NORTHAMPTON County, PA

Northampton County is a county in the northeastern section of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 312,951. Its county seat is Easton. The county was formed in 1752 from parts of Bucks County. Its namesake was Northamptonshire, England. The county seat of Easton was named for the country house Easton Neston in that shire.

Northampton County is part of the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area. It borders Carbon County and the Poconos to the north, Lehigh County to the west, Bucks County and the Delaware Valley to the south, and the Delaware River, which divides Pennsylvania and New Jersey, to the east. It is part of the Lehigh Valley and is included in the Philadelphia media market, the fourth largest media market in the nation.

The county is industrially oriented, producing cement and other industrial products. It was a center of cement production with the world's then-largest cement producer, Atlas Portland Cement Company, operating in the county for nearly a century from 1895 until 1982. Bethlehem Steel, once one of the world's largest manufacturers of steel, was located in the county prior to its closing in 2003.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.0%) is water. The climate is humid continental (mostly Dfa with a little Dfb in higher northern areas) and the hardiness zones are 6b and 6a. Average monthly temperatures in downtown Bethlehem average from 29.1 °F in January to 74.1 °F in July, while in Wind Gap they average from 27.0 °F in January to 71.7 °F in July.

Adjacent counties

National protected areas

Demographics

As of the 2010 census, the county was 81.0% White Non-Hispanic, 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 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. 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.

Government

Northampton is one of the seven counties in Pennsylvania which has adopted a home rule charter. Voters elect an Executive, a nine-person Council, a Controller, and a District Attorney. The Executive, Controller and District Attorney are elected at large by all voters in the County.

Five members of the council are also elected at large. The other four members of the council are elected from single-member districts. This weighted structure of government favors the majority of voters, but it does allow for representation of minority groups, if they live within a compact voting district. The Row Officers are nominated by the county executive and approved by county council.

Elected officials

Politics

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

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. 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.

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 6. The election results were certified following a canvass and audit. No challenges to the election results were filed.

County executives

County Council members

State representatives

State senators

United States House of Representatives

United States Senate

Education

Colleges and universities

300 px|thumb|right|Map of Northampton County, Pennsylvania school districts

Public school districts

Public charter schools

Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts, Bethlehem

Private high schools

Transportation

Air transportation

Air transport to and from Northampton County is available through Lehigh Valley International Airport .

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. NJ Transit provides service from Easton's Centre Square to the Phillipsburg area.

Major highways

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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 except for the Portland exchange which uses 570. An overlay area code, 484, was added to the 610 service area in 1999. A plan to introduce area code 835 as an additional overlay was rescinded in 2001.

Recreation

There are two Pennsylvania state parks in Northampton County:

Communities

right|thumb|275px|Map of Northampton County, Pennsylvania with 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

Townships

Census-designated places

Census-designated places are unincorporated communities designated by the U.S. Census Bureau for the purposes of compiling demographic data. They are not actual jurisdictions under Pennsylvania law.

Other unincorporated places

Population ranking

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2010 census of Northampton County.

† county seat

Notable people