Best PlacesMedia, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Media, 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.
Media ranks 124th 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 Media
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.
Media's strengths and weaknesses
Where Media ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of cities
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 98% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of cities
Where Media ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 23% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 24% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 31% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Media
A household needs to earn about $156,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Media home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $138,410, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Media's effective rate of 1.40%, 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 Media
Media runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Media.
Who works in Media, and how
Work in Media centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Media
Media has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of cities and more parkland per resident than 90% of cities. The coast is about 44 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Media and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Media, month by month
Media sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Media
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 Media
Schools across Media average an A+, better than 99% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Wallingford El SchA+ · 98% proficient
- Media El SchA+ · 95% proficient
- Rose Tree El SchA+ · 90% proficient
Top middle schools
- Strath Haven MsA+ · 74% proficient
- Springton Lake MsA+ · 74% proficient
- Richardson MsA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Penncrest HsA+ · 95% proficient
- Great Valley HsA+ · 90% proficient
- Springfield HsA+ · 84% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Media school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Media 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 Media against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Media suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of cities and 24% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Media
Is Media a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Media ranks 124th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on health care access, good schools, and tree cover, and lowest on state infrastructure and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Media expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $551,458. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $138,410 median income, cost of living beats 88% of cities.
Is Media safe?
Media is safer than 49% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $265 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Media?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 27. That works out to about 66 pleasant days a year, more than 18% of cities.
Is Media good for families?
Schools beat 100% of cities, crime safety beats 49%, and childcare runs $1,032 a month.
Compare Media with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Media. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Media 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.
Media detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Media: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Media: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Media: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Media: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Media 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.