The Philadelphia open data portal is OpenDataPhilly, whose catalogue sits at opendataphilly.org/datasets. It covers crime, 311, budget and more. Poverty and income by neighborhood come from American Community Survey tables, which work at census tract level rather than ZIP code.
Picture a job seeker preparing for an interview with a city office, or a nonprofit worker drafting a grant narrative. Both need numbers about a specific part of Philadelphia, fast. Before choosing a dataset, it helps to see how is philadelphia city government organized, because the city publishes most of the catalogue. The sections below take each type of data in turn, with its geographic level and format.
OpenDataPhilly: the main catalogue
OpenDataPhilly is the first stop for almost any Philadelphia data question. Its datasets page lists 472 datasets in total, and 321 of them come from the City of Philadelphia. The remainder come from other publishers such as Code for Philly, so filter by publisher when you need official city records.
Category counts show where the depth is. The Health / Human Services category holds 115. Browse by category if you know the topic, and search by keyword if you know the record type.
Health and human services records suit public health and social service applicants. A separate guide answers what does the Philadelphia Department of Public Health do for readers who want the agency context before opening those datasets.
Crime and public safety data
For crime questions, start in the Public Safety category on OpenDataPhilly, which lists 69 datasets. One dataset built on 911 data groups records into hex bins with an average side length of 1,743 ft and an area of 0.29 square miles, according to the datasets page. A hex bin is a small mapped cell, not a neighborhood or ZIP code. Match the cells to your target area by eye rather than expecting a neighborhood total.
Philadelphia Police Department material is also reachable through the portal. Code for America’s Police Open Data Census recommendations note that Philadelphia published complaint data to OpenDataPhilly as a CSV. They also note that the department prominently links its Officer Involved Shooting portal from its front page. The same source says PDFs and HTML pages are generally not considered machine readable. Prefer the CSV downloads whenever you plan to sort, filter or chart the records.
This category suits grant writers and policy applicants who need context for an area. It does not replace local knowledge. A hex-bin view tells you where records cluster, not why.
311 service requests
The 311 dataset is the broadest record of everyday city problems. According to OpenDataPhilly, it represents all service and information requests submitted to Philly311 since December 8, 2014. It is a very large dataset, and the portal recommends exploring it through the visualization unless you are comfortable working with APIs.
The mapped view is the right choice for a quick read on a neighborhood, a talking point for an interview or a first pass for a proposal. Switch to the API or a download only when you need to run your own counts. Anyone who does not code can still get useful pictures from the visualization.
Budget and finance data
Budget questions belong in the Budget / Finance category, which is small at 16 datasets. The datasets page describes budget material that began as PDF files and was converted by parsing scripts into machine-readable CSV files. That makes the figures usable in a spreadsheet without retyping.
This category suits applicants researching a department’s funding and nonprofit staff building a case for a program. Keep expectations modest. A compact category answers a few well-defined questions and will not cover every line of city spending.
American Community Survey data for neighborhoods and poverty
The American Community Survey (ACS) is the source for income, poverty and related demographics. OpenDataPhilly offers ACS 5-Year Estimates for Philadelphia County through an API with 20,000+ variables, as described on its category page. The economic topics include income, poverty, employment, industry and occupation. The 5-year design combines 5 years of survey data to give reliable estimates for small geographic areas, which is why it fits neighborhood questions.
Finding census data for a neighborhood
Philadelphia census data by neighborhood is best read at census tract level. The dataset offers two geographies: census tracts (408) and block groups (1,816). Tract boundaries are adjusted to the City’s standard boundary format. To profile a neighborhood, select the tracts that cover it and read them together. Choose block groups only when a tract is too coarse for your question. Releases run annually from 2009 to 2024. The data is updated annually, typically released in December, so check the year before quoting figures.
Finding poverty data by ZIP code
The ACS dataset on OpenDataPhilly lists tract and block group geographies, not ZIP codes. For poverty, the example table is B17001_002E, Population Below Poverty Level. For a ZIP-code question, pull that table at tract level and group the tracts that fall within the area you care about. The result is an approximation of the ZIP area, so describe it as tract-based in any report.
Staff who pair neighborhood poverty figures with youth and family programming can read the Philadelphia Office of Children and Families overview alongside the tract data.
Which source answers which question
The table compares the main sources on common criteria, so you can match a question to the right dataset.
| Need | Where to look | Scope and level | Planning use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crime and public safety | Public Safety category (69 datasets) | One 911-based dataset uses hex bins of 0.29 square miles | Spot clusters; do not expect ZIP or neighborhood totals |
| Everyday city problems | Philly311 requests | All requests since December 8, 2014; very large | Use the visualization first, the API for custom counts |
| Budget | Budget / Finance category (16 datasets) | Budget files converted from PDF to CSV | Open in a spreadsheet to compare line items |
| Poverty and income | ACS 5-Year Estimates, e.g. B17001_002E | Census tract (408) and block group (1,816); updated annually, typically in December | Build neighborhood profiles from tracts |
Figures come from the OpenDataPhilly datasets page and the ACS and 311 entries in its health and human services category.
Download formats and working with the data
OpenDataPhilly dataset pages list their formats and update schedule. The Curbs dataset shows the typical pattern: it is updated quarterly and offered as CSV, SHP and GeoJSON, with API access, and its usage is listed as public use and free. Spreadsheet users should reach for CSV. Mapping software users should choose SHP or GeoJSON. Analysts who need current records should use the API.
Check each dataset’s own update frequency before relying on it, because schedules differ between datasets. Nonprofit staff and recent graduates get the most from the portal by downloading a CSV, placing it next to published census tables and comparing the two.
A short decision checklist
- Name the question. Decide whether it concerns crime, city service requests, budget or poverty and income.
- Pick the geography you need. Use tracts or block groups for neighborhoods, and treat hex bins as rough areas.
- Open the matching category. Use Public Safety, Budget / Finance or Health / Human Services on OpenDataPhilly.
- Choose a format. Prefer CSV for spreadsheets, GeoJSON or SHP for maps and the API for repeat pulls.
- Check the date. Confirm the release year or update frequency before quoting a number.
Frequently asked questions
Can I rely on the accuracy of city datasets?
Treat them as a strong starting point rather than a guarantee. The Curbs dataset page states that the City of Philadelphia makes no representation about the accuracy of any specific information in the data.
Do I need an API key to use the census data?
No key is required for basic use of the ACS API on OpenDataPhilly. Free registration provides higher rate limits for heavier use.
Do census tract boundaries change?
They can. Boundaries can change every ten years when the decennial census is conducted, so compare tracts across different decades with care.
What is a census block?
A census block is the smallest unit in the hierarchy. In an urban area it corresponds to approximately one city block.
