Overview
Swarthmore is a somewhat small borough located in the state of Pennsylvania. With a population of 6,536 people and just one neighborhood, Swarthmore is the 204th largest community in Pennsylvania. Swarthmore has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic boroughs.
Swarthmore home prices are not only among the most expensive in Pennsylvania, but Swarthmore real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.
Occupations and Workforce
Swarthmore is a decidedly white-collar borough, with fully 93.65% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Swarthmore is a borough of professionals, managers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Swarthmore who work in teaching (15.99%), management occupations (11.63%), and business and financial occupations (10.74%).
And if you like science, one thing you'll find is that Swarthmore has lots of scientists living in town - whether they be life scientists, physical scientists (like astronomers), or social scientists (like geographers!). So, if you're scientific-minded, you might like it here too.
Also of interest is that Swarthmore has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
A relatively large number of people in Swarthmore telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 17.64% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.
Setting & Lifestyle
For a small borough, there is also a high proportion of single, often educated, people living in Swarthmore. This is not typical for smaller communities in America, and adds a feeling of vibrancy to Swarthmore.
Despite being a small borough, Swarthmore has a lot of people using the train to get to and from work every day. Most of these people on the train are using it to get to good jobs in other cities.
Demographics
Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Swarthmore, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Swarthmore is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 79.24% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.
The per capita income in Swarthmore in 2022 was $66,784, which is wealthy relative to Pennsylvania and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $267,136 for a family of four.
Swarthmore is a very ethnically-diverse borough. The people who call Swarthmore home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Swarthmore residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Swarthmore include Irish, German, English, Italian, and European.
The most common language spoken in Swarthmore is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.
Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics
Many things matter about a neighborhood, but the first thing most people notice is the way a neighborhood looks and its particular character. For example, one might notice whether the buildings all date from a certain time period or whether shop signs are in multiple languages. This particular neighborhood in Swarthmore, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
People
Of note is 蘑菇视频's research finding that the neighborhood has some of the lowest rates of children living in poverty of any neighborhood in the United States. In a nation where approximately 1 in 4 children are living in poverty, the community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.
In addition, one of the really interesting characteristics about the neighborhood is that, according to 蘑菇视频's exclusive research, it is an excellent choice in which to reside for college students. Due to its popularity among college students who already choose to live here, its walkability, and its above average safety from crime, the neighborhood is ideal for prospective or already-enrolled college students. Between semesters and during school breaks, you'll notice that the excitement here fluctuates with the college seasons. Despite the excitement however, parents of college-age children can rest easy knowing that this neighborhood has an above average safety rating. For each of these reasons, the neighborhood is rated among the top 0.6% of college-friendly places to live in the state of Pennsylvania. In addition to being an excellent choice for college students, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for highly educated executives and urban sophisticates.
Also, some neighborhoods have residents that are more educated than others. But in this neighborhood there is a dramatic difference. 蘑菇视频's exclusive analysis reveals that 51.1% of the adults here have earned a Masters degree, medical degree, Ph.D. or law degree. This is a higher rate of people with a graduate degree than is found in 99.3% of U.S. neighborhoods, where the average American neighborhood has 13.7% of its adults with a graduate degree. If you are highly educated, you may have much in common with many of your neighbors here.
Modes of Transportation
More people in choose to walk to work each day (21.8%) than almost any neighborhood in America. If you are attracted to the idea of being able to walk to work, this neighborhood could be a good choice.
Diversity
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Irish and Armenian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 22.8% of this neighborhood's residents have Irish ancestry and 0.6% have Armenian ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 2.9% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak French at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 95.0% of the neighborhoods in America.
The Neighbors
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Swarthmore are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. 蘑菇视频's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 92.2% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America's neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the neighborhood, 67.2% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 21.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions (7.1%), and 6.2% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
Languages
The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 85.1% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish, Chinese and French.
Ethnicity / Ancestry
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture 鈥� our learned behavior 鈥� comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the neighborhood in Swarthmore, PA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (22.8%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (16.7%), and residents who report English roots (15.8%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (10.2%), along with some Asian ancestry residents (7.4%), among others. In addition, 12.4% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
Getting to Work
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (36.0% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (45.5%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also hop out the door and walk to work to get to work (21.8%) and 7.2% of residents also take the train for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.
