Burb vs. burb

Ardmore Doylestown

Montgomery County against Bucks County, $151K apart on a typical house, and two different ideas of a Saturday. The tale of the tape:

Quick verdict

  • Your dollar goes further in Ardmore: homes around $539K against $689K.
  • Doylestown gets you onto a trail faster.
  • Ardmore wins the commute.
  • Doylestown has more on the marquee: stages, screens, festivals.

The read, side by side

Food scene
Nights out
Shops & browsing
Arts & festivals
Trails & outdoors
Family Saturdays
Train to the city
Main-street walk
Peace & quiet

Scored 0–5 by us, the way we’d brief a friend. Not by a formula.

The numbers

Ardmore Doylestown
CountyMontgomeryBucks
Typical home$539K$689K
TrainArdmore, about 30 minDoylestown, about 75 min
Drive to Center City~25 min~45 min
SchoolsLower MerionCentral Bucks
Population13,5668,300
In our guide112 places116 places

Home values: typical figures checked against Zillow and Redfin, mid-2026. Train times: typical scheduled rides to Jefferson Station, rounded. Verify before you commit to anything with a mortgage on it.

A Saturday in each

Ardmore

  • Felicia's Pizza Kitchen: Pizza on West Lancaster Avenue, run as a takeout counter with a handful of seats.
  • Pilot and Powell: A clothing boutique on Parking Plaza, the block behind Lancaster Avenue where Ardmore keeps its municipal lots.
  • Axiom Contemporary: Contemporary art gallery in a Coulter Ave storefront, a block off the Lancaster Avenue strip.

The full Ardmore guide →

Doylestown

  • 86 West: Sushi and tapas-style small plates up front, and the closest Doylestown gets to a downtown nightclub once the kitchen winds down.
  • Central Books: Thirty years of used books spread over two floors and many rooms of a Victorian on West State.
  • National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa: A Polish-American Catholic shrine founded in 1955 on Beacon Hill, the highest elevation in Bucks County.

The full Doylestown guide →