Narberth is located on a parcel of land originally deeded to Edward Rees, which later became “Prees” and eventually “Price”, who arrived from Wales in 1682.

A portion of this original tract became the 100-acre (0.40 km2) farm of Edward R. Price, who founded Elm as a Quaker-friendly town in 1881.

[4] As of the 2010 census, the borough was 90.4% White, 1.9% Black or African American, 4.4% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian, and 2.7% were two or more races.

Narberth is an enclave surrounded by Lower Merion Township, close to the western edge of the city of Philadelphia.

It is part of the Philadelphia Main Line, a string of leafy, picturesque suburbs with quaint Welsh names extending west from Philadelphia along the old Pennsylvania Railroad's "main line" from Merion through Ardmore, Bryn Mawr, Villanova, Devon and Wayne among other towns and municipalities.

Because of its small size, many of Narberth's shopping and recreational facilities are within walking distance of residents' houses.

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.

Many borough businesses belong to the Narberth Business Association, which promotes the town as a shopping destination and also puts on occasional events, including the Spring Sidewalk Sale and the Narberth Dickens Festival.

The Sabine Avenue Tot Lot, on the grounds of the former Narberth Elementary School, is the smaller of the two and was recently renovated with new playground equipment.

Narberth has a city manager form of government with a mayor and a seven-member borough council.

The members of Borough Council, all of whom are Democrats, are Fred Bush (president), Cyndi Rickards (vice president), Jean Burock, Ira Winston, Michael Gaudini, Jim Speer, and Mike Salmanson.

The rest of the borough is in a choice zone where students may attend either Lower Merion HS or Harriton High School.

[30] The lease agreement had a stipulation in the event that LMSD needed additional school space.

This was because reopening Narberth Elementary meant that LMSD would have had to reacquire the building, which it could not do in a manner the district leadership felt was timely.

[35] In 1997, students in the South Narberth area were zoned to Merion Elementary, which was and is within walking distance.

Narberth is close to Saint Joseph's University, which occupies an increasingly large campus in nearby Merion on City Avenue.

Towns on the lower Main Line adjacent to Narberth include Overbrook, Merion, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr.

South Wynnewood is served by the SEPTA's Norristown High Speed Line that connects the southern Main Line suburbs with Norristown to the north and west and SEPTA's 69th Street Transportation Center, where there is a connection to the Market–Frankford Line to Center City and beyond into Frankford north of Center City along the Delaware River.

Nearby Wynnewood is also home to one of the three principal teaching hospitals that serve Philadelphia's Main Line.

Along with the eponymous Bryn Mawr and Paoli Memorial hospitals, Lankenau Medical Center, on Lancaster Pike (Route 30) in Wynnewood near the Overbrook border, has traditionally been affiliated with either Jefferson or Hahnemann (now Drexel) colleges of medicine and is always (with Bryn Mawr and Paoli) on the list of the nation's top community hospitals.

Saunders House, a rehabilitation facility, can be found on Lankenau's premises, as is a large and busy medical office building that is home to many of the private practices of the hospital's attending physicians.