Even before the coronavirus pandemic devastated the economy, many suburban households had still not recovered from the last recession. Census estimates show that more than a third of Philadelphia's suburban population live in municipalities in which income has declined by 5% or more from 2009, at the end of the recession, to 2018, after adjusting for inflation. An additional 46% of suburbanites live in municipalities where income declined slightly, or rose less than 5%. Only one in five live in towns where income grew by 5% or more.
The map below shows percentage change in median household income for municipalities with 10,000 or more residents from the 2005-09 five-year period to 2014-18. Income figures are adjusted to 2018 dollars and are estimates subject to margins of error, which are typically higher for municipalities with smaller populations.
Income losses: -24% to -10%
-9% to -5% -4% to -1%
Income gains: 0% to +4% +5% to +9% +10% to +25%
Less than 10,000 pop.