Best PlacesMalvern, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Malvern, 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.
Malvern ranks 15th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Malvern
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.
Malvern's strengths and weaknesses
Where Malvern ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of cities
- School gradeA+, better than 97% of cities
- Household income$176,993 median, better than 97% of cities
Where Malvern ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 23% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 23% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 26% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Malvern
A household needs to earn about $193,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Malvern home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $176,993; 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 Malvern's effective rate of 0.98%, 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 Malvern
Malvern runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Malvern.
Who works in Malvern, and how
Work in Malvern centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Malvern
Malvern has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of cities and more parkland per resident than 95% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Malvern and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Malvern, month by month
Malvern sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 31° | 22° |
| April | 65° | 52° | 40° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Malvern
Philadelphia International sits about 20 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 Malvern
Schools across Malvern average an A+, better than 97% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Valley Forge El SchA+ · 98% proficient
- New Eagle El SchA+ · 98% proficient
- Beaumont El SchA+ · 98% proficient
Top middle schools
- Valley Forge MsA+ · 90% proficient
- Tredyffrin-easttown MsA+ · 85% proficient
- Stetson MsA+ · 75% proficient
Top high schools
- Downingtown Stem AcademyA+ · 98% proficient
- Great Valley HsA+ · 90% proficient
- Conestoga ShsA+ · 89% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Malvern school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Malvern 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 Malvern against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Malvern suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 98% of cities and 33% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Malvern
Is Malvern a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Malvern ranks 15th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on health care access, what local pay buys, and an educated workforce, and lowest on internet speeds and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Malvern expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $721,846. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $176,993 median income, cost of living beats 98% of cities.
Is Malvern safe?
Yes, Malvern is safer than 86% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $183 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Malvern?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 22. That works out to about 71 pleasant days a year, more than 28% of cities.
Is Malvern good for families?
Schools beat 97% of cities, crime safety beats 86%, and childcare runs $1,310 a month.
Compare Malvern with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Malvern. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Malvern 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.
Malvern detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Malvern: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Malvern: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Malvern: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Malvern: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Malvern 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.