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

Solebury

Population: 8,692
School district: New Hope-Solebury
SAT scores: 555 math / 564 reading / 548 writing
Crime rate: .91 violent crimes per 1,000; 8.64 nonviolent per 1,000
Median home price: $537,000

Looking to nurture a Tom Sawyer-type adventurer? Parents come here for the wide-open spaces. Land conservation’s big: Residents have voted for higher taxes (it’s still a bargain, claims one parent) to save green space and farmland from development. The township’s quaint villages have historical-marker appeal with none of the shabbiness; moms and dads in these parts may embrace their farm-y aesthetic, but they earn Wall Street and pharma salaries. The high-participation youth sports leagues (football, soccer, baseball and more) and the solid, small New Hope-Solebury School District mean everybody’s acquainted, involved and serving on a committee; you’ll need to show up an hour early to get a good seat at the third-grade recital. Just how rural is Solebury? Among the FAQs addressed on the township’s website: “What should I do about a dead deer in my yard?” But the occasional animal carcass is a small price to pay for parents craving life in the archetypal American pastoral, and a stone’s throw away, New Hope, Doylestown and Peddlers Village provide the artsiness, shopping, nightlife and activities that modern adults require. Whether they make their kids paint their fences is up to them.

To read about Lafayette Hill, click here.