39.9292° N, 75.2300° W
PHILADELPHIA
Most Famous People Born in Philadelphia, USA
- Notable people
- 5,575
- Peak decade
- 1940s
- Median birth year
- 1928
- Most distinctive
- Baseball 6.0×
The original American capital, then the capital of nothing in particular, then a sports town. Philadelphia's notables run thick through the 18th century — lawyers, philanthropists, financiers — and then settle into a long, steady output of baseball players, basketball players, jazz bandleaders, and character actors. The city has one of the highest shares of notables in organized labor of the early 20th century and one of the deepest benches of soul singers of the late 20th.
Standouts
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1940s with 556 notable births.
What Philadelphia Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Politician is Philadelphia's biggest profession — 9% of all notables (482).
Philadelphia over-indexes on baseball — 6.0× the global rate.
Philadelphia under-produces football — only 0.4× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Philadelphia's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Politics & Law
- Film & TV
- Music
- Writing
- Art & Design
- Other
- Filtered to 1750s Clear ×
Betsy Ross
1752 - 1836
William Bradford (Attorney General)
1755 - 1795
William Bingham
1752 - 1804
Josiah Harmar
1753 - 1813
William Rush
1756 - 1833
Joseph Anderson
1757 - 1837
George Logan
1753 - 1821
Tench Coxe
1755 - 1824
Franklin Davenport
1755 - 1832
Nicholas Biddle (naval officer)
1750 - 1778
William Rawle
1759 - 1836
Jacob Shallus
1750 - 1796
David Brooks (politician)
1756 - 1838
Benjamin Say
1755 - 1813
Daniel Udree
1751 - 1828
William Savery
1750 - 1804
James Abercrombie (Episcopal priest)
1758 - 1841
James Duncan (Pennsylvania)
1756 - 1844
Samuel Bryan
1759 - 1821
James Willing
1750 - 1801
Moses Levy
1757 - 1826
Joseph Greer
1754 - 1831