Arch Street runs from the Delaware River one way westbound through the Old City section of Philadelphia, where landmarks include the Arch Street Friends Meeting House, the Betsy Ross House, Girard Fountain Park, the U.S. Mint, and Christ Church Burial Ground.

It crosses Independence Mall at 5th and 6th Streets, traverses Philadelphia's Chinatown neighborhood, and passes Reading Terminal Market.

The tourist areas around Logan Square and the museum district are just north of Arch Street, which ends just east of the Schuylkill River at 23rd Street.

As of 2023, the section of Arch Street from 6th to Broad Streets is part of Philadelphia's High Injury Network, the small fraction of streets on which the majority of traffic deaths and serious injuries occur.

[citation needed] In the 1950s and 1960s, Arch from 6th to 11th Streets was known as Radio Row, after its extensive number of electronic goods stores.