Wallingford-Swarthmore School District, Delaware County, PA
Swarthmore
Performance Tier
Exceptional
Median Sold
$795,000
Avg. Appreciation
108%
Avg. $ Gain
$422,300
2025 Sales
15
Moderate Activity
Compared to the Wallingford-Swarthmore district average, Swarthmore is
outperforming by 31%.
Based on 33 years of public sales records across 2418 neighborhoods in 4 counties.
About
Swarthmore is a 1.40-square-mile Delaware County borough incorporated in 1893, built around Swarthmore College — a private liberal arts college founded in 1864 by Quakers — and made a practical commuter destination by the arrival of passenger rail service in the 1880s. The borough contains approximately 2,081 housing units spread across a stock that is more than 40 percent pre-1950 in vintage, with Colonial Revival, Victorian, Pennsylvania stone, and Cape Cod styles all represented on walkable residential streets where the town center is within reach of any point in the borough on foot. Residents have direct access to the Scott Arboretum — a 357-acre publicly accessible arboretum coterminous with the college campus — and the Crum Woods, 220 acres of forested trails open daily from sunup to sundown, making the borough one of the few Delaware County communities where green space at this scale borders residential streets without requiring a car.
Specifications
Home Stock
Approximately half of the borough’s housing stock dates to the period between 1900 and 1940. The architectural mix includes historic Pennsylvania stone structures, Colonial Revival, Victorian-era homes, and Cape Cod cottages. The borough grew organically from multiple real estate tracts established beginning in the 1880s, so no single builder or style dominates. A small number of mid-century twins and a newer condominium building at 110 Park Avenue complete the mix.
Location & Access
Pennsylvania Route 320 (Chester Road / Swarthmore Avenue / Cedar Lane) is the only numbered highway serving the borough and runs north-south through its center. I-476 (the Blue Route) and I-95 are each accessible within a few miles. The SEPTA Media/Wawa Line stops at Swarthmore Station on Chester Road, between downtown and Swarthmore College campus.
Location Anchors
What Makes This Distinct
Swarthmore’s housing supply is structurally constrained: with most land privately held by residents or the college, the borough has not undergone large-scale development since the 1950s, and the 33-year appreciation record tracked by The Cyr Team’s Market Intelligence tool shows the borough’s all-time average return outpacing the Wallingford-Swarthmore district by more than 30 percentage points — a pattern consistent with a supply-limited, high-demand market where turnover is the primary source of available inventory. Buyers should also account for Swarthmore’s layered tax obligation: borough, school district (Wallingford-Swarthmore, ranked 11th of 606 Pennsylvania districts by SchoolDigger), and Delaware County — the county with the highest effective property tax rate in Pennsylvania.
For Buyers & Sellers
If You’re Buying
$795k median price point. historically strong appreciation. move fast – homes go quickly. high turnover means more inventory.
If You’re Selling
Exceptional appreciation – sellers gained $422k on average. outperforming the district by 31%. properties doubled in value (108% gain). homes selling quickly (quickly). median sale price $795k.
Worth Asking
Have you considered what it means for resale timing that Swarthmore Borough has not permitted large-scale residential development since the 1950s — and that the college controls a material share of the surrounding land — so the only way new inventory enters the market is when an existing owner sells?
Common Questions
Which schools serve Swarthmore Borough?
All K–5 students attend Swarthmore-Rutledge School at 100 College Avenue, within the borough itself. Grades 6–8 are served by Strath Haven Middle School in Wallingford, and grades 9–12 by Strath Haven High School, also in Wallingford. Strath Haven High School has received two U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School of Excellence awards (1985 and 2002) and is ranked among the top 5–7 percent of high schools in Pennsylvania by SchoolDigger. The Wallingford-Swarthmore School District as a whole ranks 11th of 606 Pennsylvania districts on SchoolDigger’s composite measure.
How do residents commute from Swarthmore to Philadelphia without a car?
Swarthmore Station on the SEPTA Media/Wawa Regional Rail line sits on Chester Road between the borough’s town center and the Swarthmore College campus — within walking distance of any point in the borough. Swarthmore College’s own documentation describes Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station as a direct, 30-minute ride from the station. The station building was originally constructed in 1880 and is the busiest on the Media/Wawa Line outside of Center City. SEPTA Route 109 bus service along Route 320 provides an additional transit option.
Is there an HOA governing Swarthmore Borough residential properties?
No borough-wide HOA governs residential properties in Swarthmore. The borough is a self-governing Pennsylvania municipality incorporated in 1893, with its own elected council, borough code enforcement, and public works. Individual condo developments such as the Strath Haven complex have their own condominium association structures, but detached single-family homes — which make up the majority of the housing stock — carry no HOA obligation. Buyers should verify whether any specific parcel falls within a recorded condominium or planned community before settlement.
Items to Verify with Your Agent
A few specifics on this page are sourced from secondary aggregators or older filings. Confirm before relying:
- Interior Sqft Range Text — No verified public records aggregate square footage range is available for Swarthmore Borough as a whole. The range stated is inferred from listing descriptions and the pre-war stock characteristic (7-room-plus majority per borough demographics). A Cyr Team reviewer should confirm against current public records pulls.
- Lot Character Text — Specific lot size ranges are not verified from a single authoritative source; the description is inferred from listing language and borough geography. No parcel-level GIS data was retrieved.
- Flood Risk — Crum Creek forms the western borough boundary and the Little Crum Creek subwatershed runs through residential sections. FEMA flood map lookup was not completed parcel-by-parcel. Buyers with properties near either creek should request a flood zone determination at settlement.
- Builder — No single builder. Multiple real estate development companies established tracts beginning in 1878 and 1886. Organic development over more than a century; no dominant builder is attributable.
- Hoa Name — No borough-wide HOA found. Individual condominium associations (e.g., Strath Haven condos, the planned 110 Park Avenue development) may carry HOA obligations; buyers should verify at the parcel level.
School District
Swarthmore is served by the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District. Buyers should verify current school assignments directly with the district.
View Wallingford-Swarthmore School District Information
Sources Consulted
Public deed records · Delaware County Recorder · en.wikipedia.org · swarthmorepa.org · homes.com · swarthmore.edu · schooldigger.com · wssd.org · smartasset.com · inquirer.com · point2homes.com · movoto.com · scottarboretum.org
Data refreshed: April 25, 2026 (median sold, appreciation, performance tiers, narratives) · Content reviewed: April 25, 2026 (overview, structural insight, FAQs)
The Cyr Team · 2418 neighborhoods · 4 counties · 33 years of public sales records