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Northampton County, Pennsylvania
Seal of Northampton County, Pennsylvania
Seal
Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Northampton County
Location in the state of Pennsylvania
Map of the U.S
Pennsylvania's location in the U.S.
Founded March 11, 1752
Seat Easton
Largest city Bethlehem (partial)
Area
 - Total
 - Land
 - Water

377 sq mi (976 km²)
374 sq mi (969 km²)
4 sq mi (10 km²), 0.94%
Population
 - (2020)
 - Density

312,951
796/sq mi (307.2/km²)
Website www.northamptoncounty.org

Northampton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It was formed in 1752 from parts of Bucks County. As of 2020, the population was 312,951. Its county seat is Easton.[1]

Northampton County is located in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. Its northern edge borders The Poconos. The eastern section of the county borders the Delaware River, which divides Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It is bordered on the west by Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, the Lehigh Valley's more highly populated county.

The county is industrially-oriented, producing anthracite coal, cement, and other industrial products. Bethlehem Steel, once one of the world's largest manufacturers of steel, was located there prior to its closing in 2003.

Geography[]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 377 square miles (977 km²), of which 374 square miles (968 km²) is land and 4 square miles (9 km²) (0.94%) is water.

Adjacent counties[]

National protected areas[]

  • Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (part)
  • Middle Delaware National Scenic River (part)

Government[]

Northampton is one of the six counties in Pennsylvania which has adopted a home rule charter. Instead of being run by a Board of Commissioners and several Row Officers, voters elect an Executive, a nine-person Council, a Controller, and a District Attorney. The Executive, Controller and District Attorney are elected by all voters in the County, as are five members of the Council. The other four Councilmen are elected by districts.

Elected Officials[1]

  • County Executive:
    • John Stoffa, Democrat
  • County Council:
    • Ron Angle, Republican
    • John Cusick, Republican
    • Thomas H Dietrich, Republican
    • J. Michael Dowd, Republican
    • Margaret (Peg) Ferraro, Republican
    • Bruce A Gilbert, Republican
    • Lamont G. McClure Jr., Democrat
    • Ann McHale, Democrat
    • Barbara A. Thierry, Republican
  • Clerk of Courts:
    • Leigh Ann Fisher, Democrat
  • County Controller:
    • Stephen Barron, Jr. , Democrat
  • District Attorney:
    • John Morganelli, Democrat
  • Prothonotary:
    • Holly Ruggiero, Democrat
  • Register of Wills:
    • Dorothy Cole, Democrat
  • Sheriff:
    • Randall Miller

Demographics[]

Historical populations
Census Pop.
1790 24,238
1800 30,062 24.0%
1810 38,145 26.9%
1820 31,765 −16.7%
1830 39,482 24.3%
1840 40,996 3.8%
1850 40,235 −1.9%
1860 47,904 19.1%
1870 61,432 28.2%
1880 70,312 14.5%
1890 84,220 19.8%
1900 99,687 18.4%
1910 127,667 28.1%
1920 153,506 20.2%
1930 169,304 10.3%
1940 168,959 −0.2%
1950 185,243 9.6%
1960 201,412 8.7%
1970 214,368 6.4%
1980 225,418 5.2%
1990 247,105 9.6%
2000 267,066 8.1%
2010 297,735 11.5%
[2][3]

As of the 2010 census, the county was 86.3% White, 5.0% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American or Alaskan Native, 2.4% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian, 2.2% were two or more races, and 3.8% were some other race. 10.5% of the population were of Hispanic or Latino ancestry.

As of the census[4] of 2000, there were 267,066 people, 101,541 households, and 71,078 families residing in the county. The population density was 714 people per square mile (276/km²). There were 106,710 housing units at an average density of 286 per square mile (110/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 91.23% White, 2.77% Black or African American, 0.15% Native American, 1.37% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 3.06% from other races, and 1.39% from two or more races. 6.69% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 24.0% were of German, 14.0% Italian, 8.8% Irish, 5.1% English and 5.1% American ancestry according to Census 2000. 89.3% spoke English and 5.5% Spanish as their first language.

There were 101,541 households out of which 31.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.40% were married couples living together, 9.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.00% were non-families. 24.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.02.

In the county, the population was spread out with 23.30% under the age of 18, 9.20% from 18 to 24, 28.30% from 25 to 44, 23.40% from 45 to 64, and 15.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 94.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.70 males.

Politics[]

United States presidential election results for Northampton County, Pennsylvania[5]
Year Republican Democratic Third party
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2020 83,854 48.92% 85,087 49.64% 2,458 1.43%
2016 71,736 49.62% 66,272 45.84% 6,558 4.54%
2012 61,446 46.89% 67,606 51.59% 1,992 1.52%
2008 58,551 43.07% 75,255 55.35% 2,148 1.58%
2004 62,102 48.96% 63,446 50.02% 1,301 1.03%
2000 47,396 45.27% 53,097 50.72% 4,197 4.01%
1996 35,726 39.26% 43,959 48.31% 11,317 12.44%
1992 34,429 35.30% 42,203 43.27% 20,893 21.42%
1988 42,748 51.52% 39,264 47.32% 966 1.16%
1984 44,648 53.49% 37,979 45.50% 840 1.01%
1980 35,787 47.07% 31,920 41.98% 8,330 10.96%
1976 32,926 42.78% 42,514 55.24% 1,521 1.98%
1972 41,822 56.30% 32,335 43.53% 124 0.17%
1968 32,033 41.00% 42,554 54.47% 3,543 4.53%
1964 21,048 26.15% 58,818 73.08% 619 0.77%
1960 40,683 49.43% 41,552 50.48% 71 0.09%
1956 43,375 55.83% 33,749 43.44% 573 0.74%
1952 39,131 50.99% 36,993 48.21% 614 0.80%
1948 27,030 43.95% 33,209 53.99% 1,265 2.06%
1944 26,643 44.76% 32,584 54.75% 292 0.49%
1940 25,385 43.06% 33,304 56.49% 269 0.46%
1936 22,827 37.34% 36,871 60.31% 1,438 2.35%
1932 20,779 45.04% 24,009 52.04% 1,345 2.92%
1928 37,403 71.14% 14,768 28.09% 404 0.77%
1924 20,459 58.42% 11,459 32.72% 3,104 8.86%
1920 14,227 58.78% 9,086 37.54% 891 3.68%
1916 9,610 44.37% 11,000 50.78% 1,050 4.85%
1912 3,893 17.91% 10,325 47.50% 7,518 34.59%
1908 10,857 46.91% 11,365 49.10% 923 3.99%
1904 11,039 51.21% 9,914 45.99% 604 2.80%
1900 9,849 45.14% 11,412 52.31% 556 2.55%
1896 9,762 47.59% 10,032 48.91% 717 3.50%
1892 6,892 39.21% 10,320 58.71% 367 2.09%
1888 6,785 39.67% 10,027 58.63% 291 1.70%
1884 6,327 39.44% 9,491 59.16% 224 1.40%
1880 5,961 37.90% 9,653 61.37% 114 0.72%



As of December 2020 there were 227,400 registered voters in Northampton County

  • Democratic: 102,247 (44.96%)
  • Republican: 81,446 (35.84%)
  • Other parties: 43,707 (19.22%)

In recent decades, Northampton has been identified as one of Pennsylvania's "swing counties," with statewide winners carrying it in most cases; since 1952, it has gone to the statewide winner in the presidential election.[6] All five statewide winners carried it in November 2004 and all four statewide Democratic candidates carried it in November 2008, with District Attorney John Morganelli doing well there despite losing statewide to incumbent Attorney General Tom Corbett. The Democratic Party has been dominant most of the time in county-level politics in recent decades. In 2014, John Brown bucked that trend when he became the only Republican in the 21st Century to be elected Northampton County executive, a harbinger of Donald Trump winning the county and the state at the presidential level in 2016. Lamont McClure retook the county executive position for the Democrats in 2018; Joe Biden won Northampton County and Pennsylvania in 2020.

Voting machine problems[]

Municipal elections were held across Pennsylvania in November 2019, and results in Northampton County were plagued with problems caused by newly purchased machines, The ExpressVoteXL, sold by the manufacturer Election Systems & Software (ES&S) as "a luxury “one-stop” voting system." According to the New York Times and other publications, it was a few minutes after the polls closed on Election Day when panic began to spread through the Northampton county election offices. Vote totals in one judge’s race showed one candidate, Abe Kassis, a Democrat, had just 164 votes out of 55,000 ballots across more than 100 precincts. Some machines reported zero votes for him.[2].

The voting system, used in numerous Pennsylvania jurisdictions, combines a touch screen with a paper ballot backup. County officials determined the results by counting the paper ballots, which showed Mr. Kassis had won by 1,054 votes. Unofficial results were announced at 6AM on November 6th. The election results were certified following a canvass and audit. No challenges to the election results were filed. [3]

County executives[]

Northampton County executives
Name Party Term start Term end
Glenn F. Reibman Democratic 1998 2006
John Stoffa Democratic 2006 2014
John Brown Republican 2014 2018
Lamont McClure Democratic 2018 Incumbent

County Council members[]

  • Lori Vargo Heffner, President, Democrat, at large
  • William B. McGee, Vice President, Democrat, at large
  • Margaret (Peg) Ferraro, Republican, at large
  • Ronald R. Heckman, Democrat, at large
  • Tara Zrinski, Democrat, at large
  • Kevin Lott, Democrat, district 1
  • Kerry Meyers, Democrat, district 2
  • John Cusick, Republican, district 3
  • Tom Giovanni, Republican, district 4

State representatives[7][]

  • Justin Simmons, Republican, 131st district
  • Steve Samuelson, Democrat, 135th district
  • Robert L. Freeman, Democrat, 136th district
  • Joe Emrick, Republican, 137th district
  • Marcia Hahn, Republican, 138th district
  • Zach Mako, Republican, 183rd district

State senators[7][]

  • Lisa Boscola, Democrat, 18th district
  • Mario M. Scavello, Republican, 40th district

United States House of Representatives[]

  • Susan Wild, Democrat, 7th district

United States Senate[]

  • Pat Toomey, Republican
  • Bob Casey, Democrat

Notable people[]

  • Marco Andretti, professional race car driver.
  • Mario Andretti, former professional race car driver.
  • Michael Andretti, professional racing team owner, former professional race car driver.
  • Jonathan Frakes, director and actor.
  • Larry Holmes, boxing's former heavyweight champion of the world.
  • Daniel Dae Kim, actor.
  • Samuel Henry Kress, founder of S. H. Kress & Co. and noted art collector.
  • Kristen Maloney, gymnast and former Olympian.
  • Bob Parsons, former professional football player, Chicago Bears.
  • Aldo Ray, actor.
  • Daniel Roebuck, actor.
  • Brian Schneider, professional baseball player, Philadelphia Phillies.
  • Tighe Scott, NASCAR and modified driver.
  • Jonathan Taylor Thomas, actor.
  • George Wolf, Governor of Pennsylvania 1829–1835.

Municipalities[]

Map of Northampton County Pennsylvania With Municipal and Township Labels

Map of Northampton County, Pennsylvania with Municipal Labels showing Cities and Boroughs (red), Townships (white), and Census-designated places (blue).

Under Pennsylvania law, there are four types of incorporated municipalities: cities, boroughs, townships, and two towns. The following cities, boroughs and townships are located in Northampton County:

Cities[]

Boroughs[]

  • Bangor
  • Bath
  • Chapman
  • East Bangor
  • Freemansburg
  • Glendon
  • Hellertown
  • Nazareth
  • North Catasauqua
  • Northampton
  • Pen Argyl
  • Portland
  • Roseto
  • Stockertown
  • Tatamy
  • Walnutport
  • West Easton
  • Wilson
  • Wind Gap

Townships[]

  • Allen Township
  • Bethlehem Township
  • Bushkill Township
  • East Allen Township
  • Forks Township
  • Hanover Township
  • Lehigh Township
  • Lower Mount Bethel Township
  • Lower Nazareth Township
  • Lower Saucon Township
  • Moore Township
  • Palmer Township
  • Plainfield Township
  • Upper Mount Bethel Township
  • Upper Nazareth Township
  • Washington Township
  • Williams Township

Census-designated places[]

Census-designated places are geographical areas designated by the U.S. Census Bureau for the purposes of compiling demographic data. They are not actual jurisdictions under Pennsylvania law. Other unincorporated communities, such as villages, may be listed here as well.

  • Belfast
  • Eastlawn Gardens
  • Middletown
  • Old Orchard
  • Palmer Heights

Education[]

Colleges & Universities[]

Map of Northampton County Pennsylvania School Districts

Map of Northampton County, Pennsylvania School Districts

  • Lafayette College, Easton.
  • Lehigh University, Bethlehem.
  • Moravian College, Bethlehem.
  • Northampton County Area Community College, Bethlehem Township.

Public school districts & schools[]

  • Bangor Area School District
    • Bangor Area High School, Upper Mount Bethel Township
  • Bethlehem Area School District
  • Catasauqua Area School District
    • Catasauqua High School, Northampton
  • Easton Area School District
    • Easton Area High School, Palmer Township
  • Nazareth Area School District
    • Nazareth Area High School, Nazareth
  • Northampton Area School District
    • Northampton Area High School, Northampton
  • Pen Argyl Area School District
    • Pen Argyl Area High School, Pen Argyl
  • Saucon Valley School District
    • Saucon Valley High School, Hellertown
  • Wilson Area School District
    • Wilson Area High School, Wilson

Public Charter High Schools[]

The Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts, Bethlehem

Non-public high schools[]

  • Bethlehem Catholic High School, Bethlehem
  • Holy Family School, Nazareth
  • Moravian Academy, Bethlehem
  • Notre Dame High School, Bethlehem Township
  • Pius X High School, Bangor

Transportation[]

File:LVI-sat.png

Aerial photo of Lehigh Valley International Airport (IATA: ABEICAO: KABE), 2005

Air transportation[]

Air transport to and from Northampton County is available through Lehigh Valley International Airport (IATA: ABEICAO: KABE).

Bus transportation[]

Public bus service in Northampton County is available through the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority, known as LANTA. A shuttle bus service, The Bethlehem Loop, also operates in Bethlehem.

Expressways[]

  • Interstate 78
  • Pennsylvania Route 33
  • U.S. Route 22

Telecommunications[]

Northampton County was once served only by the 215 area code from 1947 (when the North American Numbering Plan of the Bell System went into effect) until 1994. With the county's growing population, however, Northampton County was afforded area code 610 in 1994. Today, Northampton County is covered by 610. An overlay area code, 484, was added to the 610 service area in 1999.[8] A plan to introduce area code 835 as an additional overlay was rescinded in 2001.[9]

Recreation[]

There are 2 Pennsylvania state parks in Northampton County.

  • Delaware Canal State Park follows the course of the old Delaware Canal along the Delaware River from Easton in Northampton County to Bristol in Bucks County.
  • Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center

See also[]

  • Lehigh Valley Conference
  • List of shopping malls in the Lehigh Valley
  • Media in the Lehigh Valley
  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Northampton County, Pennsylvania
  • Northampton County Prison

References[]

External links[]

Coordinates: 40°45′N 75°19′W / 40.75, -75.31


This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.
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