These Are The 10 Worst Philadelphia Suburbs For 2018


We used science and data to determine which Philly suburbs are the real pits.

Nick James, RoadSnacks
December 29, 2017 - 272,355 views
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Not everyone is cut out for city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Philadelphia.

So the question arises, do the suburbs maintain a semblance of the larger-than-life appeal of their more famous neighbor?

Today, we’ll use science and data to determine which Philadelphia ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Philadelphia area if you will. Realistically, you can’t expect all the suburbs to live up to Philadelphia proper, although Narberth certainly tries.

Of course, not all suburbs of Philadelphia are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones. So without further ado…

We examined the 91 biggest suburbs of Philadelphia to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t necessarily find them on the worst places to live in Pennsylvania lists, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Philadelphia in terms of quality of life.

Here are the 10 worst suburbs around Philadelphia for 2018:

  1. Marcus Hook (Photos)
  2. Penns Grove
  3. Chester (Photos)
  4. Camden
  5. Lindenwold
  6. Paulsboro
  7. Trenton
  8. Eddystone (Photos)
  9. Darby (Photos)
  10. Bellmawr

Read on to see how we determined the places around Philadelphia that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don’t blame the messenger.

Or, if you’re thinking of moving to elsewhere in Pennsylvania check out the best places in Pennsylvania overall or the worst.

And remember, there are some good places to live around Philadelphia too.

Editor’s Note: If you see a slight difference between the worst in state rankings and this suburb ranking, it’s because of the methodology. We needed a way to include more places, so we eliminated crime and commute times as criteria for this analysis.

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Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Philadelphia for 2018

To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things.

We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the most recent American Community Survey data, this is the criteria we used:

  • High unemployment rate
  • Low median household incomes
  • Low population density (no things to do)
  • Low home values
  • A lot of high school drop outs
  • High poverty
  • High rate of uninsured families

FYI: We defined a suburb as being within 30 miles of Philadelphia.

These Are The 10 Most Ghetto Cities In Pennsylvania

Additionally, we limited the analysis to places that have over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 91 suburbs to evaluate around Philadelphia.

We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 91 in each category, where 1 was the ‘worst’.

Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality of life index.

And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index the ‘Worst Suburb near Philadelphia.’ We’re lookin’ at you, Marcus Hook.

Read on below to learn more about what it’s like to live in the worst of the worst. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the suburbs ranked from worst to best.

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1. Marcus Hook

Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 2,420
Unemployment Rate: 20.4%
Median Home Price: $78,800
Median Income: $37,961
We’ll get the ball rolling with Marcus Hook, the absolute worst place to live around Philadelphia according to the data.

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

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.

2. Penns Grove

Source: Public Domain

Population: 4,985
Unemployment Rate: 19.3%
Median Home Price: $114,700
Median Income: $34,439
Welcome to Penns Grove. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 26.3 miles to Philadelphia. Income levels here are the 5th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $34,439 a year, which doesn’t go a long ways even on a shoestring budget.

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

3. Chester

Chester, Pennsylvania

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 34,056
Unemployment Rate: 19.0%
Median Home Price: $66,800
Median Income: $27,217
Back up the highway we go for the third worst Philadelphia suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Chester 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 drop out rate is poor compared to other Philadelphia suburbs.

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

4. Camden

Source: Public Domain

Population: 76,005
Unemployment Rate: 16.5%
Median Home Price: $82,800
Median Income: $26,214
If you live in Camden, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 1st lowest Philadelphia suburb when it comes to residents making money.

Not only that, but this is the 5th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Philadelphia. Remember, we looked at 91 cities for this study.

Camden is about 5.2 miles to downtown.

5. Lindenwold

Source: Public Domain

Population: 17,482
Unemployment Rate: 11.1%
Median Home Price: $124,300
Median Income: $38,918
Lindenwold has the distinction of being a Philadelphia suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Lindenwold has the 16th lowest home values in the metro Philadelphia area, where the median price is $124,300. To put that into perspective, in Narberth, the median income is $135,700, which is the best in the area.

Lindenwold has an unemployment rate of 11.1% which ranks 14th worst.

6. Paulsboro

Source: Public Domain

Population: 6,009
Unemployment Rate: 15.4%
Median Home Price: $122,800
Median Income: $42,154
Paulsboro has 6,009 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 29.2%.

7. Trenton

Source: Public Domain

Population: 84,559
Unemployment Rate: 16.0%
Median Home Price: $100,000
Median Income: $34,412
Ah, Trenton. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Philadelphia.

It’s the place with the 6th most out of work residents in the Philadelphia metro area (16.0%).

8. Eddystone

Eddystone, Pennsylvania

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 2,596
Unemployment Rate: 11.0%
Median Home Price: $92,200
Median Income: $44,306
Eddystone is a city about 15.2 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. Eddystone has the 43rd most uninsured people, 14th worst incomes, and has the 15th highest unemployment rate (11.0%) in the entire Philadelphia metro area.

Homes only cost $92,200 for a reason. That’s cheap for Philadelphia standards.

9. Darby

Darby, Pennsylvania

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 10,677
Unemployment Rate: 10.3%
Median Home Price: $74,000
Median Income: $34,199
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 10.3% of residents are out of work.

10. Bellmawr

Source: Public Domain

Population: 11,503
Unemployment Rate: 11.4%
Median Home Price: $163,700
Median Income: $47,569
Rounding out the ten worst Philadelphia suburbs to call home is Bellmawr.

Located 10.1 miles outside the city, Bellmawrs is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 11th highest unemployment rate (11.4%), and poverty is far above the area average.

The areas around Philadelphia where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2018

Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Philadelphia with Marcus Hook casting itself ahead of the pack.

As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Philadelphia aren’t all bad. Narberth takes the cake as the best place to live around Philadelphia.

For more Pennsylvania reading , check out:

Detailed List Of The Worst Philadelphia Suburbs

City Rank Population Unemployment Rate Median Home Price Median Income
Marcus Hook 1 2,420 20.4% $78,800 $37,961
Penns Grove 2 4,985 19.3% $114,700 $34,439
Chester 3 34,056 19.0% $66,800 $27,217
Camden 4 76,005 16.5% $82,800 $26,214
Lindenwold 5 17,482 11.1% $124,300 $38,918
Paulsboro 6 6,009 15.4% $122,800 $42,154
Trenton 7 84,559 16.0% $100,000 $34,412
Eddystone 8 2,596 11.0% $92,200 $44,306
Darby 9 10,677 10.3% $74,000 $34,199
Bellmawr 10 11,503 11.4% $163,700 $47,569
Woodlynne 11 2,955 8.8% $99,800 $41,985
Pine Hill 12 10,472 8.5% $140,100 $46,928
Lawnside 13 2,923 20.3% $167,100 $58,920
Clementon 14 4,924 8.2% $139,300 $54,271
Woodbury 15 10,024 10.4% $161,600 $51,810
Upland 16 3,248 6.8% $99,000 $39,315
Beverly 17 2,538 10.7% $150,700 $47,417
Collingdale 18 8,777 11.2% $111,000 $47,396
Colwyn 19 2,557 13.5% $89,100 $40,208
Wilmington 20 71,502 10.3% $162,400 $40,065
Magnolia 21 4,321 12.5% $158,000 $54,940
Burlington 22 9,850 11.4% $163,600 $52,537
Yeadon 23 11,506 9.2% $138,900 $48,420
Glassboro 24 19,195 10.2% $190,400 $66,625
Clayton 25 8,386 7.9% $178,100 $64,825
Westville 26 4,233 10.8% $162,600 $54,375
Clifton Heights 27 6,670 6.1% $130,200 $44,727
National Park 28 3,012 9.7% $153,600 $60,750
Runnemede 29 8,394 9.6% $169,400 $61,675
Somerdale 30 5,362 8.5% $161,600 $59,063
Mount Ephraim 31 4,639 9.1% $165,100 $59,872
Bristol 32 9,593 5.5% $180,700 $42,962
Folcroft 33 6,616 6.7% $112,600 $60,750
Palmyra 34 7,299 10.0% $170,100 $66,130
Dublin 35 2,121 5.0% $296,200 $53,182
Stratford 36 7,021 9.4% $181,300 $68,990
East Lansdowne 37 2,661 3.8% $122,900 $58,259
Telford 38 4,893 7.2% $220,400 $62,578
Bridgeport 39 4,574 3.8% $195,200 $47,622
Penndel 40 2,823 9.8% $270,900 $51,000
Royersford 41 4,782 7.5% $189,000 $51,399
Ambler 42 6,507 10.0% $264,400 $57,210
Hatfield 43 3,313 5.9% $250,300 $50,486
Sharon Hill 44 5,691 3.4% $120,000 $51,908
Phoenixville 45 16,638 6.2% $213,800 $57,769
Lansdowne 46 10,621 7.6% $160,000 $54,608
West Chester 47 19,434 6.7% $320,600 $50,853
Parkside 48 2,281 7.7% $135,100 $60,043
Woodbury Heights 49 3,027 8.7% $198,200 $85,000
Lansdale 50 16,454 7.0% $220,600 $61,095
Glenolden 51 7,167 3.6% $152,600 $60,490
Pitman 52 8,916 8.8% $188,300 $72,633
Morton 53 2,684 6.3% $186,300 $58,750
Swedesboro 54 2,606 4.1% $200,700 $77,868
Berlin 55 7,620 7.5% $230,500 $87,697
Merchantville 56 3,771 7.7% $221,900 $75,625
Gibbsboro 57 2,157 7.5% $202,100 $78,824
Brookhaven 58 8,056 8.8% $196,300 $67,348
Barrington 59 6,831 6.7% $204,700 $68,167
New Britain 60 3,025 12.0% $248,400 $72,377
Norwood 61 5,900 7.5% $165,600 $70,313
Souderton 62 6,737 4.8% $230,300 $66,000
Trappe 63 3,559 5.3% $244,000 $80,500
Sellersville 64 4,226 3.9% $197,600 $66,490
Hatboro 65 7,412 8.8% $254,100 $66,176
Oaklyn 66 4,000 8.6% $187,300 $65,776
Aldan 67 4,170 7.8% $164,400 $63,892
Perkasie 68 8,495 5.0% $241,200 $67,700
Malvern 69 3,343 4.7% $340,000 $74,088
Bordentown 70 3,874 6.2% $211,200 $70,000
Media 71 5,345 7.6% $288,200 $68,827
North Wales 72 3,245 6.5% $230,200 $65,724
Ridley Park 73 7,032 7.9% $212,600 $70,766
Rockledge 74 2,548 6.1% $243,300 $58,375
Audubon 75 8,748 6.3% $210,900 $77,066
Collingswood 76 13,925 5.3% $257,900 $62,524
Chalfont 77 4,054 7.2% $322,700 $94,000
Chester Heights 78 2,581 4.2% $247,400 $85,801
Riverton 79 2,736 5.6% $279,000 $93,558
Lambertville 80 3,841 1.4% $365,200 $89,955
New Hope 81 2,385 6.1% $524,900 $72,963
Wenonah 82 2,163 4.5% $276,600 $102,750
Conshohocken 83 7,916 5.2% $278,000 $78,801
Yardley 84 2,392 5.9% $326,600 $82,235
Haddon Heights 85 7,506 5.3% $280,100 $86,676
Pennington 86 2,567 4.5% $519,100 $117,039
Medford Lakes 87 4,081 6.7% $290,400 $106,741
Collegeville 88 5,279 4.7% $302,800 $105,761
Swarthmore 89 6,218 5.0% $377,900 $92,292
Haddonfield 90 11,444 3.4% $487,700 $135,700
Narberth 91 4,305 4.5% $423,900 $93,382

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40 thoughts on “These Are The 10 Worst Philadelphia Suburbs For 2018”

  1. You forgot (or probably don’t know) that average real estate values are an excellent crowd-sourced indication of public perception of intrinsic value. There are other logical (and grammatical) errors here. This clearly didn’t take many brain cycles to write.

    Reply

    1. Thanks for agreeing with us! We did in fact use lower home values as an indication of a place being a “worse place to live”. In fact, I’m of the idea that you could almost do these lists solely based on home prices.

      Thanks for playing Stephen!

      Reply

      1. Solely based on home prices?? Haha.

        By the way, you put a tremendous amount of weight on how schools are overcrowded but did you even consider the PERFORMANCE of the schools which is as important or more so?

        Reply

  2. You should do a “Best places to live” article to counter this. And perhaps an article on why Philly sucks worse than any of the ‘burbs listed above. Like that sales tax, or that absurd income tax. The insane traffic and the shitty roads (well, ok, they’re shitty all over the state). But I think I make my point. I grew up there, it sucked when I was there and it still sucks.

    Reply

  3. Oreland is better than Doylestown? Have you been to any of these places? Oreland has two mechanics and a wawa. Doylestown has 40 bars and restaurants and 3 nationally recognized museums. Also more historic landmarks per capita than Washington DC. Also I don’t think the picture you used is actually from Doylestown.

    Reply

  4. This is a hilarious list. Data and science clearly had nothing to do with this as West Chester, Media, and Conshohocken are affluent areas with incredibly low crime and your dumb ass somehow didn’t include Norristown or Downingtown. Don’t give up your day job.

    Reply

  6. Your list of Philadelphia suburbs is not very exhaustive at all. What about Norristown, Flourtown, Spring House, North Wales, Ambler, Glenside, Elkins Park, Cheltenham, Rockledge, Hungtington Valley, Montgomeryville, Harleysville, Worcester, East Norriton, Wayne, Haverton, Upper Darby, Springfield, Narbeth, Prospect Park, Norwood, Folcroft, Clifton Heights, Chester, Bala Cynwood, Lafayette Hill, Bridgeport…. Many of these locations have larger populations than many of the towns you chose to include. If they weren’t included in your data, than you should have made the effort to find a more complete dataset. Or at least make of a note of the lack of complete data. I would like to know what percentage of the total Philadelphia suburbs population is covered in these 27 locations. 20%? 15%?

    Beyond that, the analysis is far from complete. One of the main reasons individuals choose to move from the city to the suburbs is for the increased open spaces and decreased travel distance to outdoor recreational activities, as well as the population density crush of the city . To conduct analysis as you have, you are looking for simply city qualities in the suburbs. Do better analysis, or don’t post an incomplete, lacking opinion and stating it as if it was a thorough study.

    Reply

  7. This is the biggest piece of garbage I’ve ever read. I don’t live in any of these towns, but some of them are places I would love to. You have obviously never been anywhere near this region. Media and West Chester on a worst places to live list, yet places like Darby, Chester, Upper Darby with triple the crime and 1/4 the home values aren’t even mentioned? Obviously working with way too little data and drawing terrible assumptions from it.

    Reply

  10. This is one of the worst surveys I have ever seen!!! Where are poor suburbs like Bristol, PA in Bucks County??? Chester, PA. in Delaware County??? And Norristown, PA. in Montgomery County??? Only Wealthy and Popular Suburbs were chosen in this bizarre list. Shame!!!

    Reply

  11. This survey is deplorable. How Norristown, Coatesville, Chester, and many more did not make this list is laughable. As a West Chester resident, I am appalled.

    Reply

    1. No Kidding! First thing that came to my mind was the exact same thing…’WTF are Coatesville, Chester and Norristown’ ! I lived in Media, Coatesville and now Downingtown and I can assure you, the worst of that lot is Coatesville. Crime so bad it can’t even support one grocery store! I know West Chester well and it is a historic college town that certainly doesn’t belong on this list! Neither does Media, for that matter. Media’s biggest problem is its close proximity to the asshole of Philly=CHESTER! A long time PhilIy area resident, I can think of 10 other suburbs that are easily worse than WC, off the top of my head!

      Reply

  12. Basically the fact that Norristown isn’t on this list tells me that the writer isn’t from around here and looked at Wikipedia demographics (and choosing places with high median incomes??) to compile this list. Blue Bell is on the bottom of this list but is probably one of the nicest places in the suburbs. There are houses there that go for 8 figures.

    Reply

  14. I guess anyone can write an article and have it published. I don’t think this “writer” has ever been in the suburbs of Philly. For that matter on the eastern side of PA. With the research ( or lack there of) and variables used, this “writer” wouldn’t be able to even graduate from a Central Bucks school. (That’s the school district for Doylestown. #3 on your list) Most ridiculous list I have ever read. Note to the author- you should really think of another line of work. If you continue, may I suggest you work for the National Enquirer or some other tabloid.

    Reply

  15. Yeah…this is a deplorable bunch of garbage. I seriously doubt this “researcher” has visited and of these places. How do people like this get this kind of attention? Oh wait – is that the game? Say a load of crap and get us true Philly-burbs residents riled up? Sorry I’ve contributed to giving that attention. You don’t deserve it. Lies and sensational crap always do get the attention and truth and well-crafted work doesn’t. *sigh*

    Reply

  16. Ummm, what happened to Norristown or Coatesville or Chester, East Falls, Roxborough? So those were just ignored right?

    Reply

  17. This was written by someone in North Carolina, I believe.. I LOVE these internet lists, they are for attention only, facts do not get in the way, they are mostly garbage….And to sell ads and use scripts that paralyze your browser. My question is: why is irresponsible journalism so damn prevalent and permissable on the internet? This is one of so many totally inept and useless lists that I have seen, I rarely even click through to them anymore, regardless of how interesting the titles may be.. the good news is that at least this one didn’t paralyze my browser!~ How about Yinz?? LOL!

    Reply

  18. Yes I agree with all other comments regarding this so called list. In addition, I would add this so called inacurate list is based upon Census…the major “surrounding suburbs” that have the lowest economical standings outside the mispelled name of “Philadelphia” such as Chester, Essington, Roxborough, have no accurate census reporting….that is why this so called “list” is so inaccurate and just a ploy to get residents and former residents of many towns on this so called list, fired up! The list writer obviously knows nothing about the places he or she based his or her list. Census means nothing if low socioeconomic residents do not even complete them, which means the list writer knows nothing of the towns they based their so called list. Anyone from Delaware County could have enlightened you beyond your lame choice of reference! Perhaps this poor, misinformed, individual that can’t even spell the city of Philadelphia correctly, might consider spell check or investing in a dictionary before ever subjecting us to their ignorance again! #the more you know genius

    Reply

  20. I doubt a company in Durham, NC knows what the suburbs of Philadelphia are like. I’m guessing they’re just jealous that they live in Durham, a town who had to latch onto a large meaningful NC city called Raleigh to even be recognized

    Reply

  21. “These ten places are a little too far downwind of Philadelphia in terms of quality of life” is an odd statement to make when they rank higher than the city proper in the metrics used. “Meant as infotainment, don’t freak out” is just the internet version of that jerkoff everyone knows who follows up his idiotic statements with “I was just kidding, don’t take it so seriously!” — it wouldn’t need to be attached to the article if the author had actually, you know, researched things and thought about it instead of throwing together numbers and pretending it was in any way a valid measure.

    Reply

  22. My first message was never published, I find that interesting, so I will soften it a bit this time. You can’t just use statistics to tell about a place that you have apparently never visited. ALL of these comments are right, ’cause we are locals and we know what is going on around here. It is just irresponsible journalism to portray some of these areas as you did when we know better, and you missed the really scary areas. What happens if a couple from Holland or somewhere make travel plans and stay in Chester PA because they read in this inept article that West Chester is a nasty place (but it is not).. People are supposed to trust journalism, even if it is on the internet. Yinz broke that, in my opinion!

    Reply

  23. The statement in this article, “you can’t expect all the suburbs to live up to Philadelphia proper”, indicates the extent of brain power of the writer. Yeah, I lived in Philadelphia for years while in grad school and, while it had its good points, I’d prefer to live where there isn’t garbage, graffiti, and one or two panhandlers right outside my door. I take offense at “infotainment” that is wholly negative and does nothing to highlight the good parts of each of these locations (all of which I, in contrast, know quite well). This is ten wasted minutes of my life that I’ll never get back.

    Reply

  24. I live in Glenside. We have The Keswick Theater, a beautiful venue where top name acts perform. We have Keswick village with charming stores and restaurants. Our school district is Abington School District which is an excellent school district. There is a Halloween happening every year, and Santa and Mrs. Claus visit the town square. We have the second oldest July 4 th parade. Glenside is idyllic. Anyone who says otherwise has not set foot in Glenside!

    Reply

  26. I know its infotainment but I don’t think you even know what science and data is.

    But if you were looking to make the most inaccurate list of internet history, well done!!! Success!! Keep up the bad work.

    Reply

  27. I grew up in Doylestown. Central Bucks consistently ranks high in the state for education. Low crime, tons of things to do. Someone obviously didn’t do their research and has never been there.

    Reply

  28. I live in Lansdale. The schools are way over crowded, taxes are insane and crime is getting worse. Still, it’s way better than Norristown, Chester, and several other towns near by. You can’t make a list like this unless you’ve lived in the Philly burbs.

    Reply

  31. This ranking was so ridiculously off base. I happened to live in 2 of these areas (Lansdale and Souderton) and would LOVE to live in one of them, Doylestown. All three are very nice areas.

    Reply

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