Swarthmore vs Wayne

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

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

Wayne has the higher population (6,902 vs 6,524 in Swarthmore). Swarthmore has the higher median household income ($146,992 vs $143,981 in Wayne). Wayne has the higher median home value ($664,900 vs $557,900 in Swarthmore).

Population, income & housing

	Swarthmore	Wayne
Population	6,524	6,902
Median age	34.4 yrs	43.6 yrs
Median household income	$146,992	$143,981
Median home value	$557,900	$664,900
Median gross rent	$1,493	$1,993
Housing units	2,243	2,787
Homeownership rate	74.5%	59.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	79.2%	72.6%
Unemployment rate	8.2%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Swarthmore	Wayne
Population	6,318 → 6,524 (+3.3%)	6,891 → 6,902 (+0.2%)
Median household income	$107,778 → $146,992 (+36.4%)	$101,902 → $143,981 (+41.3%)
Median home value	$415,200 → $557,900 (+34.4%)	$551,500 → $664,900 (+20.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,021 → $1,493 (+46.2%)	$1,585 → $1,993 (+25.7%)

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

Wayne

Population

6,8916,902

Median household income

$101,902$143,981

Median home value

$551,500$664,900

Median gross rent

$1,585$1,993

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Swarthmore	Wayne
Under 5	6.5%	6.0%
5 to 17	12.8%	18.2%
18 to 24	26.1%	5.2%
25 to 34	6.2%	10.9%
35 to 44	12.3%	10.7%
45 to 54	10.0%	15.9%
55 to 64	9.7%	17.1%
65 to 74	9.5%	8.7%
75 and over	6.8%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Swarthmore	Wayne
White (non-Hispanic)	71.1%	84.2%
Black or African American	10.2%	1.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	7.4%	5.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.5%	0.0%
Two or more races	5.0%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	4.8%	6.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Swarthmore	Wayne
No high school diploma	0.8%	3.9%
High school graduate	7.1%	9.1%
Some college or associate's	12.8%	14.5%
Bachelor's degree	28.1%	36.9%
Graduate or professional degree	51.1%	35.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Swarthmore	Wayne
Drove alone	45.5%	62.2%
Carpooled	5.0%	4.0%
Public transit	7.5%	6.7%
Walked	21.8%	7.1%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.0%
Worked from home	17.6%	19.1%
Other means	2.0%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Swarthmore	Wayne
1-unit, detached	55.3%	46.5%
1-unit, attached	6.1%	17.5%
2 to 4 units	5.9%	16.7%
5 to 19 units	7.9%	15.1%
20 or more units	20.4%	4.3%
Mobile home & other	4.5%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Swarthmore	Wayne
Poverty rate	2.8%	10.0%
Average household size	2.30	2.53
Mean commute (minutes)	27	27
Median year structure built	1943	1959