These Are The 10 Best Suburbs In Pennsylvania For 2018


We used science and data to determine the best suburbs in Pennsylvania for you to live.

Chris Kolmar, About HomeSnacks
February 21, 2018
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Are you sick of being a city slicker?

Do you long for life in suburban Pennsylvania? Where you can drive your overly-large vehicle to the store for groceries, and schlep the kids around to practices and appointments without worrying about a parking space?

We do too.

Public transportation is…icky at times. When you have to call an Uber to get to urgent care on a Friday night, that gets old after a while.

So, the question is, if you wanted to move out to the suburbs of Harrisburg, where would you go? And how would you decide on the ranking factors to help you pick which Pennsylvania suburb was best?

No worries. We got it all figured out here.

These are the 10 best suburbs in the Keystone State:

  1. Swarthmore (Photos)
  2. Collegeville (Photos)
  3. Franklin Park (Photos)
  4. Conshohocken (Photos)
  5. Fox Chapel (Photos)
  6. Ridley Park (Photos)
  7. Dormont (Photos)
  8. Economy (Photos)
  9. Norwood (Photos)
  10. Oakmont (Photos)

Swarthmore is the place to be when it comes to being a soccer mom in suburban Pennsylvania.

So if you’re thinking of packing up your mini van and making a move to a quiet place to live in Pennsylvania, we’ve got you covered.

Keep on reading for a detailed methodology. Or, check out the best places to live in Pennsylvania and the best places to raise a family in Pennsylvania.

How do you determine which suburb is the best in Pennsylvania anyways?

To give you the best suburbs in Pennsylvania, we have to look at a handful of metrics. Of course, we want to measure the type of people who live in each city, and make some assumptions about what’s a “best city” and what isn’t.

So we researched the internet for a database that contains all that information.

10 Safest Places In Pennsylvania

How we crunched the suburb numbers for the Keystone State

We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using U.S. Census data produced for the state of Pennsylvania, we looked at every town between 5,000 and 200,000 residents, and within 30 miles of a city that’s over 200,000 people (In other words, suburbs).

We paid particular attention to:

  • Median Home Values
  • Median Income
  • Population Density (Higher is Better)
  • Unemployment Rates
  • Commute Time
  • Education Levels
  • Health Insurance Coverage
  • Poverty Rates

We ranked each suburb in Pennsylvania across a number of criteria from one to 69, with one being the best.

We then took the average rank across all criteria, with the town posting the lowest overall score being crowned the winner of the title “Best Suburb To Live In Pennsylvania”.

The result is some of the safest, quiet, and awesome places to live in Pennsylvania

Read on to see why Swarthmore is the ‘burb with the most, while Mckeesport is probably not the best place to live in Pennsylvania.

1. Swarthmore

Swarthmore, Pa

Source: Public domain

Population: 6,218
Median Income: $92,292
Median Home Price: $377,900
Swarthmore is located 13 miles west of Philadelphia.

2. Collegeville

Collegeville, Pa

Source: Wikipedia User Smallbones | CC BY-SA 3.0

Population: 5,279
Median Income: $105,761
Median Home Price: $302,800
Collegeville is located 21 miles west of Philadelphia.

3. Franklin Park

Franklin Park, Pa

Source: Public domain

Population: 14,228
Median Income: $121,661
Median Home Price: $312,200
Franklin Park is located 12 miles north of Pittsburgh.

These Are The 10 Best Places To Live In America

4. Conshohocken

Conshohocken, Pa

Source: Public domain

Population: 7,916
Median Income: $78,801
Median Home Price: $278,000
Conshohocken is located 10 miles west of Philadelphia.

5. Fox Chapel

Fox Chapel, Pa

Source: Wikipedia User Brastins | GFDL

Population: 5,392
Median Income: $148,553
Median Home Price: $548,600
Fox Chapel is located 7 miles east of Pittsburgh.

6. Ridley Park

Ridley Park, Pa

Source: Public domain

Population: 7,032
Median Income: $70,766
Median Home Price: $212,600
Ridley Park is located 13 miles west of Philadelphia.

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7. Dormont

Dormont, Pa

Source: Public domain

Population: 8,491
Median Income: $58,875
Median Home Price: $121,000
Dormont is located 4 miles west of Pittsburgh.

8. Economy

Economy, Pa

Source: Public domain

Population: 9,240
Median Income: $78,578
Median Home Price: $166,900
Economy is located 17 miles west of Pittsburgh.

9. Norwood

Norwood, Pa

Source: Wikipedia User US Census, Ruhr | GFDL

Population: 5,900
Median Income: $70,313
Median Home Price: $165,600
Norwood is located 12 miles west of Philadelphia.

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10. Oakmont

Oakmont, Pa

Source: Wikipedia User Jim Kuhn | CC BY 2.0

Population: 6,420
Median Income: $61,523
Median Home Price: $175,000
Oakmont is located 9 miles east of Pittsburgh.

There You Have It – The Best Suburbs In Pennsylvania

Here’s a look at the worst suburbs in Pennsylvania according to the data:

  1. Mckeesport
  2. Clairton
  3. Duquesne

For more Pennsylvania reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Best Suburbs In Pennsylvania

City Rank Population Median Income Median Home Price
Swarthmore 1 6,218 $92,292 $377,900
Collegeville 2 5,279 $105,761 $302,800
Franklin Park 3 14,228 $121,661 $312,200
Conshohocken 4 7,916 $78,801 $278,000
Fox Chapel 5 5,392 $148,553 $548,600
Ridley Park 6 7,032 $70,766 $212,600
Dormont 7 8,491 $58,875 $121,000
Economy 8 9,240 $78,578 $166,900
Norwood 9 5,900 $70,313 $165,600
Oakmont 10 6,420 $61,523 $175,000
Perkasie 11 8,495 $67,700 $241,200
West View 12 6,704 $57,078 $124,200
Souderton 13 6,737 $66,000 $230,300
Media 14 5,345 $68,827 $288,200
Brookhaven 15 8,056 $67,348 $196,300
Pleasant Hills 16 8,271 $68,453 $153,600
Glenolden 17 7,167 $60,490 $152,600
Whitehall 18 13,873 $59,853 $141,100
Hatboro 19 7,412 $66,176 $254,100
Lansdale 20 16,454 $61,095 $220,600
White Oak 21 7,803 $52,935 $96,000
Castle Shannon 22 8,288 $50,783 $116,100
Crafton 23 5,899 $51,236 $117,200
West Chester 24 19,434 $50,853 $320,600
Ambler 25 6,507 $57,210 $264,400
Jeannette 26 9,395 $41,395 $84,800
Jefferson Hills 27 11,214 $79,615 $193,200
Lower Burrell 28 11,527 $57,686 $135,000
Bridgeville 29 5,117 $45,849 $123,200
Canonsburg 30 8,933 $50,399 $129,800
Phoenixville 31 16,638 $57,769 $213,800
Turtle Creek 32 5,292 $33,345 $63,900
Plum 33 27,474 $71,204 $142,800
Bristol 34 9,593 $42,962 $180,700
Forest Hills 35 6,475 $63,563 $122,500
Carnegie 36 7,944 $45,109 $98,700
Lansdowne 37 10,621 $54,608 $160,000
Brentwood 38 9,550 $51,197 $96,300
Monaca 39 5,678 $41,057 $100,400
Bellevue 40 8,285 $41,073 $105,500
West Mifflin 41 20,153 $50,273 $92,900
Greensburg 42 14,572 $36,256 $123,100
Sharon Hill 43 5,691 $51,908 $120,000
California 44 6,564 $36,820 $112,800
Baldwin 45 19,794 $55,573 $120,600
Folcroft 46 6,616 $60,750 $112,600
Clifton Heights 47 6,670 $44,727 $130,200
Munhall 48 11,305 $48,978 $81,500
Swissvale 49 8,893 $40,391 $78,200
Vandergrift 50 5,063 $39,797 $66,900
Butler 51 13,399 $29,477 $92,100
Yeadon 52 11,506 $48,420 $138,900
Coraopolis 53 5,617 $39,787 $91,200
Monessen 54 7,530 $36,319 $73,800
Washington 55 13,693 $36,512 $95,000
Collingdale 56 8,777 $47,396 $111,000
New Kensington 57 12,793 $40,148 $94,800
New Brighton 58 5,911 $35,223 $73,400
Beaver Falls 59 8,735 $30,372 $60,300
Ambridge 60 6,891 $33,758 $66,200
Arnold 61 5,019 $25,599 $58,400
Wilkinsburg 62 15,797 $33,905 $77,900
Mckees Rocks 63 6,046 $29,431 $43,500
Chester 64 34,056 $27,217 $66,800
Aliquippa 65 9,258 $32,405 $65,200
Darby 66 10,677 $34,199 $74,000
Duquesne 67 5,534 $21,495 $36,000
Clairton 68 6,719 $30,513 $47,000
Mckeesport 69 19,529 $26,271 $45,700

About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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