Buying in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia County at a glance

Philadelphia County is one of 67 counties and county-equivalents in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Philadelphia. With a 2024 Census Bureau population estimate of 1,573,916, it is the most populous county in Pennsylvania. In the FBI's 2024 reported-crime file, agencies here reported 85,870 offenses — 54.56 per 1,000 residents; the breakdown is below.

Records to check before you buy in Philadelphia County

• Property record card — the Philadelphia County assessor / appraisal office. Pull the parcel's assessed-value history, exemption status, and last sale. This is the file your future tax bill is calculated from, and it shows whether the current owner is enjoying exemptions you will not inherit. County government sits in Philadelphia — start there for office locations and the parcel search.
• Deeds & liens — the Philadelphia County recorder / land-records office. Read the deed chain, open liens, easements, and plat maps — the file a listing never mentions.
• Official flood determination. Check the exact parcel on FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer — not the listing site's licensed model. Zone boundaries cut through streets; the house next door can be in a different zone. Philadelphia County is the primary county for 49 ZIP codes in the Census Bureau's ZIP-to-county crosswalk — and zone lines ignore every one of them.
• The county's reported-crime record. In the FBI's 2024 file, agencies in Philadelphia County reported 85,870 offenses — 54.56 per 1,000 residents; the largest single category was larceny-theft (50,838). The crime section below sets that beside the Pennsylvania county median.
• Registry check. Run the address through Pennsylvania Megan's Law Website (Pennsylvania State Police) and note the counts within a mile — then check again the week you close.
• Permits & code history — the Philadelphia building department. Open permits, expired permits, and code cases tell you whether the renovation in the photos was ever inspected. County permitting is run out of Philadelphia.
• School assignment — the district office, not the listing. Only the district's own boundary lookup confirms which school an address is actually zoned for.

County list, land area and population: U.S. Census Bureau (population: 2024 PEP estimate). County seat and official website: Wikidata (CC0), checked 2026-11-04. Flood determinations: FEMA. Registry: Pennsylvania.

Reported crime in Philadelphia County — FBI 2024

Agencies in Philadelphia County reported 85,870 offenses to the FBI in 2024 — 14,330 violent and 71,540 property offenses. That works out to a reported-crime rate of 54.56 per 1,000 residents (violent 910.5, property 4545.4 per 100,000).

Inside Pennsylvania, the median county in the same file recorded a violent-crime rate of 138 per 100,000 and a property-crime rate of 777 per 100,000 (medians computed from the FBI 2024 county file across 67 counties).

The largest reported categories were larceny-theft (50,838), motor vehicle theft (15,717) and aggravated assault (9,003).

Coverage: 7 of 7 law-enforcement agencies assigned to this county reported at least one month of 2024 offense data to the FBI; 5 reported all 12 months. Counts are reported offenses only (FBI Return A / Arson master files), assigned whole to each agency's primary county; they are not adjusted for non-reporting agencies.

These are offenses reported to law enforcement — not convictions, and not a verdict on any street or address. A CurbFacts report pairs this county record with the ZIP-level picture for the specific address you are buying.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, UCR Return A + Arson master files, data year 2024 (pulled 2026-11-04).

ZIP guides in Philadelphia County

Registry counts and county crime records for the 47 ZIP codes whose primary county is Philadelphia County.

The Pennsylvania rules that apply in Philadelphia County

Traps researched for Pennsylvania buyers: School districts can appeal a recently sold, underassessed home; Expanded flood disclosure not required until July 2028.

Read the full Pennsylvania guide — disclosure standard, tax math, registry and flood

More Pennsylvania counties

All Pennsylvania counties · Pennsylvania buyer guide