Best PlacesGlenside, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Glenside, 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.
Glenside ranks 249th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Glenside
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.
Glenside's strengths and weaknesses
Where Glenside ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 94% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 89% of cities
Where Glenside ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 17% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 28% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 30% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Glenside
A household needs to earn about $124,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Glenside home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $132,915, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Glenside's effective rate of 1.53%, 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 Glenside
Glenside's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Glenside.
Who works in Glenside, and how
Work in Glenside centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Glenside
Glenside has more parkland per resident than 93% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Glenside and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Glenside, month by month
Glenside sees roughly 72 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 Glenside
Philadelphia International sits about 16 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 Glenside
Schools across Glenside average an A−, better than 86% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Fitzwater El SchA+ · 85% proficient
- Springfield Twp El Sch-erdenhmA+ · 85% proficient
- Jenkintown El SchA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sandy Run MsA+ · 71% proficient
- Springfield Twp MsA · 65% proficient
- Abington MsB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Upper Dublin HsA+ · 91% proficient
- Springfield Twp HsA+ · 90% proficient
- Jenkintown Middle/high SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Glenside school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Glenside 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 Glenside against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Glenside suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 85% of cities and 23% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Glenside
Is Glenside a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Glenside ranks 249th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on health care access, few empty homes, and civic engagement, and lowest on state infrastructure and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Glenside expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $430,130. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $132,915 median income, cost of living beats 85% of cities.
Is Glenside safe?
Glenside is safer than 28% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $323 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Glenside?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 40 with lows near 25. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 31% of cities.
Is Glenside good for families?
Schools beat 86% of cities, crime safety beats 28%, and childcare runs $1,296 a month.
Compare Glenside with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Glenside. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Glenside 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.
Glenside detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Glenside: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Glenside: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Glenside: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Glenside: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Glenside 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.