As the post-pandemic world progresses, city downtowns are continuing to recover and Philadelphia is among the most well-recovered, writes Paul Schwedelson for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

New research by the Center City District found that Philadelphia is among the top five cities in the nation when it comes to two key factors: industry mix and commuter times.

“We’re ahead of every other city that is not dependent on hospitality alone,” said Center City District CEO Paul Levy.

The four cities ahead of Philadelphia — Nashville, San Jose, San Diego, and Memphis — all rely heavily on hospitality and in-person jobs.

Philadelphia’s high ranking can also be credited to the amount of people living in and near the downtown area.

According to the report, about 30% of downtown workers live within 2 miles of their workplace, which ranks the highest in the nation.

“That tremendous success we’ve had with building a live-work downtown is really paying dividends in terms of return to work,” said Levy.

While Philadelphia is doing well in these two categories, its job growth rate has been relatively slow, ranking 21st out of 26 in downtown private office sector job growth.

Learn more about how Philadelphia is faring in its pandemic recovery in the Philadelphia Business Journal.

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Philadelphia ranks among the top five cities in the nation for its post-pandemic recovery, according to a report from the Center City District.