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FeedOur 29 Best Towns
From Bala Cynwyd to West Chester, we asked local realtors for the lowdown on how things are shaping up in our area. See how your town is faring.
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Location, location, location. That mantra has remained a proven constant over the past four years—even when the real estate market has been, in a word, tumultuous. Alas, you can change almost anything about a house but its location. Lucky for us, the Main Line and its western suburbs have a surplus of prime locales. Each town, however, has its own personality and reputation. “It takes a full day to drive around with a prospective client and explain the county lines, the township divisions and school districts—and how the towns blend into each other,” says Narberth-based realtor John S. Duffy. “With Main Line towns, you can’t generalize because there are so many different sections to them. They all shift and evolve into different areas.”
Here’s a closer look at what 29 of them have to offer.
• Ardmore
• Bala Cynwyd & Merion
• Berwyn & Devon
• Broomall
• Bryn Mawr
• Chester Springs
• Downingtown
• Gladwyne
• Glen Mills
• Haverford
• Havertown
• Kennett Square
• Malvern
• Media
• Narberth
• Newtown Square
• Paoli
• Phoenixville
• St. Davids, Radnor & Villanova
• Unionville & Chadds Ford
• Wayne & Strafford
• West Chester
• Wynnewood
Click here for a list of the area's hottest neighborhoods.
Click here for real estate stats on your town.
Click here for a list of local realtors who contributed to this feature.
Reader Comments:
Thank you for your article, "Our 29 Best Towns". I enjoyed reading and learning more about my surrounding communities. Although it was noted that Lower Merion, Unionville & Chadds Ford, West Chester and even Downingtown have excellent schools, I was surprised that there was no mention of the quality of the schools in the Tredyffrin-Eastown and Radnor school districts, which are typically at the top of the list (please see link below from "PhillyMag.com", which published a list of Top 50 School Districts, as well as an excerpt from schoolmatters.com). In addition, it is noteworthy that Devon Elementary School was the selected by the U.S. Department of Education as a 2010 National Blue Ribbon School, one of 304 schools from across the nation.
Thank you.
A Devon Resident
http://www.phillymag.com/articles/the_top_50_school_districts_2008/
This info is from schoolmatters.com. It represents the highest combined verbal + math scores above proficiency in the districts high schools which is usually a fair barometer of the overall school district.
The top 10 high schools overall according to the combined reading + verbal scores per schoolmatters.com .
1.Conestoga(tredyffrin-eastown) -Chester County
2.Central Bucks East- Bucks County
3.Harriton(lower merion)- Montgomery County
4.Radnor- Delaware County
5.Lower Merion- Montgomery County
6.Great Valley-Chester County
7.Unionville-(Chadds Ford- Unionville) Chester County
8.Garnet Valley-Delaware County
9.Central Bucks West- Bucks County
10.Central Bucks South-Bucks County
10.Downingtown East- Chester County
Delaware County
Radnor
Garnet Valey
Penncrest (Rose Tree Media)
Strathaven( Wallingford-Swarthmore)
Marple Newtown
Haverford
Springfield
Ridley
Sun Valley(Penn Delco)
Interboro
Chester County
Conestoga( Tredyffrin- Eastown)
Great Valley
Unionville(Chadds Ford-Unionville)
Downingtown East
West Chester East
Downingtown West
West Chester henderson
Twin Valley
Owen J Roberts
Kennet
Octorara
Oxford
Montgomery County
Harriton (Lower Merion)
Lower Merion(Lower merion)
Abington
Upper Dublin
Lower Moreland
Methacton
Wissahickon
Souderton
Upper Perkiomen
Springfield
North Penn
Upper Merion
Boyertown
Plymouth Whitemarsh
Hatboro Horsham
Periomen
Cheltenham
Pottsgrove
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forum/pennsylvania/50924-best-school-districts-philly-pa-suburbs.html#ixzz1FNYQNOJ0
The article does a lot of ragging on the supposedly high taxes of Delco compared to Montco, but by my calculations the rates are the same in (for example) Lower Merion (2.917%) and Radnor (2.923%).
Love Berwyn, great homes, nice downtown area. Clays bakery has wonderful cakes. It is fun popping in some of the boutiques, like Jennifer on the Ave. I also like buying tea at Royal Tea House, best selection of loose tea outside of Philadelphia. There is also typically parking in Berwyn. And the restaurant scene seems to be picking up everytime I stop in Berwyn.