Living in Somerton

Somerton is consistently described as one of the safest, most family-friendly corners of Northeast Philadelphia, and neighborhood guides routinely rank it among the safest areas in the city. Crime in the 19116 area runs well below the citywide average, and residents on local forums and review sites describe the streets as quiet, settled, and welcoming, with neighbors who know one another and look out for each other. The feel is distinctly suburban: tree-lined blocks, single-family homes, low crime, and a slow pace that has little in common with the hustle of Center City. As with anywhere in a big city, staying aware of your surroundings is always wise, but Somerton has a well-earned reputation as a genuinely safe place to raise a family, which is a big reason so many homeowners stay for decades.

Residents often say Somerton is the most suburban-feeling neighborhood that is still technically inside the city limits, and that is exactly its charm. Situated at the far northeast edge of Philadelphia, it has the look and pace of a quiet suburb: broad lawns, mature trees, driveways and garages, easy on-street parking, and blocks that slow down the moment you turn off the main roads. There is little of the density, noise, or street parking scramble of closer-in neighborhoods, yet you are still in the city, paying city taxes and using city schools and services. For buyers who want a safe, green, spacious-feeling place to live without leaving Philadelphia proper, Somerton delivers a balance that is hard to find anywhere else in the city, and it appeals especially to families and empty nesters.

The trip from Somerton into Center City takes roughly 35 to 45 minutes by SEPTA bus and Regional Rail, a reliable commute for the far Northeast. By car the drive runs roughly 40 minutes to an hour depending on traffic, using Roosevelt Boulevard (US 1) or Interstate 95 a short hop to the east. Many commuters combine the two: they get to a train via one of the neighborhood bus routes or a park-and-ride lot, then ride Regional Rail the rest of the way downtown. Somerton Station on the West Trenton Line, nearby Forest Hills Station on Byberry Road, Torresdale Station on the Trenton Line, and the large park-and-ride at Cornwells Heights Station all put Center City within reach for the workday. For daily commuters it is genuinely workable, especially if you plan around the train instead of the car.

Somerton is served by several dependable SEPTA bus routes. Route 58 runs the length of Bustleton Avenue, the neighborhood commercial spine, while Route 84 travels Byberry Road across the area and connects toward Torresdale, and Route 19 passes along Grant Avenue in the Torresdale section. For longer trips, Regional Rail is close by: Somerton Station on the West Trenton Line sits just beyond the city line at Philmont Avenue with connecting buses 58 and 84, Forest Hills Station on the West Trenton Line sits on Byberry Road, Torresdale Station on the Trenton Line serves the east side, and Cornwells Heights Station on the Trenton Line in nearby Bensalem offers one of the largest park-and-ride lots on the line. Trains reach Center City in roughly 35 to 45 minutes, so a bus-and-rail combination is a practical way to get downtown without driving.

The 19116 ZIP code is anchored by Somerton, the largest and best-known name in this corner of the far Northeast, and it also reaches into portions of the old Torresdale section of the city, one of Philadelphia most established residential areas. Somerton and Torresdale are separate neighborhoods with separate histories: Somerton takes its name from the early village, while Torresdale, along the Delaware River, was named in the 1800s for the ancestral home of a banker who built a summer estate here. In everyday use, though, they sit side by side at the far northeast edge of the city and people often speak of them together. To the south, Bustleton shares much of the same housing, shopping, and community character, and the whole cluster forms one of the most self-sufficient residential areas in Philadelphia.

Housing in Somerton and 19116 is mostly post-war construction from the 1940s through the 1970s: detached single-family homes, side-by-side twins, and brick or stone front townhomes and duplexes, most on grassy, tree-lined lots with a yard, a driveway, and easy parking. Roughly a quarter of all housing units are detached single-family homes, and typical listings are 3 to 4 bedroom properties around 1,400 to 2,600 square feet. Sale prices run from the low to mid $300,000s well past the $600,000s for the largest and newest detached homes, with the neighborhood median sale price landing around $400,000 to $410,000 and most activity falling in the $400,000 to $550,000 band. Because the area is settled and beloved by long-term owners, inventory can be limited, which is why well-priced, well-marketed homes tend to draw interested buyers quickly.

The Somerton and 19116 area is served by the School District of Philadelphia. Public high school students in this part of the Northeast attend George Washington High School at 10175 Bustleton Avenue, a zoned high school whose catchment covers Somerton, Bustleton, and Fox Chase. Its feeder pattern includes middle schools such as C.C.A. Baldi Middle School and General Harry LaBrum Middle School, and elementary programs including Stephen Decatur, A.L. Fitzpatrick, and Joseph Greenberg schools. Because the exact school assigned to an address can vary by block, the School District of Philadelphia official catchment map is the authoritative way to confirm the school for a specific home. Families also choose a range of nearby parochial and charter options, which is a big reason the area appeals to parents weighing where to put down roots.

The intersection of Bustleton Avenue and Byberry Road is the commercial heart of Somerton, and the Somerton Square shopping area around it is where residents do most of their everyday errands. The area is anchored by the Bustleton-Somerton Shopping Center at 10763 Bustleton Avenue, a longtime strip mall with international grocery stores, a pharmacy, a dollar store, and a range of restaurants, bakeries, and specialty shops that reflect the neighborhood diverse immigrant communities. The wider Bustleton Avenue and Byberry Road corridor adds more plazas, markets, and local businesses. For larger trips, residents head to the big-box retail just to the north, including Philadelphia Mills (formerly Franklin Mills), the large outlet and value-retail destination off I-95 at the Woodhaven Road exit, and a Walmart Supercenter on Byberry Road, so day-to-day shopping needs are well covered close to home.

Green space is one of the great strengths of the 19116 area. Pennypack Park, part of the Fairmount Park system, runs about nine miles along Pennypack Creek and covers more than 1,600 acres of woodland, meadow, and wetland, with miles of paved and unpaved multi-use trail popular for walking, running, biking, and birding. At the northern edge of Somerton, Poquessing Creek marks the boundary between Philadelphia and Bucks County and offers its own quiet green pockets and wooded trails, including Poquessing Valley Park. On top of the big parks, every residential block has its own lawns and mature trees, which gives Somerton one of the greenest, most suburban feels in the entire city. If you want a neighborhood where you can be on a trail or in a park within minutes, Somerton and the surrounding 19116 area deliver.

For most households, the answer is yes, a car makes life in Somerton much more convenient. The neighborhood is spread out across the far northeast of the city, and grocery shopping, school drop-offs, and errands across the sprawling Northeast are far easier with a vehicle, so most homes here have at least one. That said, you can live in Somerton without a car if you plan around transit. SEPTA bus routes 58 and 84 cross the neighborhood, and Regional Rail at Somerton Station, Forest Hills Station, Torresdale Station, or Cornwells Heights Station gets you into Center City in roughly 40 minutes, with park-and-ride lots smoothing the drive-to-train commute. Many residents keep a car for everyday life and use the bus and rail for the workday commute, getting the best of both worlds.

Somerton’s market has been quietly steady. As of spring 2026 the median home price in the 19116 ZIP was about $398,000, up roughly 2.5 percent year over year, a modest appreciation that suits a neighborhood where most sales fall in the $400,000 to $550,000 band and detached homes run well past $600,000 at the top. The area also has active infrastructure investment, including the Philadelphia Water Department’s Somerton Transmission Main and Tank Connection project and distribution water main work along Edison and Grant streets in the 19116 and 19114 ZIPs. For sellers, that steady demand plus continued municipal investment is a strong backdrop, and for buyers it is a reminder that well-priced, well-marketed homes in Somerton tend to move.