Overview

• An estimated 21.2% of Houston residents lived below the poverty line in 2024, the highest rate among the 10 largest U.S. cities.
• Philadelphia’s poverty rate fell to 19.7%, its first sub-20% reading since at least 1979, representing roughly 300,000 people.
• The gap between Houston and Philadelphia sits within the Census data’s roughly 1.2-point margin of error, so their positions could be reversed.
• Houston recorded the highest child poverty rate among the top 10 cities at 31.7%, compared with about 27% in Philadelphia.
• Philadelphia’s deep poverty rate was 9.4% in 2024, a slower decline than overall poverty, as experts call for policies targeting wages, housing and health care.