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Hello there. I'm Peter Back.

For professional, caring and confidential help, advice, therapy or treatment for, or about, any of the above issues or topics, or similar, please just contact Peter, preferably by e-mail, to arrange an appointment for your free initial consultation - either in person, or online.

Philadelphia, known colloquially as Philly, is the largest city in the U.S. state and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the sixth-most populous U.S. city with a 2018 census-estimated population of 1,584,138.

Since 1854, the city has had the same geographic boundaries as Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the eighth-largest U.S. metropolitan statistical area, with over 6 million residents as of 2017.

Philadelphia is also the economic and cultural anchor of the greater Delaware Valley, located along the lower Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, within the Northeast megalopolis. The Delaware Valley's population of 7.2 million ranks it as the eighth-largest combined statistical area in the United States.
 

Philadelphia is one of the oldest municipalities in the United States. William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city in 1682 to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia played an instrumental role in the American Revolution as a meeting place for the Founding Fathers of the United States, who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 at the Second Continental Congress, and the Constitution at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787.

Several other key events occurred in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War including the First Continental Congress, the preservation of the Liberty Bell, the Battle of Germantown, and the Siege of Fort Mifflin. Philadelphia remained the nation's largest city until being overtaken by New York City in 1790; the city was also one of the nation's capitals during the revolution, serving as temporary U.S. capital while Washington, D.C. was under construction.

In the 19th century, Philadelphia became a major industrial center and a railroad hub. The city grew from an influx of European immigrants, most of whom came from Ireland, Italy and Germany—the three largest reported ancestry groups in the city as of 2015.

In the early 20th century, Philadelphia became a prime destination for African Americans during the Great Migration after the Civil War, as well as Puerto Ricans.

The city's population doubled from one million to two million people between 1890 and 1950.
 

The Philadelphia area's many universities and colleges make it a top study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational and economic hub.

As of 2019, the Philadelphia metropolitan area is estimated to produce a gross metropolitan product (GMP) of $490 billion.

Philadelphia is the center of economic activity in Pennsylvania and is home to five Fortune 1000 companies.

The Philadelphia skyline is expanding, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016, including several nationally prominent skyscrapers. Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the same watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States.

The city is known for its arts, culture, cuisine, and colonial history, attracting 42 million domestic tourists in 2016 who spent $6.8 billion, generating an estimated $11 billion in total economic impact in the city and surrounding four counties of Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia has also emerged as a biotechnology hub.
 

Philadelphia is the birthplace of the United States Marine Corps, and is also the home of many U.S. firsts, including the first library (1731), hospital (1751), medical school (1765), national capital (1774), stock exchange (1790), zoo (1874), and business school (1881).

Philadelphia contains 67 National Historic Landmarks and the World Heritage Site of Independence Hall. The city became a member of the Organization of World Heritage Cities in 2015, as the first World Heritage City in the United States.

Although Philadelphia is rapidly undergoing gentrification, the city actively maintains strategies to minimize displacement of homeowners in gentrifying neighborhoods.

Philadelphia is the center of economic activity in Pennsylvania with the headquarters of five Fortune 1000 companies located within city limits.

As of 2019, the Philadelphia metropolitan area is estimated to produce a gross metropolitan product (GMP) of $490 billion, an increase from the $445 billion calculated by the Bureau of Economic Analysis for 2017,[126] representing the eighth largest U.S. metropolitan economy.
 

Philadelphia's economic sectors include financial services, health care, biotechnology, information technology, trade and transportation, manufacturing, oil refining, food processing, and tourism. Financial activities account for the largest economic sector of the metropolitan area, which is also one of the largest health education and research centers in the United States. Philadelphia's annualized unemployment rate was 7.8% in 2014, down from 10% the previous year. This is higher than the national average of 6.2%.

Similarly, the rate of new jobs added to the city's economy lagged behind the national job growth. In 2014, about 8,800 jobs were added to the city's economy. Sectors with the largest number of jobs added were in education and health care, leisure and hospitality, and professional and business services. Declines were seen in the city's manufacturing and government sectors.
 

About 31.9% of the city's population was not in the labor force in 2015, the second highest percentage after Detroit.

The city's two largest employers are the federal and city governments. Philadelphia's largest private employer is the University of Pennsylvania followed by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. A study commissioned by the city's government in 2011 projected 40,000 jobs would be added to the city within 25 years, raising the number of jobs from 675,000 in 2010 to an estimated 715,000 by 2035.

Corporations

The city is home to the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and the headquarters of cable television and internet provider Comcast, insurance companies Cigna, Colonial Penn, and Independence Blue Cross, food services company Aramark, chemical makers FMC Corporation and Rohm and Haas, pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, apparel retailer Urban Outfitters, automotive parts retailer Pep Boys, and stainless steel producer Carpenter Technology Corporation. The headquarters of Boeing Rotorcraft Systems, and its main rotorcraft factory, are in the Philadelphia suburb of Ridley Park, while The Vanguard Group is headquartered in Malvern.
 

Tech and biotech
 

Philadelphia has emerged as a hub for information technology and biotechnology. Philadelphia and Pennsylvania are attracting new life sciences ventures. The Philadelphia metropolitan area, comprising the Delaware Valley, has also become a growing hub for venture capital funding.

Tourism

Philadelphia's history attracts many tourists, with the Independence National Historical Park (which includes the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and other historic sites) receiving over 5 million visitors in 2016.

The city welcomed 42 million domestic tourists in 2016 who spent $6.8 billion, generating an estimated $11 billion in total economic impact in the city and surrounding four counties of Pennsylvania.
 

Trade and transportation

Philadelphia International Airport is undergoing a $900 million infrastructural expansion to increase passenger capacity and augment passenger experience; while the Port of Philadelphia, having experienced the highest percentage growth by tonnage loaded in 2017 among major U.S. seaports, was in the process of doubling its capacity in order to accommodate super-sized post-Panamax shipping vessels in 2018.

Philadelphia's 30th Street Station is the third-busiest Amtrak rail hub, following Penn Station in Manhattan and Union Station in Washington, D.C., carrying over 4 million inter-city rail passengers annually.

Philadelphia is home to many national historical sites that relate to the founding of the United States. Independence National Historical Park is the center of these historical landmarks being one of the country's 22 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed, and the Liberty Bell are the city's most famous attractions. Other national historic sites include the homes of Edgar Allan Poe and Thaddeus Kosciuszko, early government buildings like the First and Second Banks of the United States, Fort Mifflin, and the Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church. Philadelphia alone has 67 National Historic Landmarks, the third most of any city in the country.
 

Philadelphia's major science museums include the Franklin Institute, which contains the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial; the Academy of Natural Sciences; the Mütter Museum; and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. History museums include the National Constitution Center, the Museum of the American Revolution, the Philadelphia History Museum, the National Museum of American Jewish History, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Masonic Library and Museum of Pennsylvania in the Masonic Temple, and the Eastern State Penitentiary.

Philadelphia is home to the United States' first zoo and hospital, as well as Fairmount Park, one of America's oldest and largest urban parks, founded in 1855.
 

The city is home to important archival repositories, including the Library Company of Philadelphia, established in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, and the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, founded in 1814. The Presbyterian Historical Society is the country's oldest denominational historical society, organized in 1852.

In 1992, Ed Rendell was elected as the city's first Jewish mayor. At the time, the city had numerous unpaid bills, the lowest bond rating of the top fifty largest U.S. cities, and a budget deficit of US$250 million. Rendell attracted investment in the city, stabilized the city's finances, and produced small budget surpluses.

Revitalization of parts of Philadelphia continued in the 1990s. In 1993, a new convention center was opened, creating a hotel boom with seventeen hotels opening between 1998 and 2000 when the city hosted the Republican National Convention. The city began promoting heritage tourism, and producing festivals and entertainment to attract tourists. In 2005, National Geographic Traveler named Philadelphia America's Next Great City, citing its recent revitalization and general compact cityscape.

Former city council president John F. Street was elected mayor in 1999 and city revitalization continued into the 21st century. The Street administration targeted some of the city's worst neighborhoods for revitalization and made considerable progress. Tax breaks created in 1997 and 2000 helped create a condominium boom in Center City, increasing the population of Center City and helping slow the city's 40-year population decline. The population of Center City rose to 88,000 in 2005 from 78,000 in 2000 and the number of households grew by 24 percent.
 

The city has had struggles: a series of scandals in the 1990s plagued the police department, including underreporting of crime. The Street administration was plagued with scandal, with administration people being accused of awarding contracts based on campaign donations for Street's 2003 reelection campaign. The 2000s had a rise of violent crime after a decline in the 1990s. In 2006, Philadelphia's murder rate was 27.8 per 100,000 inhabitants versus a rate of 18.9 in 2002.
 

In 2008, Michael Nutter, with a background in business, was elected as the city's third African-American mayor. As of July 2009, he oversaw a decrease in the crime rate by 30% since July 2007. Tourism has become one of the city's main industries; Philadelphia is now the 10th-most visited city in the US (behind Atlanta and ahead of Miami, Dallas, and Boston). Nutter was instrumental in Philadelphia's Foreclosure Prevention Program, a program which has been copied by many cities throughout the country to stabilize their housing and retain residents in owned units.
 

As part of Pope Francis' visit to the United States, directly after his visit to Cuba, Francis was to visit New York City, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, Francis attended The 2015 World Meeting of Families, coordinated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Pope Francis ended his first Papal visit to the U.S. by saying mass to a crowd of 1 million people on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. While in Philadelphia, Francis attended many events, including a speech to a crowd of 50,000 people at Independence Hall and a visit and blessing at Saint Joseph's University.

For professional, caring and confidential help, advice, therapy or treatment for, or about, any of the issues or topics addressed on this website, or similar, please just contact Peter, preferably by e-mail, to arrange an appointment for your free initial consultation - either in person, or online.

Acknowledgements

History of Philadelphia About Philadelphia About Hypnotherapy About Hypnosis

Some other areas also benefitting from Online Hypnotherapy:

Birmingham Hypnotherapy; Bournemouth Hypnotherapy; Brighton Hypnotherapy; Bristol Hypnotherapy; Bucks Hypnotherapy; Cornwall Hypnotherapy; Devon Hypnotherapy; Dorset Hypnotherapy; 

Essex Hypnotherapy; Georgia Hypnotherapy; Hampshire Hypnotherapy; Kent Hypnotherapy; London Hypnotherapy; Midlands Hypnotherapy; Norfolk Hypnotherapy; Pennsylvania Hypnotherapy; Philadelphia Hypnotherapy; Poole Hypnotherapy; Portsmouth Hypnotherapy; Somerset Hypnotherapy; Southampton Hypnotherapy; Sussex Hypnotherapy; Wales Hypnotherapy; Yorkshire Hypnotherapy; Online Hypnotherapy