Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
Lehigh County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 374,557. Its county seat is Allentown, the state's third-largest city after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Along with Northampton County to its east, the two counties combine to form the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, the third-largest metropolitan area of Pennsylvania with a population of 861,889 as of 2020. Lehigh County is one of the fastest-growing counties in Pennsylvania and the more highly populated of the two counties. Both counties are part of the Philadelphia television market, the fifth-largest television market in the nation.
The county is named for the Lehigh River, a tributary of the Delaware River, which flows through Lehigh County. During the Industrial Revolution, the Lehigh River served a vital role in the nation's development by offering one of the first transportation and trading routes for mining products, including anthracite, iron, manganese, limestone, and ultimately manufactured steel products.
Lehigh County falls geographically between two Pennsylvania Appalachian mountain ridges, Blue Mountain to the county's north and South Mountain to its south. Lehigh County borders Montgomery County to its south, Bucks County to its southeast, Northampton County to its east, Carbon County to its north, Schuylkill County to its northwest, and Berks County to its southwest.
The county is located northwest of Philadelphia and west of New York City.
History
Settlement and founding
Lehigh County was first settled around 1730 and was formed in 1812 when Northampton County was divided into two counties. The county is named after the Lehigh River, a river that runs through the county and whose name is derived from the Lenape Indian term Lechauweki or Lechauwekink, meaning "where there are forks." Shelter House, constructed in Emmaus in 1734 by Pennsylvania German settlers, is the oldest continuously occupied structure in both Lehigh County and Lehigh Valley and among the oldest still-standing building structures in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.American Revolution
Some of the first resistance to British colonialism, which led ultimately to the American Revolutionary War, began in present-day Lehigh County. On December 21, 1774, patriots in the area formed one of the colonies' first Committee of Observations. Following the Declaration of Independence, patriot militas pressured Tories out of Allentown and the surrounding area, and the colonial government in the area began to break down.After Washington and the Continental Army were defeated at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia was left defenseless and Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council ordered that eleven Philadelphia bells, including the Liberty Bell, be taken down and moved to present day Allentown and hidden in the basement of Zion Reformed Church on present day West Hamilton Street to protect them from being melted down by the British Army for use as munitions.
Industrial Revolution
The opening of the Lehigh Canal beginning in 1827 transformed Allentown and Lehigh County from a rural agricultural area dominated by German-speaking people into an urbanized industrialized area and expanded the city's commercial and industrial capacity greatly. With this, Lehigh County underwent significant industrialization, ultimately becoming a major 20th century center for heavy industry and manufacturing and one of several hubs for the Industrial Revolution.American Civil War
Following the Union army's defeat at the Battle of Fort Sumter and Lincoln's April 15, 1861, proclamation calling for state militia to provide 75,000 volunteer troops to defend the nation's capital of Washington, D.C., Allentown deployed the Allen Infantry, also known as the Allen Guards and composed of volunteers from Allentown and its surrounding suburbs. The unit mustered in for duty on April 18, 1861. As the Civil War progressed, multiple Union army units were drawn from Lehigh County, including roughly seventy percent of the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment.On October 19, 1899, a monument in honor of the Lehigh County men killed in their volunteer service to preservation of the Union, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, was erected at Seventh and Hamilton streets in Center City Allentown, where it still stands.
Geography
Lehigh County has a total area of, of which is land and of which is water.Topography
Lehigh County borders two Appalachian mountain ridges. To the north, the county borders Blue Mountain, which has an altitude of. To the south, it is bordered by South Mountain, which has an altitude of and cuts through the southern portions of both Lehigh and Northampton counties. The Lehigh County's highest point is near Germansville at Bake Oven Knob, a mass of Tuscarora conglomeratic rocks that rise about above the main Blue Mountain ridge in northwestern Heidelberg Township.Lehigh County is part of the Delaware River watershed. Most of the county is drained by the Lehigh River and its tributaries, though the Schuylkill River also drains regions in the county's south through Perkiomen Creek and in the county's northwest through Maiden Creek.
Adjacent counties
- Carbon County
- Northampton County
- Bucks County
- Montgomery County
- Berks County
- Schuylkill County
Climate
In Allentown, January lows average and highs average. The lowest officially recorded temperature was in 1912. July lows average and highs average with an average relative humidity of 82%. The highest temperature on record was in 1966. Early fall and mid-winter are generally driest with October being the driest month with only 74.7 mm of average precipitation.
Snowfall is variable with some winters bringing light snow and others bringing numerous significant snowstorms. Average snowfall is per year, with the months of January and February receiving the most now with just over in each of these months. Rainfall is generally spread throughout the year with eight to twelve wet days per month, at an average annual rate of. The hardiness zone in the majority of the county has increased from 6b to 7a. 6b still exists in some northern and higher areas.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 374,557, a median age of 40.1 years, 22.1% of residents under the age of 18, 17.8% of residents 65 years of age or older, 93.9 males for every 100 females, and 91.1 males for every 100 females age 18 and over. The county's population growth of 7.2% since 2010 is among the fastest in the state.As of the 2020 census, the racial makeup of the county was 65.3% White, 7.4% Black or African American, 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 3.7% Asian, less than 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 13.1% from some other race, and 10.1% from two or more races, while Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 25.9% of the population.
As of the 2020 census, 90.1% of residents lived in urban areas and 9.9% lived in rural areas.
There were 142,970 households in the county, of which 30.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them; 47.0% were married-couple households, 17.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, 27.5% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present, 26.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 149,830 housing units, of which 4.6% were vacant, and among occupied housing units 64.2% were owner-occupied and 35.8% were renter-occupied; the homeowner vacancy rate was 0.9% and the rental vacancy rate was 4.9%.
Racial and ethnic composition
Politics and government
As of March 4, 2024, there were 243,427 registered voters in Lehigh County:- Democratic: 111,646
- Republican: 84,937
- No affiliation: 38,901
- Other parties: 7,943
State House of Representatives
State Senate
U.S. House of Representatives
- Ryan Mackenzie, Republican, Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district
Education
Four-year colleges and universities
- Cedar Crest College in Allentown
- DeSales University in Center Valley
- Muhlenberg College in Allentown
- Penn State Lehigh Valley in Center Valley
Two-year colleges and technical institutes
- Baum School of Art in Allentown
- Lehigh Carbon Community College in Schnecksville, and Donley Center in Allentown
- Lincoln Tech in Allentown
Public school districts
- Allentown School District
- *William Allen High School in Allentown
- *Louis E. Dieruff High School in Allentown
- Bethlehem Area School District
- Catasauqua Area School District
- *Catasauqua High School in Northampton
- East Penn School District
- *Emmaus High School in Emmaus
- Northern Lehigh School District
- *Northern Lehigh High School in Slatington
- Northwestern Lehigh School District
- *Northwestern Lehigh High School in New Tripoli
- Parkland School District
- *Parkland High School in South Whitehall Township
- Salisbury Township School District
- *Salisbury High School in Salisbury Township
- Southern Lehigh School District
- *Southern Lehigh High School in Center Valley
- Whitehall-Coplay School District
- *Whitehall High School in Whitehall Township