In a recent report by the Center City District (CCD) and the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation looking at the business density of East Coast cities, Philadelphia lags behind New York, Atlanta, Boston and Washington, D.C, especially when it comes to Black-owned businesses.

The report, “Getting More Philadelphians Back to Work: Business Density and the Role of Black and Minority Owned Businesses,” found that out of all five East Coast cities, Philadelphia had the least number of businesses, with about 12.1 business for each 1,000 residents. It also had the lowest number of Black-owned businesses per Black population, with nearby D.C. having nearly double the amount of Black-owned businesses, despite its Black population being less than half the size.

There’s a clear disparity between overall number of business per resident and number of Black-owned businesses per Black resident in all these cities. But Philly faces two challenges — lower business density in general, and a lower density of Black-owned firms in particular.

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