Moving from New York to Philadelphia

Philadelphia’s nominal income benchmark is lower, but so is its broad regional price level. The ACS 2024 five-year median household income was $99,155 in New York and $91,289 in Philadelphia. In BEA’s 2024 Regional Price Parities release, the all-items indexes were 112.563 and 102.554, respectively. This is a directional contrast between metro income and regional prices, not a calculation of disposable income for a particular household. The ACS median also does not describe a given mover’s salary, household size, debt or commuting costs.

BLS CES payroll employment for the twelve months to 2026-06 rose 0.06% in New York and 0.32% in Philadelphia, a Philadelphia advantage of 0.26 percentage points. That spread describes payroll employment only; it does not establish rental-property vacancy or collections. A contrary income signal appears in the separate IRS SOI 2022-2023 data: Philadelphia-area incoming tax returns averaged $81,289 of AGI, while outgoing returns averaged $91,539. The next diligence question is whether the target renter cohort has stable employment and sufficient verified income, examined through the property’s lease files, delinquency record, employer exposure and renewal history.

At Zillow’s 2026-06-30 observation, New York ZORI asking rent was $3,573 and Philadelphia’s was $1,928. For a relocating household, that is a materially different metro asking-rent screen, though it is not a quote for the same unit type, neighborhood, lease term or amenity set. For an owner, the companion gross-yield screens were 5.83% and 5.86%. The observed combination is lower destination rent, a lower destination metro Zillow home-value benchmark and almost no difference in topline yield. Actual leases, concessions, utility responsibilities and operating expenses remain outside that screen.

The rent-to-income and price-to-income measures combine 2026-06-30 Zillow observations with ACS 2024 five-year median household income. The rent-to-income screens are 43.25% for New York and 25.35% for Philadelphia; the price-to-income screens are 7.41 times and 4.32 times. These are cross-release directional screens, not current household budget shares. HUD’s FY2026 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is $2,616.50 in New York and $1,810 in Philadelphia. Fair Market Rent is a HUD standard, not a Zillow market-rent observation. The household question is the target unit’s full monthly cost; the owner question is the relationship among in-place rent, permissible rent, concessions and the local competitive set.

HMDA 2024 purchase originations show investor shares of 11.39% in New York and 10.87% in Philadelphia. Those shares are descriptive screens, not proof of buyer competition. The permits-per-thousand-residents screen combines BPS 2026 YTD through M06 permits with ACS 2024 population: New York recorded 2.94 permitted units per thousand residents and Philadelphia 2.28. This is a cross-period descriptive screen, not a same-period supply rate, and it does not prove deliveries, vacancy or rent pressure. The share of permits in buildings with at least five units was 76.6% in New York and 43.4% in Philadelphia, indicating a different permitted-unit mix rather than completed rental inventory.

In the FEMA ArcGIS NRI counties release, the modeled climate/hazard loss ratio was 0.1085% for New York and 0.1101% for Philadelphia. Inland flood was the top named hazard in both markets, so Philadelphia’s lower housing benchmarks do not come with a lower metro-level hazard ratio in this measure. The next underwriting question belongs at the parcel and structure level: what do flood mapping, elevation, drainage, prior losses, roof and mechanical condition, insurance quotations, deductibles and exclusions show for the exact asset? Metro hazard ratios cannot answer those questions.