Pew: Rich optimistic about city; poor? Not so much

A report released Wednesday by The Pew Charitable Trusts reveals a stark divide in perceptions about Philadelphia, with the affluent feeling most optimistic about the city's future and the poor viewing it as a place whose best days have ended.

The findings are not new or surprising, given that the city's increasingly wealthy downtown has remained surrounded by hundreds of thousands of impoverished people in neighborhoods farther away. But they illustrate that the optimism over redevelopment in central Philadelphia is little felt beyond the construction cranes in the city's core.

"It is a mixed bag and it really does depend on our own circumstances," said University of Pennsylvania sociology professor Camille Z. Charles. "It illustrates how we're kind of a tale of two cities."

Pew researchers used pre-existing data from a survey earlier this year to lump Philadelphians into four categories based on how they responded to 26 questions.

The largest share, 30 percent, fell into the category of greatest disenchantment: "Dissatisfied Citizens." The smallest number, 19 percent, fell into the category of greatest optimism: "Enthusiastic Urbanists."

The rest of Philadelphians split evenly - 25 percent each - into a love-it-always group called "Die-Hard Loyalists," and a take-it-or-leave-it category dubbed "Uncommitted Skeptics."

More than half of Dissatisfied Citizens (53 percent) believe the city is on the wrong track and only 8 percent hope to spend the rest of their lives here, Pew found.

A majority of this group were economically distressed. Most (62 percent) had household incomes under 30,000 in 2014, almost all said they don't have enough money to make ends meet (97 percent), half were African-American, about a third were white, and 14 percent were Hispanic.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, 68 percent of Enthusiastic Urbanists think Philadelphia is headed in the right direction and 52 percent said they hope to spend the rest of their lives in the city, Pew found.

Only 32 percent of these people had household incomes under $30,000, while nearly a quarter had incomes over $100,000. This group also was least racially diverse. Nearly six out of 10 were white, a quarter black, and 8 percent Hispanic.

"This isn't about being white or black," said Charles, who also teaches Africana Studies at Penn. "It's about being middle-class or poor, and it's just that black [in Philadelphia] are disproportionately poor."

With Philadelphia having the highest rate of deep poverty among America's 10 biggest cities, Charles said the findings should surprise no one.

People living in isolation among others also struggling will have different perceptions about their home city than those living in upscale neighborhoods surrounded by amenities and strong job networks, she said.

What surprised the leader of Pew's Philadelphia research initiative, Larry Eichel, was the lack of connection toward the city felt by one of the middle groups whose members also were among the youngest - Uncommitted Skeptics.

The Skeptics are racially diverse (43 percent black, 39 percent white, 10 percent Hispanic) and a quarter have household incomes between $50,000 and $100,000. Forty-four percent are between 18 to 34 years old. A third live in Northeast Philadelphia, whose postwar homes historically have housed middle-class and working-class families.

Nearly all Skeptics would leave the city if the right circumstances came along, echoing prior research by Pew that found half of all residents ages 20 to 34 would likely move away in five to 10 years.

Three out of four of Skeptics believe Center City has received too much attention and 41 percent say Philadelphia is on the wrong track.

Pew invited residents to see in what category they fall by taking an online quiz at http://www.pewtrusts.org/what-sort-of-philadelphian-are-you.

mpanaritis@phillynews.com

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@Panaritism