The 10 Worst Philadelphia Suburbs

The 10 Worst Philadelphia Suburbs To Live For 2025

We’ll get the ball rolling with Penns Grove, the absolute worst place to live around Philadelphia according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Penns Grove beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 3rd worst in the Philadelphia area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 6th worst when it comes to home values.

But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s Penns Grove.

You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area. There aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.

Welcome to Camden. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 5.2 miles to Philadelphia. Income levels here are the 2nd lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $40,450 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.

But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.

Back up the highway we go for the third worst Philadelphia suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Eddystone on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.

In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school dropout rate is poor compared to other Philadelphia suburbs.

But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.

If you live in Colwyn, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 8th lowest Philadelphia suburb for median household incomes.

Not only that, but this is the worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Philadelphia. Remember, we looked at 92 cities for this study.

Colwyn is about 9.2 miles to downtown.

Chester has the distinction of being a Philadelphia suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Chester has the lowest home values in the metro Philadelphia area, where the median price is $100,059. The median income is $190,882.

Chester has an unemployment rate of 17.55% which ranks 3rd worst.

Folcroft has 6,748 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)

Incomes are towards the bottom, and the poverty rate sits at 17.071724955542383%.

Ah, Paulsboro. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Philadelphia.

It’s the place with the 9th most out of work residents in the Philadelphia metro area (12.71%).

Collingdale is a city about 10.0 miles from Philadelphia, but Philadelphia probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Collingdale has the 10th most uninsured people, 6th worst incomes, and has the 12th highest unemployment rate (10.93%) in the entire Philadelphia metro area.

Homes only cost $207,118 for a reason. That’s cheap for Philadelphia standards.

If you absolutely have to live near Philadelphia, then Darby might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Philadelphia suburb.

About 20.05% of residents are out of work.

Rounding out the ten worst Philadelphia suburbs to call home is Burlington.

Located 15.6 miles outside the city, Burlingtons is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 10th highest unemployment rate (12.49%), and poverty is far above the area average.