Philly’s the Best City in the Nation for Street Art — Find Out Why

All eyes are on Philadelphia in 2026: Philly history, Philly events and, of course, Philly art.

Just as the City of Brotherly Love enters its biggest year yet, celebrating the nation’s milestone 250th birthday, USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards delivers Philly another major accolade: The 2026 award for Melhor cidade para arte de rua. (For the terceiro tempo, nada menos).

Nominated once again by the travel experts at USA Today and 10Best.com, Philadelphia and its expansive public art collection went up against 19 other cities, including New York City, Miami and Chicago, for the coveted title.

After weeks of voting, travelers from across the nation made their voices known, electing the top 10 cities, with Philly taking the top prize (duh). The “Mural Capital of the World” previously claimed the No. 1 spot in both 2025 and 2023.

This year’s win joins Philadelphia’s other recent USA Today Prêmio 10Best Readers’ Choice Award para o A cidade mais fácil de se locomover a pé nos Estados Unidos, as part of a growing list of recent awards and accolades.

In the past year alone, the City of Brotherly Love has been named one of the world’s top travel destinations for 2026 por Viagem + Lazer, O Jornal de Wall Street, The New York Times, BBC Travel, CNN e mais.

The city and its attractions have also earned major praise from National Geographic, Architectural Digest e o Guia Michelin, which made its Philadelphia debut in 2025, awarding three local restaurants one-star recognition.

A cena da arte urbana de Philly

Home to one of the largest and most accessible public art collections in the world, Philly has art baked into its very DNA.

Streets and walls across the city burst with murals, sculptures, installations, mosaics and more, making the city a living, breathing, immersive (and admission-free) art gallery.

The collection packs just as much passion and attitude as Philadelphians themselves, thanks to both institutions and individual artists, like the late Isaiah Zagar, known for his signature tile work mosaics.

Common Threads by artist Meg Saligman   - Foto de Visit Philadelphia

Much of Philadelphia’s ever-growing street art collection can be credited to the Association for Public Art (APA) and to the nation’s largest public art program, Mural Arts Philadelphia — responsible for over 4,000 (!) of the city’s murals and counting.

Quer saber mais? A Mural Arts oferece visitas guiadas, enquanto a APA compilou uma seleção robusta de visitas autoguiadas. Streets Dept, uma plataforma dedicada especificamente à coleção de arte pública da Filadélfia, realiza passeios mensalmente, também.

2026 in Philly

Philadelphia artists and art lovers are painting the town red, white and blue — all year long.

Mural Arts rings in 250º aniversário da América with an exciting lineup of projects, including several murals, of course.

Elsewhere, local museums and artists join the fun with a blockbuster calendar of openings, exhibitions and a massive multidisciplinary fest. Don’t miss the debut of the Ministério do Temor, an immersive art experience spearheaded by Mural Arts alum Meg Saligman, or the inaugural citywide ArtPhilly: E agora: 2026 festival.

Uma nação de artistas no Philadelphia Museum of Art e Academia de Belas Artes da Pensilvânia e Ascensão: Rocky e a criação de monumentos, also at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, are among the special exhibitions coming to the city.

Gilbert Stuart George Washington (The Lansdowne Portrait), 1796 Oil on canvas, 96 x 60 inches (243.84 x 152.4 cm) The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Bequest of William Bingham   - Foto cedida por Philadelphia Museum of Art

To peruse all of Philly’s Semiquincentennial happenings, click the button below.

2026 in Philadelphia