PA · Philadelphia County · 1,603,797 (2020) · 6th-largest US city · Eastern time
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia lies between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers in southeast Pennsylvania, with New Jersey directly across the Delaware. It is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the sixth-largest in the United States.
- State
- Pennsylvania
- County
- Philadelphia County (coterminous)
- Population (2020)
- 1,603,797
- Rank
- 6th in the US
- Coordinates
- 39.95°N, 75.17°W
- Time zone
- Eastern
- Metro area
- about 6.2 million
- State capital
- No – Harrisburg
Where Philadelphia is
Philadelphia is at 39.95°N, 75.17°W at the southeast corner of Pennsylvania. The city and Philadelphia County have been the same unit since 1854, so the city is 142 square miles with no separate county government. The Delaware River forms its eastern edge and the state line with New Jersey; Delaware state is 15 miles southwest. Centre City sits on flat land about 40 feet above sea level between the two rivers; the northwest of the city rises across the fall line onto Piedmont hills, reaching about 445 feet in Chestnut Hill. Harrisburg, the state capital, is 105 miles west on the Susquehanna.
Population and rank
The 2020 Census counted 1,603,797 residents, the city's first significant gain since 1950 and enough for 6th place among US cities, about 4,300 behind Phoenix. Philadelphia was the largest city in the country in the first census of 1790 and remained second until Chicago passed it in 1890. The Philadelphia–Camden–Wilmington metropolitan area covers 11 counties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland and holds about 6.2 million people, the seventh-largest metro in the US.
Geography
- Delaware River — tidal here and navigable to ocean ships; the Port of Philadelphia and the Navy Yard line its bank. Delaware Bay opens 60 miles downstream.
- Schuylkill River — joins the Delaware at the south end of the city after passing Boathouse Row and the Art Museum; the Fairmount Dam marks the tide limit.
- Fall line — the boundary between the Atlantic Coastal Plain (Centre City, South Philadelphia) and the Piedmont (Germantown, Roxborough, Chestnut Hill) runs through the city.
- Wissahickon Creek — a wooded gorge inside Fairmount Park, one of the largest urban parks in the US.
Nearest large cities
Philadelphia is the midpoint of the Northeast Corridor: New York is 95 miles up Interstate 95 and Washington 140 miles down it. Distances are approximate road miles from Centre City.
| City | State | Road distance (mi) | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | NY | 95 | NE |
| Baltimore | MD | 100 | SW |
| Washington | DC | 140 | SW |
| Pittsburgh | PA | 305 | W |
| Boston | MA | 310 | NE |
Is Philadelphia the state capital?
No. Philadelphia was the capital of Pennsylvania until 1799 and the capital of the United States from 1790 to 1800, but the state government moved to Lancaster and then, in 1812, to Harrisburg. Philadelphia remains the state's largest city by far; Pittsburgh, in second place, has under a fifth of its population.
Related maps
- Pennsylvania map — the state with its 67 counties.
- Harrisburg — the state capital.
- US cities map.
- Mason–Dixon Line — surveyed from a point near Philadelphia.
- Nearby: New York, Baltimore, New Jersey, Delaware.
- Middle Atlantic division · Eastern Time Zone.