Much has rightly been made of Philadelphia's high poverty rate, but these numbers suggest an equally troubling conclusion — that in addition to being poor, Philadelphia is also not wealthy. Why is this important? It means that even if city leaders wanted to redistribute wealth to poorer residents, there's not much to redistribute. It means that if we want to spend more on schools, we don't have the local wealth to support it. In 2015, Philadelphia had only 15 percent of the real estate tax base per pupil as Lower Merion — so it hurts much more to generate the same tax revenue. Unless and until Philadelphia generates sustained economic opportunity and jobs and the wealth that follows, our prospects for becoming both less poor and more wealthy seem slim.