Philadelphia homicides hit a historic low last year, but nonviolent crimes increased in some neighborhoods, per a new Pew report.

The big picture: The city's violent and nonviolent crimes are concentrated in different places, suggesting different neighborhoods require different public safety strategies.

State of play: Violent crime is more common in residential areas with more vacant lots and buildings, while nonviolent crime tends to cluster around commercial corridors and major transit hubs.

• Neighborhoods including Rittenhouse Square, Germantown, Harrowgate and Kensington had higher crime rates per capita than many other parts of the city, researchers found.

Zoom in: Point Breeze and Spring Garden — two historic neighborhoods — illustrate how crime trends can diverge sharply.

• Rising thefts in Spring Garden — one of the city's wealthier neighborhoods north of Center City, where home prices often go for more than $500,000 — helped drive a 20% increase in reported crime between 2019 and 2025, per the report.
• Meanwhile, Point Breeze — a historically working-class South Philly neighborhood where home prices have more than doubled over the past decade — saw reported crime fall 21%.

Zoom out: Over the same five-year period, Philadelphia had about 13% fewer police officers on the force, Pew notes.

• And police have recently changed the way they deploy officers, with Commissioner Kevin Bethel focusing on a pinpoint strategy that targets the city's most violent neighborhoods while consolidating resources elsewhere.

Catch up quick: Police merged the 6th and 9th police districts in 2024, impacting parts of Spring Garden.

• While the neighborhood didn't have a single homicide last year, 63% of its reported crimes were theft-related, per the report.
• Point Breeze also struggled with theft, which increased about 9% between 2019 and 2025 and accounted for nearly 20% of reported crimes last year.

Caveat: Areas with more surveillance can generate more reported crimes, Pew says.

What they're saying: Pew hopes the report will improve future policing strategies, showing officials through data what interventions are needed by neighborhood, Pew's research and policy initiative officer Mari Gonzalez tells Axios.

• "Areas that you may think that are more safe may be areas that are attracting crime," she says. "So if they exist within a neighborhood or ZIP code, then that is a way that you can apply resources there instead of trying to apply solutions across the city."

Share this story

Philly's World Cup hosting duties kicked off last weekend with an unrivaled Ecuadorian turnout, but the global spectacle has not been without its hiccups and hurdles.

Why it matters: Organizers touted an almost seamless first week, including near-record attendance at Philadelphia Stadium for the opening match.

• But for many residents, it was more of a yellow card — a warning sign of the challenges the city could face as even bigger crowds arrive in the coming weeks.

🧮 By the numbers: A near-capacity crowd of 68,274 attended the city's opening World Cup match between Ecuador and Ivory Coast, while more than 100,000 packed the FIFA Fan Fest over the first four days, city officials said in a statement.

• Nearly 43,000 people visited Fan Fest for Sunday's match alone.
• Philly's airport projected more than 438,000 people arrived and left the city between June 11 and June 15, many hailing from countries whose teams are playing here.
• Some of the city's biggest tourist hubs — LOVE Park, Logan Square, Eakins Oval — welcomed about 50,000 visitors, city officials said.

😬 Zoom in: The biggest headache, by far, was the parking situation in Lemon Hill near the Fan Fest.

• Philadelphia Parking Authority issued more than 2,400 tickets to people illegally parked in restricted areas around the festival, PPA acting executive director Gabe Roberts said.
• But 173 were erroneously issued to residents with permits to park in the neighborhood — an error that PHA says it solved by immediately canceling those tickets following a system cross-check.
• The agency also acknowledged mistakenly towing four of the 162 vehicles removed since the festival began. Those vehicles were immediately returned, and all fines were waived.

People swarmed public transit, too

🩺 Nurses at Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital voted to authorize a strike as the union continues to try to reach a deal with upper management.

• Nurses have been without a contract in place for 46 days. The two sides are set to resume talks today to try to head off a work stoppage. (Philly Voice)

🚘 Authorities seized more than 20 vehicles — including several high-performance sports cars — as part of an AG-led investigation into a North Philadelphia drug-trafficking organization.

• More than two dozen people allegedly tied to the "5th and Cornwall" crew, which prosecutors say distributed cocaine, were arrested last year. (NBC10)

🏒 The Flyers traded goaltender Samuel Ersson, defenseman Emil Andrae and a third-round 2026 draft pick to Toronto.

• They received goalie Joseph Woll and defenseman Simon Benoît in the swap. (ESPN)

Italy isn't playing in this year's World Cup, but its legendary cars are making an appearance in Philly.

Why it matters: The luxury car flex is one way of keeping the Italian spirit alive in this year's tournament since the four-time champs haven't been in the field since 2014.

Driving the news: Turo is giving visitors in the World Cup's 11 host cities the chance to book an Italian luxury car for $23 a day — a nod to the 23rd edition of the tournament.

• The booking window opened in Philly on Wednesday at midnight, and each market only has one car available for rentals, which run from June 19-22.

Reality check: It's going to take some lost sleep and a ton of luck to land the chance to rent a Maserati Ghibli.

Share with a car enthusiast