Foreign-born residents have played a crucial role in reversing population decline and stimulating economic development across Philadelphia and its surrounding counties, according to a recent report by The Welcoming Center, a nonprofit focused on immigrant integration. Between 2013 and 2023, while native-born populations declined in all five counties, immigrant numbers rose sufficiently to either counteract those losses or drive net growth, especially in Chester and Montgomery counties. In Philadelphia, over 15% of residents are foreign-born, with similar proportions in Bucks, Delaware, and Montgomery counties, and nearly 10% in Chester County. Anuj Gupta, president and CEO of The Welcoming Center, emphasized that immigrants are launching small businesses at high rates and now contribute close to 25% of the city’s business tax revenue, supporting public services such as libraries, parks, and infrastructure maintenance. Elizabeth Jones, the organization’s chief program officer, warned that without this demographic influx, the region would face a shrinking workforce, reduced tax revenues, and diminished political influence nationally. Data shows immigrants are more likely to be in prime working age (25–54), making up 57.16% of their group compared to 37.18% among native-born individuals. They also represent 13.8% of Philadelphia’s workforce but hold 14.9% of jobs, indicating strong labor market participation. Key sectors like healthcare, education, construction, and retail rely heavily on immigrant labor, helping to mitigate existing workforce shortages. In Chester County, foreign-born households earn 14% more on average than native-born ones, challenging assumptions about immigrant economic status. Although poverty rates among immigrants remain higher in suburban areas—8.7% versus 5.47% for native-born in 2023—both have declined since 2013. Local leaders, including officials from Delaware and Montgomery counties, noted that fear stemming from immigration enforcement actions has deterred some from accessing healthcare or schools, even among legal residents. In response, counties are expanding support services and refusing cooperation with federal immigration enforcement to maintain trust within communities. These efforts aim to ensure equitable access to resources and sustain regional prosperity fueled by diverse populations.
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Greater Philadelphia immigrants fuel population, economic growth, report says
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Immigrants in Philadelphia and its four collar counties have staved off population loss and fueled economic growth in recent decades, according to a report published Thursday by The Welcoming Center, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that promotes economic growth through immigrant integration.
“In the last 15 years, immigrants have single-handedly stemmed the tide of depopulation,” said Anuj Gupta, president and CEO of The Welcoming Center, at an event at WHYY on Thursday. “They are starting small businesses at a prolific rate. They’re now contributing nearly 25% of the business taxes collected by the city of Philadelphia, helping to pay for all the things we want, libraries, parks, more street lights that are on, fewer potholes that are unfilled.”
The report tells a “story of renewal,” Gupta said, that extends beyond Philadelphia to its suburbs.
“You will find a story of people from all around the world coming together to save aging towns across the region,” he said. “You will find them coming together to foster innovation, and you will find them coming together to catalyze collective prosperity for the entirety of Greater Philadelphia.”
Here are six key takeaways from the report and Thursday’s panel discussion on immigrant communities in Greater Philadelphia, moderated by Maiken Scott, host and executive producer of WHYY’s “The Pulse.”
Immigrants drive population growth
According to 2023 U.S. Census data from the American Community Survey, foreign-born residents make up more than 15% of Philadelphia’s population, and more than 10% of the population in Bucks, Delaware and Montgomery counties. In Chester County, 9.65% of the population is foreign-born.
From 2013-2023, native-born populations in all five counties have steadily decreased, while immigrant populations have risen enough to either offset the loss of native-born residents or, in the case of of Chester and Montgomery counties, drive overall population growth between 2020-2023.
Elizabeth Jones, chief program officer at The Welcoming Center, said the statistics show the vital role immigrants play in fueling local economies and ensuring statewide stability.
“The overall state trend is for population loss, and that means a smaller tax base,” she said. “It means a smaller workforce. It means that companies will leave if they don’t have people that are able to work for them. In turn, that also leads to reduced public services and infrastructure, and very importantly, it leads to less political representation at the federal level.”
The report also found that birth rates have remained higher among foreign-born residents in Philadelphia and the suburban counties over the past decades compared to native-born residents.
Many industries in the region depend on immigrant workers
Overall, a larger percentage of the immigrant population in the region, 57.16%, are of prime working age, 25 to 54, compared to 37.18% of the native-born population.
Immigrants are also overrepresented in the workforce.
Philadelphia immigrants make up 13.8% of the total working population, but hold 14.9% of jobs. Statewide, foreign-born residents account for 9.1% of the total working-age population, and hold 9.8% of jobs.
In industries including health care, education, manufacturing, construction, retail and transportation, the data shows that immigrants make up a significant percentage of the workforce.
“These sectors many of us know are already experiencing labor shortages as population ages and as people move away,” Jones said. “Immigrants fill roles that are essential to daily life in critical sectors of the economy. Without immigrants, current shortages would be even more severe.”
Dr. Monica Taylor, chair of Delaware County Council, said her county reaps the economic benefits of immigrant laborers and entrepreneurs.
“Almost 12% of our population is foreign-born,” she said. “And when we look at the amount of new businesses that our immigrant population is opening, the entrepreneurship, the contributions in especially health care, [it] is just really astounding, and it’s really helping to make our businesses thrive and grow.”
Nelly Jiménez-Arévalo, Montgomery County’s director of immigrant affairs, said a similar story is playing out in her county.
“You see a lot of economic growth and food corridors in Montgomery County that are full of businesses,” she said. “That, of course, is strengthening our tax base.”
Foreign-born households have a higher median income than native-born households in Philly and the suburbs
Overall, immigrants’ median household income in the Greater Philadelphia region is slightly higher than the median household income for native-born residents, at $101,321.60 a year compared to $99,114.40.
In Chester and Bucks counties, median immigrant household income is higher than native-born households, and in Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, it’s lower.
David Byerman, Chester County’s CEO, a panelist, said that those findings “will upend many people’s impressions.”
He cited statistics that showed median household income for foreign-born residents in Chester County is 14% higher than that of native-born residents.
“That is astonishing, and I think it just demonstrates that the story of immigration in many of our communities is just the story of our communities,” he said. “These immigrants are part of our everyday lives. When I go to chamber events, I regularly meet people who are born in foreign lands, who brought their dreams to this country. They do so not as immigrants, but as people, and they just enrich us through their roles here.”
Immigrants have higher poverty rates in suburban counties
The percentage of immigrant and native-born populations living at 100% below the federal poverty line in Philadelphia are roughly equal, and has fallen by at least 4 percentage points, from more than 26% in 2013 to roughly 22% in 2023.
In the suburbs, the poverty rate for immigrant residents was 8.7% in 2023, compared to 5.47% for native-born residents. Both rates have declined since 2013, from 9.6% and 6.73%, respectively.
In that decade, immigrant populations in all five counties have risen, Jones said.
“Importantly, rising immigrant populations correlates with declining native-born poverty rates,” she said. “This counters the myth that immigrants drive poverty.”
Philadelphia suburban counties are grappling with the impacts of increased immigration enforcement, opportunity gaps for immigrants
Byerman started an immigration working group with business owners and stakeholders throughout Chester County, especially in Kennett Square, to address the impact of increased immigration enforcement on the local economy.
“We’re convening this immigration working group every single week, and we’re getting together for three purposes,” he said. “One is to share information and dispel disinformation … Two is to identify new channels of communication, so we’re ready for major news developments when they happen, and we have those connections already. And three is to identify issues that need to be elevated to the county commissioners, to our state legislative delegation and to our federal delegation.”
Jiménez-Arévalo and Taylor said their counties are providing resources and information to immigrant communities that have been targeted in raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and other officials.
Taylor said Delaware County has seen a decrease in people who access health care services or go to schools.
“It’s not just necessarily individuals who we might think are undocumented. It’s individuals who might have their green cards,” she said. “It’s individuals who are maybe in some phase of becoming citizens to our country, who are doing everything correctly, right, and it’s because of the fear, it’s because of the fear of lack of due process in the current situation.”
For Jiménez-Arévalo, an immigrant from Venezuela, the issue is personal.
“This is the campaign of terrorizing people, right?” she said. “Some people can go back home and relax, I go back home and I’m calling my kids every day, making sure my dad came home, that everybody’s home and that everybody’s safe. So this is the human side of it, that people don’t think about it, but it is impacting us every single day.”
She said through the county’s immigrant resource center and commissioners’ pledge to not sign ICE collaboration agreements, officials are ensuring immigrant residents have equal access to relevant county services and information.