The Greater Philadelphia region has over 100 colleges and universities which ensures steady access to a well-educated and highly skilled labor force.
- Greater Philadelphia granted more first professional degrees (MDs, MBAs, JDs, etc.) per 10,000 residents than any other large metro area in the country.
- Greater Philadelphia has the 2nd-highest award rate for bachelor’s degrees.
The 2010 Impact of Higher Education in Greater Philadelphia Study shows:
- A total enrollment that exceeded 295,000 fulltime-equivalent students, which ranks Greater Philadelphia fourth in the nation.
- More than 80,533 certificates and degrees were granted in Greater Philadelphia, which ranks the region third in the number of degrees granted per 10,000 residents.
- The top five areas of study were: business, management, marketing and related; health professions; education, liberal arts, sciences and humanities; and social sciences.
- Greater Philadelphia's schools are growing, planning to spend approximately $2.93 billion in capital projects over the next five years, generating a total annual increase in regional employment of 7,153 jobs along with $447.7 million in total labor income.
The region’s level of educational attainment continues to trend sharply upward and outpace the nation.
In 2009, 34.8% of the region’s population aged 25 or older had a bachelor’s degree or higher, 6.9 percentage points higher than the U.S. level of 27.9%. 13.2% of residents 25 and older had an advanced degree in 2009; again well above the U.S. figure of 10.3%
| Best Liberal Art School |
Rank |
| Amherst College |
1 |
| Williams College |
1 |
| Swathmore College |
3 |
| Wellesley College |
4 |
| Middlebury College |
5 |
| Bowdoin College |
6 |
| Pomona College |
6 |
| Carleton College |
8 |
| Davidson College |
9 |
| Haverford College |
10 |
| Bryn Mawr College |
23 |
| |
|
| Best U.S. Universities |
Rank |
| Harvard University |
1 |
| Princeton University |
2 |
| Yale University |
3 |
| MIT |
4 |
| Stanford University |
4 |
| University of Pennsylvania |
6 |
| California Institute of Technology |
6 |
| Columbia University |
8 |
| Duke University |
8 |
| University of Chicago |
8 |
Colleges listed in blue are located in Greater Philadelphia.
Source: U.S. News & World Report, 2009.
A High-Growth Sector
With over 140 campuses throughout the region, total employment in the region’s higher-ed sector was over 70,000, paying $6.36 billion in wages and salaries. Institutions of higher education in Greater Philadelphia spent $16.3 million per 10,000 residents, ranking third among the 25 largest metro areas, behind only Boston and Baltimore. Greater Philadelphia’s colleges and universities also spent $1.23 billion in research activities, employing researchers and lab assistants and fueling the commercialization of ideas to accelerate new company formation and job growth.
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