs. New York

It was great to get our first win of the year over the Jets on Sunday. It came down to the end, but we did what was needed to get the job done. Off the field, civically it was just as close, but we came up a little short. However, I’m excited about the future, and there’s a lot to feel good about.

For example, we’re virtually tied with New York in the percentage of people moving into our city in the past year: 4.6 percent in Philly, and 4.8 percent in New York. A few years ago, that difference was much wider. In part, the narrowing can be attributed to the influx of my fellow millennials taking up roots here. Notice that the proportion of 22 to 34-year-olds who live here is slightly higher than in New York, 22.5 percent versus 22.13 percent. Remember, according to a Pew report last year, between 2006 and 2012, no major city in America experienced a larger increase in its millennial population.

That said, Prof. Richardson Dilworth of Drexel’s Center for Public Policy cautions that we’re not exactly the Sixth Borough just yet. “Those percentages mask some important facts,” he says. “The estimated population of New York last year was 8,491,079, and 4.8 percent of that is 407,572. By contrast, 4.6 percent of our estimated population is 71,774. To put this in perspective, a population slightly larger than the entire city of Cleveland apparently moved to New York last year, while a population approximately the size of Muncie, Indiana moved to Philadelphia.”

Great point, but I like the trend. As rents continue to skyrocket in Brooklyn, here’s hoping that more New Yorkers opt for Philly.

Next week, we take on Washington.