Philadelphia named “Best City for Street Art”

For the second time in three years, Philadelphia has been named the 2025 Best City for Street Art by USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards. Philadelphia was selected by a panel of experts and won based on reader votes. This designation recognises that Philadelphia is home to thousands of vibrant outdoor murals, sculptures, statues, and public art pieces that are easily accessible for visitors and residents alike. 

USA Today cited the work of Mural Arts Philadelphia for helping to cement Philadelphia’s global reputation for street art. Since its inception in 1984, Mural Arts Philadelphia has overseen the creation of 4,000 works of public art, engaging local communities and local artists at every stage of the creative process.  Thanks to over 40 years of work and advocacy by Mural Arts, the city is recognised as the ”Mural Capital of the World.” Visitors are encouraged to explore the city’s street art on foot, by trolley, or bicycle, on guided or self-guided tours.

In 2024, in observance of the organisation’s 40th Anniversary, the New York Times called Philadelphia “a city of murals, decades in the making” and praised the community-focused nature of the city’s mural process.  Murals do have this beautiful power to bring us all together, because you cannot do them alone.” For the City of Brotherly Love, street art created for the community, by the community is a very fitting form of artistic expression.

Mural Arts Philadelphia Executive Director Jane Golden says in the Michelin Green Guide that Philadelphia’s street art is her life’s work because of the power that art has to change lives. “Given a chance to improve my adopted city through art, include both officials and unknowns in art projects, bring meaning to the lives of young people from complex backgrounds, and change mentalities, I instantly realised that my life would be in Philadelphia.”

Golden also shared what she loves most about Philadelphia. “The art. It has museums, cultural centers, murals, public art, everyone has access to art; no neighborhood is left out. Our diversity! Philly's history, multiculturalism colours, aromas...our murals vouch for it: Philadelphia is an incredible patchwork!”

In addition to the murals, Philadelphia’s diverse collection of street art has also won international praise in Michelin’s Philadelphia destination guide. “Few North American cities have shown such consideration to art and urban planning,” the Michelin Green Guide states. “Philly is practically an open-air museum. Everywhere you look are statues, porticos, Greek Revival, or neoclassical pediments, museums.” 

“We consistently hear that our street art is a large part of what helps visitors learn about and connect with Philadelphia,” said Gregg Caren, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves. In Philadelphia, you could say we wear our hearts on our buildings, playgrounds, and public spaces in the form of street art.”