Best PlacesArdmore, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ardmore, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ardmore ranks 242nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ardmore
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Ardmore's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ardmore ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
Where Ardmore ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,159 a month, better than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ardmore
A household needs to earn about $139,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ardmore home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $135,162; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Ardmore's effective rate of 1.30%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ardmore
Ardmore's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ardmore.
Who works in Ardmore, and how
Work in Ardmore centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 55%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Ardmore
Ardmore has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Ardmore and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ardmore, month by month
Ardmore sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 63° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Ardmore
Philadelphia International sits about 9 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 14.8 million passengers in 2025, with 179 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Ardmore
Schools across Ardmore average an A, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Penn Valley SchA+ · 87% proficient
- Gladwyne SchA+ · 86% proficient
- Penn Wynne SchA+ · 85% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bala-cynwyd MsA+ · 77% proficient
- Welsh Valley MsA+ · 75% proficient
- Haverford MsA · 64% proficient
Top high schools
- Lower Merion HsA+ · 90% proficient
- Harriton ShsA+ · 89% proficient
- Haverford ShsB · 49% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ardmore school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ardmore measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Ardmore against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ardmore
Is Ardmore a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ardmore ranks 242nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, transit, and health care access, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ardmore expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $496,965. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $135,162 median income, cost of living beats 95% of towns.
Is Ardmore safe?
Ardmore is safer than 25% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $347 per resident a year.
Compare Ardmore with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ardmore. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ardmore represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Ardmore detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ardmore: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ardmore: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ardmore: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ardmore: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ardmore detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.