Best Places to Raise Kids: The 15 Most Family-Friendly Philly Suburbs
Moorestown
Population: 20,726
School district: Moorestown Township
SAT scores: 587 math / 562 reading / 560 writing
Crime rate: .92 violent crimes per 1,000; 0.47 nonviolent per 1,000
Median home price: $502,000
Despite being home to almost 20,000 people, Moorestown feels as though it’s a mile square, which may be one of the reasons Money magazine named it the best place to live in the entire country six years ago. It’s expensive to set up house here—because everybody wants to (including seemingly half of Philly’s pro athletes and the media folk who cover them). Thanks to top-flight schools that may be the best in all of South Jersey, strong Quaker roots, a thriving community theater troupe and buckets of picket-fence charm, the town’s real estate remains pricey. But beware: You can’t buy liquor here, a ban in effect since 1915. Locals still mourn the loss of the addictive doughnuts at the now-shuttered Peter Pan Bakery on Main Street, which fed generations of Moorestownians. But when the first big snowfall of the year hits, and kids and their kid-at-heart parents pour onto Stokes Hill (Samuel Leeds Allen, who invented the Flexible Flyer, was a native) for a giggling round of all-day sledding and hot cocoa, the postcard comes to life. “We’ve raised five children here,” Pat Miller, the wife of a former mayor, told USA Today in 2005, the year the town topped the Money list. “All of them want to come back.”
To read about Medford Lakes, click here.
