Philadelphia vs. Its Suburbs: Where Scores Rise in 2026

Philadelphia's 46 scored ZIP codes average a 36 out of 100 overall NeighborScore, while Chester County's suburbs — the highest-scoring of the four surrounding counties — average 76. The gap traces mostly to school scores, not crime: every Philadelphia ZIP code shares the same crime rating, a data-resolution limit that also affects most of the surrounding suburban counties.

The Five-County Score Ladder

Averaged by county, NeighborScore's overall composite (53% crime, 47% school; affordability shown separately as context) ranks the Philadelphia metro as follows:

1. Chester County: avg overall 76 (30 ZIPs, best-scoring county in the metro)
2. Bucks County: avg overall 68 (39 ZIPs)
3. Montgomery County: avg overall 46 (56 ZIPs)
4. Delaware County: avg overall 41 (35 ZIPs)
5. Philadelphia County: avg overall 36 (46 ZIPs)

Why Crime Scores Can't Explain the Gap

It's tempting to read that ladder as a safety ranking. It isn't — at least not a ZIP-level one. All 46 Philadelphia ZIP codes share an identical crime score of 25, reflecting one municipal police agency's FBI-reported data applied city-wide, not a per-neighborhood measurement. NeighborScore's crime tiers score the highest-resolution data available; Philadelphia falls to the municipal-agency tier because it's a single police department, the same reason Houston's ZIP codes all share one county-level crime score.

The suburban counties don't fully escape this limit either. Just 7 of the 160 suburban ZIP codes across Chester, Bucks, Montgomery, and Delaware counties are mapped to their own municipal police agency; the rest inherit a county-wide crime figure. Delaware County shows a single crime value (25) across all 35 of its ZIPs, and Montgomery County shows 25 for all but one. Only Chester and Bucks show real per-ZIP crime variation, with values spanning 65 to 95. Treat the crime column in this comparison as a county-level signal, not a neighborhood-level one.

Where the Real Difference Is: School Scores

School scores, by contrast, are resolved per ZIP code from NCES proficiency data, and that's where Philadelphia's suburbs genuinely separate from the city. Philadelphia's city ZIPs average a 47 school score — 19137 scores 69, 19147 scores 66, and 19130 scores 58 — while top suburban ZIPs run well above 70:

1. New Hope (18938): overall 90, school 84, median price $880,000 — view the 18938 profile
2. Kennett Square (19348): overall 87, school 79, median price $585,950 — view the 19348 profile
3. Phoenixville (19460): overall 86, school 75, median price $509,000 — view the 19460 profile
4. Berwyn (19312): overall 84, school 88, median price $990,000
5. Philadelphia (19137): overall 46, school 69, median price $256,000 — view the 19137 profile
6. Philadelphia (19147): overall 44, school 66, median price $550,000 — view the 19147 profile

Bottom Line

Philadelphia's suburbs outscore the city overall — Chester County averages 76 versus the city's 36 — but the honest read of NeighborScore's data is that school scores drive nearly all of that gap, not crime. Every Philadelphia ZIP shares one flat 25 crime score by data-resolution limit, and most suburban counties are only partially better resolved. New Hope (18938) and Berwyn (19312) post the metro's strongest school scores at 84 and 88; inside the city, 19137 (69) and 19147 (66) lead Philadelphia's own school rankings.