Rank Pennsylvania's 10 Best Suburbs (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: sale, amusement park, lawyers)

[Penna76]

Rank and list your top 10 of Pennsylvania's best suburbs.

Try to include at least one or two suburban areas that are not in the Philadelphia or Pittsburgh metros.

Have fun!




1) Wayne - Beautiful town center with a direct train/public transit into Philadelphia. Surrounding area has tons of character and the best schools in the state. Close to Valley Forge for recreation.


2) Gladwyne - The most exclusive zipcode in the state. Full of grand estates. It does not have a town center. (why I ranked it number 2), but oh is it beautiful.


3) West Chester - Super vibrant, with so many wonderful restaurants, shops and amazing colonial architecture. It honestly feels as or if not more vibrant than some of Pennsylvania's small cities.

4) Media - Fairly close to Philadelphia, and it is brimming with charm. Its Main St. has such a diverse array of restaurants and a very strong community with tons of character.

5) Newtown - Tons of character with great access to Bucks County and its bucolic rolling hills.

6) Sewickley - Pittsburgh's premier suburb. Absolutely gorgeous homes. Tons of old money. Very similar to Philadelphia's Main Line.

7) Upper St. Claire - I love the hills here. They are gorgeous and very unique. And having direct high speed train access to Pittsburgh makes the South Hills #1 in my book.

8) Mt. Lebanon - Super vibrant. Almost an urban/suburban vibe. Great schools and so close to Pittsburgh with direct transit access,

9) Doylestown - Absolutely charming town in bucolic Bucks County. Super vibrant. Most definitely a bit more exuberan than suburban. But still makes the top 10.

10) Hershey - Hershey is so quaint and its downtown area is very attractive. Penn State Medical School brings in quite a bit of money into the town, and it shows. Overall very nice and a beautiful suburb located outside the top 2 cities of the state.

11) Camp Hill - Receives an honorable mention. It is neck and neck with Hershey. Hershey is predominately made of Doctors. Camp Hill is predominately comprised of Lawyers/Lobbyist. But overall a very charming suburb with a high QOL.

I can't wait to see others list! And try to include a small blurb why.

[ElijahAstin]

You mix neighborhoods (e.g., Gladwyne) and municipalities (e.g., Upper St. Clair). I would do one or the other.

[bridge12]

No PA suburb list is complete without Narberth! Narberth is my number one for the Philly suburbs. Super convenient to the city, walkable, bikeable, cheaper than the rest of the mainline. Really quite idyllic for a suburb.

I agree with your Harrisburg suburb recommendations, Hershey and Camp Hill are where it's at. I also like downtown Mechanicsburg.

[rowhomecity]

Originally Posted by bridge12

No PA suburb list is complete without Narberth! Narberth is my number one for the Philly suburbs. Super convenient to the city, walkable, bikeable, cheaper than the rest of the mainline. Really quite idyllic for a suburb.

I agree with your Harrisburg suburb recommendations, Hershey and Camp Hill are where it's at. I also like downtown Mechanicsburg.

I agree with you on Narbeth!

I think there are so many fantastic Southeast Pennsylvania suburbs overall it is hard to include them all.

Do you have a top 10?

[Ohiogirl81]

I've only lived in 2 Pennsylvania suburbs, so it would be disingenuous of me to try to rank 10.

[MarketStEl]

Since I'm not really familiar with Pennsylvania suburbs outside of Philadelphia's, I'm not going to try to create a statewide top 10 list, but there are three I have been through or have heard about that I think merit mention.

One is Emmaus. This south-side Bethlehem suburb has been the epicenter of organic/natural living for many years thanks to the presence of the Rodale family's enterprises, starting with Prevention magazine and growing outward from there. The sale of Rodale to Hearst, which uprooted the company and moved its mags to New York, I fear may have done grave injury to all this, though.

My recollection is that Reading also has a string of pretty nice suburbs to the west and southwest of the city, in particular Shillington but also including Wyomissing (partly industrial). My favorite place name in all of Pennsylvania is a Reading suburb: Sinking Spring.

Hershey doesn't feel like a suburb to me — it feels like its own place, thanks in large part to both the presence of the candy maker and the amusement park that's right next to the center of town. But it is a very nice community, and it is part of Metro Harrisburg.

Lancaster Township abuts Lancaster City on its tonier west side, and I believe that the main shopping mall, the Wegmans and the Whole Foods are all located in it.

Maybe after I've had a chance to explore Pittsburgh the way I've explored Philadelphia (which may never happen), I can essay a statewide Top 10 list, but any list I could construct right now would contain only Philly 'burbs.

[rowhomecity]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Since I'm not really familiar with Pennsylvania suburbs outside of Philadelphia's, I'm not going to try to create a statewide top 10 list, but there are three I have been through or have heard about that I think merit mention.

One is Emmaus. This south-side Bethlehem suburb has been the epicenter of organic/natural living for many years thanks to the presence of the Rodale family's enterprises, starting with Prevention magazine and growing outward from there. The sale of Rodale to Hearst, which uprooted the company and moved its mags to New York, I fear may have done grave injury to all this, though.

My recollection is that Reading also has a string of pretty nice suburbs to the west and southwest of the city, in particular Shillington but also including Wyomissing (partly industrial). My favorite place name in all of Pennsylvania is a Reading suburb: Sinking Spring.

Hershey doesn't feel like a suburb to me — it feels like its own place, thanks in large part to both the presence of the candy maker and the amusement park that's right next to the center of town. But it is a very nice community, and it is part of Metro Harrisburg.

Lancaster Township abuts Lancaster City on its tonier west side, and I believe that the main shopping mall, the Wegmans and the Whole Foods are all located in it.

Maybe after I've had a chance to explore Pittsburgh the way I've explored Philadelphia (which may never happen), I can essay a statewide Top 10 list, but any list I could construct right now would contain only Philly 'burbs.

Hershey IMO is no different than say West Chester is to Philadelphia.

Surely it can be independent of itself and proudly stand on its own, but most definitely it is connected and suburban to Harrisburg in a multitude of ways.

Hershey kind of serves as a bridge actually to Harrisburg and Lancaster. When I think of it. I see those two metros growing together and really being quite attractive down the road to those who find Philadelphia COL is getting to be a bit too high.

Camp Hill is also very nice. It kind of reminds me of a smaller version of say Media. Maybe more like Ambler actually??

With that, I HIGHLY encourage you to explore some of Pittsburgh's suburbs. Sewickley (Main Line lite), Mt. Lebanon (Mt. Airy and Manayunk had a child) and Upper St. Claire (Lower Gwynedd like) stand out to me most.

Pittsburgh suburbs are divided into the South Hills or the North Hills.

I prefer the South Hills, because Pittsburgh high speed heavy rail system extends into them, right into downtown Pittsburgh.

The topography is oh so hilly, and just makes the Pittsburgh suburbs so unique and absolutely beautiful.

[Boompa]

Drexel Hill, when I lived there I could be in down Philly in a few minutes. Easy access to The main line or the airport. Good schools, good neighborhoods

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by rowhomecity

Hershey IMO is no different than say West Chester is to Philadelphia.

Surely it can be independent of itself and proudly stand on its own, but most definitely it is connected and suburban to Harrisburg in a multitude of ways.

Hershey kind of serves as a bridge actually to Harrisburg and Lancaster. When I think of it. I see those two metros growing together and really being quite attractive down the road to those who find Philadelphia COL is getting to be a bit too high.

Camp Hill is also very nice. It kind of reminds me of a smaller version of say Media. Maybe more like Ambler actually??

With that, I HIGHLY encourage you to explore some of Pittsburgh's suburbs. Sewickley (Main Line lite), Mt. Lebanon (Mt. Airy and Manayunk had a child) and Upper St. Claire (Lower Gwynedd like) stand out to me most.

Pittsburgh suburbs are divided into the South Hills or the North Hills.

I prefer the South Hills, because Pittsburgh high speed heavy rail system extends into them, right into downtown Pittsburgh.

The topography is oh so hilly, and just makes the Pittsburgh suburbs so unique and absolutely beautiful.

Mt. Lebanon is the most Main Line-like Pittsburgh suburb to me—at least its denser, eastern half. At the risk of oversimplification, Lower Merion is half Mt. Lebanon, half Fox Chapel. Narberth has hints of Aspinwall. Dormont is more akin to Ardmore.

Sewickley is far off the beaten path. Perhaps it could be likened to a more affluent and bustling Malvern.

I like Camp Hill. I agree that Ambler is more fitting than Media, although by (rather relative) Harrisburg standards, Camp Hill is more affluent than both.

I think, by virtue of its proximity to Mt. Lebanon, and overall demographics, Upper St. Clair is more akin to the autocentric portions of Radner Township than Lower Gwynedd. But Lower Gwynedd is fitting in the broad sense that it’s an affluent, car-dependent second ring suburb. USC’s timeline of development is more akin to Upper Dublin. Lower Gwynedd had a big boom in the ‘90s.

Don’t forget that Pittsburgh’s eastern and western suburbs have their own identities—east being, by and large, older, more developed, and more “past prime” than west.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by rowhomecity

Hershey IMO is no different than say West Chester is to Philadelphia.

Surely it can be independent of itself and proudly stand on its own, but most definitely it is connected and suburban to Harrisburg in a multitude of ways.

Hershey kind of serves as a bridge actually to Harrisburg and Lancaster. When I think of it. I see those two metros growing together and really being quite attractive down the road to those who find Philadelphia COL is getting to be a bit too high.

Camp Hill is also very nice. It kind of reminds me of a smaller version of say Media. Maybe more like Ambler actually??

With that, I HIGHLY encourage you to explore some of Pittsburgh's suburbs. Sewickley (Main Line lite), Mt. Lebanon (Mt. Airy and Manayunk had a child) and Upper St. Claire (Lower Gwynedd like) stand out to me most.

Pittsburgh suburbs are divided into the South Hills or the North Hills.

I prefer the South Hills, because Pittsburgh high speed heavy rail system extends into them, right into downtown Pittsburgh.

The topography is oh so hilly, and just makes the Pittsburgh suburbs so unique and absolutely beautiful.

Hershey is northeast of Harrisburg. How can it be a bridge between it and Lancaster to its southeast? Camp Hill seems better positioned for that purpose.

Or, for that matter, Elizabethtown or Mount Joy, both of which lie along the Keystone Corridor line between the two cities.

I did take the T line that ends in South Hills Village the time I helped that friend move to Green Tree, but I didn't take it all the way to South Hills Village because of time constraints. Next time, definitely.

Oh, and: Pittsburgh's T is light, not heavy, rail. If it didn't have a significant section of street running on at least one of its routes, I would call it a "light metro," as I call those systems that use light rail vehicles but otherwise have rapid-transit characteristics (car-floor-level boarding, limited stops at stations, private right-of-way or reserved median separated from mixed traffic) in my Next City column. SEPTA's Norristown High-Speed Line, for instance, is a light metro line.