May 01, 2025
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Center City's restaurants, bars and entertainment venues — like Helium Comedy Club, above — are keeping crowds out late. Evening pedestrian volumes increased in 2024 over pre-pandemic levels
Center City nightlife is even more bustling than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Late-night owls are apparently flocking to the neighborhood at a rate that has begun to exceed 2019 levels, per the latest state of Center City report. Evening pedestrian volumes in Midtown Village, for example, were up 6% on weekdays and 25% on weekends in 2024, compared with the numbers five years ago. Rittenhouse Row also saw a 4% increase in weekend night pedestrian volumes, though it's 4% under the 2019 baseline on weekdays.
It's not just those corridors. The picture across the entire neighborhood is promising. Average pedestrian volumes in "core" Center City — defined as the area between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, and Vine and Pine streets — was up between the hours of 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. in 2024 compared with 2019.
The Center City District, in its latest report, attributed the rise to the area's "renowned dining establishments" and "booming residential growth." Three neighborhood chefs or establishments were named finalists for James Beard Awards in April, and another three made the semifinals last year. The area is home to 452 full-service restaurants and 69,628 people, according to the report.
The nightlife trend follows another one for the neighborhood: a dip in crime. According to data from the Philadelphia Police Department, there were an average two crimes per day in Center City in 2019. That number decreased to about one daily crime in 2020 and 2021, then rebounded to two in 2022. It dipped again to one in 2023 and 2024.
Despite these numbers, the perception of public safety remains relatively poor. A whopping 76% of respondents said they felt safe in the neighborhood in 2019, compared with 61% in 2024.
"The lingering perception gap between actual safety data and public sentiment requires persistent attention," Prema Katari Gupta, Center City District president and CEO, wrote in a foreword to the report.
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