Best Places to Raise Kids: The 15 Most Family-Friendly Philly Suburbs

Wynnewood

Population: 13,299
School District: Lower Merion
Average SAT scores: 574 math / 589 reading / 576 writing
Crime rate: .58 violent crimes per 1,000; 15.29 nonviolent per 1,000*
Median home price: $415,000

For young couples looking to set up shop—and not move that shop for a good handful of years—Wynnewood serves as a perfect gateway address to the Main Line. It’s of the first-ring variety of suburbia, technically just a postal district nestled in Lower Merion. A mere eight driven miles or four train stops outside Center City, Wynnewood is especially appealing for new suburbanites not quite ready to rip off the city-life Band-Aid. And while it’s chock-full of the stately Chestnut Hill-esque stone manses one still thinks of as old Main Line—
established, mature developments, as opposed to new construction—there’s also an abundance of lovely homes to be had beginning in the $200,000s and low $300,000s, a real estate diversity not shared by its more western neighbors. The Wynnewood Shopping Center serves as the de facto town hub, while a sojourn to nearby Narberth quenches the need for cutesy. And kids attend those powerhouse Lower Merion schools, promising the path to a Successful Life. It might not be where you retire. But it’s hard to find a better place to start.

*Crime rate for Lower Merion Township.

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