Philadelphiaruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
Healthcare & academic medicine
Penn Medicine, Jefferson Health, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Temple Health
'Meds and eds' is the local shorthand and it is accurate — the hospital systems and universities together are the region's dominant employer.
Cell & gene therapy
Spark Therapeutics, Iovance, Century Therapeutics, Amicus
CAR-T cell therapy was developed at Penn, and the resulting cluster — sometimes called Cellicon Valley — is one of the most significant concentrations of gene therapy work anywhere.
Pharmaceuticals & life sciences
GSK, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Teva, Incyte
The Philadelphia–New Jersey corridor has been a pharmaceutical centre for a century, and much of the industry's US research base still sits within an hour of the city.
Financial services & asset management
Vanguard, Comcast Spectacor, Radian, FS Investments
Vanguard in Malvern manages trillions and is one of the region's largest private employers — a very different financial culture from New York's.
Media & telecommunications
Comcast, NBCUniversal, Sky
Comcast's two towers dominate the skyline and make Philadelphia the headquarters of one of the world's largest media companies.
Higher education
University of Pennsylvania, Drexel, Temple, Villanova
Penn is an Ivy League research university and the city's largest private employer; the wider region has one of the highest densities of colleges in the United States.
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