Phila.'s status as fifth-largest city now in jeopardy

The Philadephia Inquirer reports:

Philadelphia's right to call itself the nation's fifth-largest city is becoming increasingly tenuous.

According to official estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's population margin over sixth-placed Phoenix fell to a mere 1,706 as of last July. The numbers are 1,463,281 for Philadelphia, 1,461,575 for Phoenix.

Only a year earlier, according to the estimates, the margin between the two cities was more than 54,000.

Phoenix doesn't have union problems.