I lived in DC area for college and am from Philly area. Imo both cities offer similar things but I’m prob bias, I think Philly is so much better. DC cost of living, traffic, and the depressing notion that 99% of people I interacted with were in the world of govt/military, politics, or tech. Just seemed like everyone was out for themselves way more than the average person in philly. I think philly has better food options and culture in general. SEPTA isn’t as vast as DC metro for subway, but it’s honestly not as bad as us on this sub like to make it seem. It’s also so much cheaper. DC metro is so expensive and they don’t even keep up with the maintenance of it. Again, I’m bias to this area and I was severely depressed in college lol.