Media vs Swarthmore

A side-by-side comparison of Media and Swarthmore: population, income, housing, and more.

Media and Swarthmore are places in Pennsylvania. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Swarthmore has the higher population (6,524 vs 5,868 in Media). Swarthmore has the higher median household income ($146,992 vs $86,219 in Media). Swarthmore has the higher median home value ($557,900 vs $398,400 in Media).

Population, income & housing

	Media	Swarthmore
Population	5,868	6,524
Median age	43.0 yrs	34.4 yrs
Median household income	$86,219	$146,992
Median home value	$398,400	$557,900
Median gross rent	$1,359	$1,493
Housing units	3,206	2,243
Homeownership rate	38.1%	74.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	63.0%	79.2%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	8.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Media	Swarthmore
Population	5,487 → 5,868 (+6.9%)	6,318 → 6,524 (+3.3%)
Median household income	$77,708 → $86,219 (+11.0%)	$107,778 → $146,992 (+36.4%)
Median home value	$331,400 → $398,400 (+20.2%)	$415,200 → $557,900 (+34.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,167 → $1,359 (+16.5%)	$1,021 → $1,493 (+46.2%)

Media

Population

5,4875,868

Median household income

$77,708$86,219

Median home value

$331,400$398,400

Median gross rent

$1,167$1,359

Swarthmore

Population

6,3186,524

Median household income

$107,778$146,992

Median home value

$415,200$557,900

Median gross rent

$1,021$1,493

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Media	Swarthmore
Under 5	1.0%	6.5%
5 to 17	11.8%	12.8%
18 to 24	3.7%	26.1%
25 to 34	23.8%	6.2%
35 to 44	13.9%	12.3%
45 to 54	12.7%	10.0%
55 to 64	11.2%	9.7%
65 to 74	14.6%	9.5%
75 and over	7.2%	6.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Media	Swarthmore
White (non-Hispanic)	81.5%	71.1%
Black or African American	3.1%	10.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	4.5%	7.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	2.4%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	1.5%
Two or more races	3.7%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	4.3%	4.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Media	Swarthmore
No high school diploma	2.4%	0.8%
High school graduate	15.1%	7.1%
Some college or associate's	19.6%	12.8%
Bachelor's degree	28.7%	28.1%
Graduate or professional degree	34.3%	51.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Media	Swarthmore
Drove alone	62.4%	45.5%
Carpooled	7.5%	5.0%
Public transit	6.6%	7.5%
Walked	3.7%	21.8%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.5%
Worked from home	19.6%	17.6%
Other means	0.0%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Media	Swarthmore
1-unit, detached	15.4%	55.3%
1-unit, attached	24.8%	6.1%
2 to 4 units	19.9%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	17.7%	7.9%
20 or more units	22.2%	20.4%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	4.5%

Poverty & households

	Media	Swarthmore
Poverty rate	4.1%	2.8%
Average household size	1.85	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	27	27
Median year structure built	1960	1943