Norwood vs Swarthmore

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

Norwood 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 5,915 in Norwood). Swarthmore has the higher median household income ($146,992 vs $89,135 in Norwood). Swarthmore has the higher median home value ($557,900 vs $227,500 in Norwood).

Population, income & housing

	Norwood	Swarthmore
Population	5,915	6,524
Median age	40.8 yrs	34.4 yrs
Median household income	$89,135	$146,992
Median home value	$227,500	$557,900
Median gross rent	$1,247	$1,493
Housing units	2,513	2,243
Homeownership rate	73.5%	74.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.2%	79.2%
Unemployment rate	7.9%	8.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Norwood	Swarthmore
Population	5,893 → 5,915 (+0.4%)	6,318 → 6,524 (+3.3%)
Median household income	$78,370 → $89,135 (+13.7%)	$107,778 → $146,992 (+36.4%)
Median home value	$167,900 → $227,500 (+35.5%)	$415,200 → $557,900 (+34.4%)
Median gross rent	$982 → $1,247 (+27.0%)	$1,021 → $1,493 (+46.2%)

Norwood

Population

5,8935,915

Median household income

$78,370$89,135

Median home value

$167,900$227,500

Median gross rent

$982$1,247

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)

	Norwood	Swarthmore
Under 5	2.4%	6.5%
5 to 17	16.0%	12.8%
18 to 24	10.9%	26.1%
25 to 34	11.1%	6.2%
35 to 44	16.2%	12.3%
45 to 54	12.2%	10.0%
55 to 64	18.8%	9.7%
65 to 74	7.6%	9.5%
75 and over	4.9%	6.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Norwood	Swarthmore
White (non-Hispanic)	87.4%	71.1%
Black or African American	1.0%	10.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	4.6%	7.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	1.5%
Two or more races	1.5%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	5.4%	4.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Norwood	Swarthmore
No high school diploma	6.4%	0.8%
High school graduate	38.2%	7.1%
Some college or associate's	29.1%	12.8%
Bachelor's degree	19.4%	28.1%
Graduate or professional degree	6.9%	51.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Norwood	Swarthmore
Drove alone	72.2%	45.5%
Carpooled	9.3%	5.0%
Public transit	6.5%	7.5%
Walked	2.5%	21.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.5%
Worked from home	7.8%	17.6%
Other means	1.8%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Norwood	Swarthmore
1-unit, detached	38.4%	55.3%
1-unit, attached	37.3%	6.1%
2 to 4 units	15.8%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	8.2%	7.9%
20 or more units	0.4%	20.4%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	4.5%

Poverty & households

	Norwood	Swarthmore
Poverty rate	7.0%	2.8%
Average household size	2.60	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	28	27
Median year structure built	1950	1943