Best PlacesBala-Cynwyd, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bala-Cynwyd, 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.
Bala-Cynwyd ranks 229th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bala-Cynwyd
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.
Bala-Cynwyd's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bala-Cynwyd ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$181,736 median, better than 99% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
Where Bala-Cynwyd ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,295 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bala-Cynwyd
A household needs to earn about $195,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bala-Cynwyd home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $181,736; 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 Bala-Cynwyd's effective rate of 1.24%, 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 Bala-Cynwyd
Bala-Cynwyd runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bala-Cynwyd.
Who works in Bala-Cynwyd, and how
Work in Bala-Cynwyd centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 60%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Bala-Cynwyd
Bala-Cynwyd has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bala-Cynwyd and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bala-Cynwyd, month by month
Bala-Cynwyd 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 Bala-Cynwyd
Philadelphia International sits about 10 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 Bala-Cynwyd
Schools across Bala-Cynwyd average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fern Hill El SchA+ · 95% proficient
- Merion El SchA+ · 90% proficient
- Cynwyd SchA+ · 89% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bala-cynwyd MsA+ · 77% proficient
- Welsh Valley MsA+ · 75% proficient
- E N Peirce MsA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Lower Merion HsA+ · 90% proficient
- Harriton ShsA+ · 89% proficient
- West Chester Henderson HsA · 79% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bala-Cynwyd school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bala-Cynwyd 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 Bala-Cynwyd against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bala-Cynwyd
Is Bala-Cynwyd a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bala-Cynwyd ranks 229th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, what local pay buys, and an educated workforce, 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 Bala-Cynwyd expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $702,882. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $181,736 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Bala-Cynwyd safe?
Bala-Cynwyd is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $442 per resident a year.
Compare Bala-Cynwyd with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bala-Cynwyd. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bala-Cynwyd 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.
Bala-Cynwyd detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bala-Cynwyd: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bala-Cynwyd: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bala-Cynwyd: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bala-Cynwyd: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bala-Cynwyd 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.