Business Value
The region — home to 33 Fortune 1000 companies in 2007 — was recently selected among America's top business destinations by Business Facilities magazine. The magazine tapped the region as one of its editors' location picks of 2008, touting the metro area as an economic development hot spot.
Greater Philadelphia offers a great value for businesses. Compared to the major U.S. metropolitan markets, Greater Philadelphia offers companies affordable rates for office space, with an average Class A rent of $28.84/square foot in the 4th quarter of 2008. In fact, Greater Philadelphia is the 4th lowest in office space rates among the 12 largest MSAs. This makes the region a strong option for companies looking to expand or locate in major U.S. markets along the East Coast that also require large amounts of affordable office space. Business costs are lower in Greater Philadelphia than in New York, San Francisco and Boston and comparable to costs in Washington, D.C., Chicago and Seattle.
- Office rental rates in Greater Philadelphia are lower than those in the New York City, Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C., metro areas.
- Seventeen Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in the region, and a total of 330 Fortune 500 firms had a presence in the region in 2008.
Business Clusters
People with creative ideas and investment capital are making Greater Philadelphia the go to place for success in sciences, technology, communications and finance. Research at regional companies and universities continues to bring new intellectual property to markets, which fuels the growth of technology transfer and incubates innovative technology and services. In fact, Philadelphia's University of Pennsylvania ranks fourth in the nation for transferring the ideas developed in university research labs into marketable technology.
Looking at our heritage of "firsts," it is easy to see why certain business clusters thrive in Greater Philadelphia.
Life/Biosciences
The first U.S. hospital, founded in Philadelphia in 1751, led to a cluster of 18th-century medical institutions and societies even before the birth of our nation. Although industry and science have changed and made great strides in medicine and bioscience since that time, Greater Philadelphia continues to be a global center for medical education, research and leadership.
Today, some of the largest biopharmaceutical companies in the world have a significant presence in the region, including AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Wyeth, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Shire Pharmaceuticals. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has granted more than $800 million to our universities, research institutes and medical centers for research.
Communications and Information Technology
The first electronic computer was built at the University of Pennsylvania in 1946. In 60 years, we have advanced far beyond that first ENIAC computer. Greater Philadelphia companies including Comcast, L3, Lockheed Martin, Safeguard Scientifics, SAP, Sunguard, Unisys, and Verizon are developing and expanding our digital capabilities and contributions.
Financial Services
Greater Philadelphia established the first public bank in America, The Pennsylvania Bank, in 1780; the first Stock Exchange in America, founded in 1790; and the first Savings Fund Society, opened in 1810.
From those beginnings, financial services continue to be a major business cluster in the region with many firms involved here, including Bank of America, Citizens Bank, TD Bank, Lincoln Financial (parent company of Delaware Investments), PNC Bank, SEI, The Vanguard Group, Wachovia and others.
As we move through the 21st century, Greater Philadelphia remains mindful of its rich history and the region's role in the birth of our nation. Yet, the region takes the lead as the place for cutting-edge innovation and world-class business resources.