Pennsylvania

Indigenous settlement

Pennsylvania's history of human habitation extends to thousands of years before the foundation of the colonial Province of Pennsylvania in 1681. Archaeologists believe the first settlement of the Americas occurred at least 15,000 years ago during the last glacial period, though it is unclear when humans first entered the area now known as Pennsylvania. There also is open debate in the archaeological community regarding when ancestors of Native Americans expanded across the two continents down to the tip of South America; possibilities range between 30,000 and 10,500 years ago.^[13] Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Jefferson Township includes the earliest known signs of human activity in Pennsylvania and perhaps all of North America,^[14] including the remains of a civilization that existed over 10,000 years ago and possibly pre-dated the Clovis culture.^[15][14] By 1000 CE, in contrast to their nomadic hunter-gatherer ancestors, the native population of Pennsylvania had developed agricultural techniques and a mixed food economy.^[16]

By the time European colonization of the Americas began, at least two major Native American tribes inhabited Pennsylvania.^[15] The first, the Lenape, spoke an Algonquian language and inhabited the eastern region of the state, then known as Lenapehoking. It included most of New Jersey and most of the Lehigh Valley and Delaware Valley regions of eastern and southeastern Pennsylvania. The Lenape's territory ended somewhere between the Delaware River in the east and the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania. The Susquehannock, who spoke an Iroquoian language, were based in more western regions of Pennsylvania from New York in the north to West Virginia in the southwest that included the Susquehanna River all the way to the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers near present day Pittsburgh.^[17] European disease and constant warfare with several neighbors and groups of Europeans weakened these tribes, and they were grossly outpaced financially as the Hurons and Iroquois blocked them from proceeding west into Ohio during the Beaver Wars. As they lost numbers and land, they abandoned much of their western territory and moved closer to the Susquehanna River and the Iroquois and Mohawk tribes located more to the north. Northwest of the Allegheny River was the Iroquoian Petun,^[18] known mostly for their vast tobacco plantations, although this is believed to be complete fabrication.^[19] They were fragmented into three groups during the Beaver Wars: the Petun of New York, the Wyandot of Ohio, and the Tiontatecaga of the Kanawha River in southern West Virginia. South of the Allegheny River was a nation known as Calicua.^[20] They may have been the same as the Monongahela culture and little is known about them except that they were probably a Siouan culture. Archaeological sites from this time in this region are scarce.

17th century

William Penn, a Quaker and son of a prominent admiral, founded the colonial Province of Pennsylvania in 1681

In the 17th century, the Dutch and the English each claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their colonial lands in America.^[21][22][23] The Dutch were the first to take possession.^[23] By June 3, 1631, the Dutch began settling the Delmarva Peninsula by establishing the Zwaanendael Colony on the site of present-day Lewes, Delaware.^[24] In 1638, Sweden established New Sweden Colony in the region of Fort Christina on the site of present-day Wilmington, Delaware. New Sweden claimed and, for the most part, controlled the lower Delaware River region, including parts of present-day Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, but settled few colonists there.^[25][26]

On March 12, 1664, King Charles II of England gave James, Duke of York a grant that incorporated all lands included in the original Virginia Company of Plymouth Grant and other lands. This grant was in conflict with the Dutch claim for New Netherland, which included parts of today's Pennsylvania.^[27]

On June 24, 1664, the Duke of York sold the portion of his large grant that included present-day New Jersey to John Berkeley and George Carteret for a proprietary colony. The land was not yet in British possession, but the sale boxed in the portion of New Netherland on the West side of the Delaware River. The British conquest of New Netherland began on August 29, 1664, when New Amsterdam was coerced to surrender while facing cannons on British ships in New York Harbor.^[28][29] This conquest continued, and was completed in October 1664, when the British captured Fort Casimir in what today is New Castle, Delaware.

The Peace of Breda between England, France, and the Netherlands confirmed the English conquest on July 21, 1667,^[30][31] although there were temporary reversions.

On September 12, 1672, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch reconquered New York Colony/New Amsterdam, establishing three County Courts, which went on to become original Counties in present-day Delaware and Pennsylvania. The one that later transferred to Pennsylvania was Upland.^[32] This was partially reversed on February 9, 1674, when the Treaty of Westminster ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War and reverted all political situations to the status quo ante bellum. The British retained the Dutch Counties with their Dutch names.^[33] By June 11, 1674, New York reasserted control over the outlying colonies, including Upland, and the names started to be changed to British names by November 11, 1674.^[34] Upland was partitioned on November 12, 1674, producing the general outline of the current border between Pennsylvania and Delaware.^[35]

On February 28, 1681, Charles II granted a land charter^[36] to Quaker leader William Penn to repay a debt of £16,000^[37] (around £2,100,000 in 2008, adjusting for retail inflation)^[38] owed to William's father. This transaction represents one of the largest land grants to an individual in history.^[39] Penn proposed that the land be called New Wales, but there were objections to that name, so he recommended Sylvania (from the Latin silva: "forest, woods"). The King named it Pennsylvania (literally "Penn's Woods") in honor of Admiral Penn. The younger Penn was embarrassed at this name, fearing that people would think he had named it after himself, but King Charles would not rename the grant.^[40] Penn established a government with two innovations that were much copied in the New World: the county commission and freedom of religious conviction.^[39]

What had been Upland on the Pennsylvania side of the Pennsylvania-Delaware border was renamed as Chester County when Pennsylvania instituted their colonial governments on March 4, 1681.^[41][42] Penn signed a peace treaty with Tamanend, leader of the Lenape, which began a long period of friendly relations between the Quakers and the Indians.^[43] Additional treaties between Quakers and other tribes followed. The treaty of William Penn was never violated.^[44][45][46]

18th century

Shelter House in Emmaus, constructed in 1734 by Pennsylvania German settlers, is the oldest continuously occupied building structure in the Lehigh Valley and one of the oldest in Pennsylvania^[47]

Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were adopted in 1776 and 1787-88, respectively

Between 1730 and when the Pennsylvania Colony was shut down by Parliament with the Currency Act of 1764, the Pennsylvania Colony made its own paper money to account for the shortage of actual gold and silver. The paper money was called Colonial Scrip. The Colony issued bills of credit, which were as good as gold or silver coins because of their legal tender status. Since they were issued by the government and not a banking institution, it was an interest-free proposition, largely defraying the expense of the government and therefore taxation of the people. It also promoted general employment and prosperity, since the government used discretion and did not issue excessive amounts that inflated the currency. Benjamin Franklin had a hand in creating this currency, whose utility, he said, was never to be disputed. The currency also met with "cautious approval" by Adam Smith.^[48]

The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1740, becoming one of the nine colonial colleges and the first college established in the state and one of the first in the nation; today, it is an Ivy League university that is ranked one the world's best universities.^[49] Dickinson College in Carlisle was the first college founded after the states united.^[49] Established in 1773, Dickinson was ratified five days after the Treaty of Paris on September 9, 1783, and was founded by Benjamin Rush and named after John Dickinson.

James Smith wrote that in 1763, "the Indians again commenced hostilities, and were busily engaged in killing and scalping the frontier inhabitants in various parts of Pennsylvania." Further, "This state was then a Quaker government, and at the first of this war the frontiers received no assistance from the state."^[50] The ensuing hostilities became known as Pontiac's War.

After the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, Delegate John Dickinson of Philadelphia wrote the Declaration of Rights and Grievances. The Congress was the first meeting of the Thirteen Colonies, called at the request of the Massachusetts Assembly, but only nine colonies sent delegates.^[51] Dickinson then wrote Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, To the Inhabitants of the British Colonies, which were published in the Pennsylvania Chronicle between December 2, 1767, and February 15, 1768.^[52]

When the Founding Fathers convened in Philadelphia in 1774, 12 colonies sent representatives to the First Continental Congress.^[53] The Second Continental Congress, which also met in Philadelphia (in May 1775), authored and signed the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia,^[54] but when Philadelphia was captured by the British in the Philadelphia Campaign, the Continental Congress moved west, meeting at the Lancaster courthouse on Saturday, September 27, 1777, and then to York. In York, they adopted the Articles of Confederation, largely authored by John Dickinson, that formed 13 independent States^[c] into a new union. Later, the Constitution was written, and Philadelphia was once again chosen to be cradle to the new nation.^[55] The Constitution was drafted and signed at the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, and the same building where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776.^[56]

Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on December 12, 1787,^[57] five days after Delaware became the first. At the time, Pennsylvania was the most ethnically and religiously diverse of the thirteen colonies. Because a third of Pennsylvania's population spoke German, the Constitution was presented in German so those citizens could participate in the discussion about it. Reverend Frederick Muhlenberg, a Lutheran minister and the first Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, acted as chairman of Pennsylvania's ratifying convention.^[58]

For half a century, the Pennsylvania General Assembly met at various places in the Philadelphia area before it began meeting regularly in Independence Hall in Philadelphia for 63 years.^[59] However, events such as the Paxton Boys massacres of 1763 had made the legislature aware of the need for a central capital. In 1799, the General Assembly moved to the Lancaster Courthouse.^[59]

19th century

The Battle of Gettysburg, fought from July 1–3, 1863 in Gettysburg, was the Civil War's deadliest battle but also is widely considered the war's turning point in the Union's ultimate victory. The battle is depicted in this 1887 Thure de Thulstrup painting, Battle of Gettysburg.

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln (center, facing camera) arrived in Gettysburg and delivered the Gettysburg Address, considered one of the best-known speeches in American history.^[11][12]

The General Assembly met in the old Dauphin County Court House until December 1821^[59] when the Federal-style Hills Capitol, named for Lancaster architect Stephen Hills, was constructed on a hilltop land grant of four acres set aside for a seat of state government in Harrisburg by the son and namesake of John Harris, Sr., a Yorkshire native who founded a trading post and ferry on the east shore of the Susquehanna River in 1705.^[60] The Hills Capitol burned down on February 2, 1897, during a heavy snowstorm, presumably because of a faulty flue.^[59]

The General Assembly met at a nearby Methodist Church until a new capitol could be built. Following an architectural selection contest that some alleged had been rigged, Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb was asked to design and build a replacement building. However, the legislature had little money to allocate to the project. When they dubbed the roughly finished somewhat industrial Cobb Capitol building complete, the General Assembly refused to occupy the building. In 1901, political and popular indignation prompted a second contest that was restricted to Pennsylvania architects; Joseph Miller Huston of Philadelphia was chosen to design the present Pennsylvania State Capitol that incorporated Cobb's building into a magnificent public work, finished and dedicated in 1907.^[59]

James Buchanan, a Franklin County native, served as the 15th U.S. president and was the first president to be born in Pennsylvania.^[61] The Battle of Gettysburg, the major turning point of the American Civil War, took place near Gettysburg in July 1863.^[62] An estimated 350,000 Pennsylvanians served in the Union Army forces, including 8,600 African American military volunteers.

The politics of Pennsylvania were for decades dominated by the financially conservative Republican-aligned Cameron machine, established by U.S. Senator Simon Cameron,^[63] later the Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln. Control of the machine was subsequently passed on to Cameron's son J. Donald Cameron, whose ineffectiveness resulted in a transfer of power to the more shrewd Matthew Quay and finally to Boies Penrose.

The post-Civil War era, known as the Gilded Age, saw the continued rise of industry in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was home to some of the largest steel companies in the world. Andrew Carnegie founded the Carnegie Steel Company in Pittsburgh and Charles M. Schwab founded Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem. Other titans of industry, including John D. Rockefeller and Jay Gould, also operated in Pennsylvania. In the latter half of the 19th century, the U.S. oil industry was born in Western Pennsylvania, which supplied the vast majority of kerosene for years thereafter. As the Pennsylvania oil rush developed, Pennsylvania's oil boom towns, such as Titusville, rose and later fell. Coal mining, primarily in the state's Coal Region in the northeast region of the state, also was a major industry for much of the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1903, Milton S. Hershey began construction on a chocolate factory in Hershey, Pennsylvania; The Hershey Company grew to become the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America. Heinz Company was also founded during this period. These huge companies exercised a large influence on the politics of Pennsylvania; as Henry Demarest Lloyd put it, oil baron John D. Rockefeller "had done everything with the Pennsylvania legislature except refine it".^[64] Pennsylvania created a Department of Highways and engaged in a vast program of road-building, while railroads continued to see heavy usage.

The growth of industry eventually provided middle class incomes to working-class households after the development of labor unions helped them gain living wages. However, the rise of unions also led to a rise of union busting with several private police forces springing up.^[64] Pennsylvania was the location of the first documented organized strike in North America, and Pennsylvania was the location of two hugely prominent strikes, the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and the Coal Strike of 1902. The eight-hour day was eventually adopted, and the coal and iron police were banned.^[65]

20th century

Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem was one of the world's leading steel manufacturers for most of the 19th and 20th century. In 1982, however, it discontinued most of its operations, declared bankruptcy in 2001, and was dissolved in 2003.

The Stonycreek Township crash site of Flight 93, one of four planes hijacked in the September 11 attacks; the site is now a national memorial. Flight 93 passengers wrestled with al-Qaeda terrorist hijackers for control of the plane, preventing it from being flown into the White House or U.S. Capitol.^[66]

At the beginning of the 20th century, Pennsylvania's economy centered on steel production, logging, coal mining, textile production, and other forms of industrial manufacturing. A surge in immigration to the U.S. during the late 19th and early 20th centuries provided a steady flow of cheap labor for these industries, which often employed children and people who could not speak English from Southern and Eastern Europe. Thousands of Pennsylvanians volunteered during the Spanish–American War. Pennsylvania was an important industrial center in World War I, and the state provided over 300,000 soldiers for the military. On May 31, 1918, the Pittsburgh Agreement was signed in Pittsburgh to declare the formation of the independent state of Czechoslovakia with future Czechoslovak president Tomáš Masaryk.

In 1923, President Calvin Collidge established the Allegheny National Forest under the authority of the Weeks Act of 1911.^[67] The forest is located in the northwest part of the state in Elk, Forest, McKean, and Warren Counties for the purposes of timber production and watershed protection in the Allegheny River basin. The Allegheny is the state's only national forest.^[68]

Pennsylvania manufactured 6.6 percent of total U.S. military armaments produced during World War II, ranking sixth among the 48 states.^[69] The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard served as an important naval base, and Pennsylvania produced important military leaders, including George C. Marshall, Hap Arnold, Jacob Devers, and Carl Spaatz. During the war, over a million Pennsylvanians served in the armed forces, and more Medals of Honor were awarded to Pennsylvanians than to individuals from any other state.

The Three Mile Island accident was the most significant nuclear accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history.^[70][71] The state was hard-hit by the decline and restructuring of the steel industry and other heavy industries during the late 20th century. With job losses came heavy population losses, especially in the state's largest cities. Pittsburgh lost its place among the top ten most populous cities in the United States by 1950, and Philadelphia dropped to the fifth and later sixth largest city after decades of being among the top three.

After 1990, as information-based industries became more important in the economy, state and local governments put more resources into the old, well-established public library system. Some localities, however, used new state funding to cut local taxes.^[72] New ethnic groups, especially Hispanics and Latinos, began entering the state to fill low-skill jobs in agriculture and service industries. For example, in Chester County, Mexican immigrants brought the Spanish language, increased Catholicism, high birth rates, and cuisine when they were hired as agricultural laborers; in some rural localities, they made up half or more of the population.^[73] Meanwhile, Stateside Puerto Ricans built a large community in the state's third largest city, Allentown. They comprised over 40% of the city's population by 2000.^[74]

In the 20th century, as Pennsylvania's historical national and even global leadership in mining largely ceased and its steelmaking and other heavy manufacturing sectors slowed, the state sought to grow its service and other industries to replace the jobs and economic productivity lost from the downturn of these industries. Pittsburgh's concentration of universities has enabled it to be a leader in technology and healthcare. Similarly, Philadelphia has a concentration of university expertise. Healthcare, retail, transportation, and tourism are some of the state's growing industries of the postindustrial era. As in the rest of the nation, most residential population growth has occurred in suburban rather than central city areas, although both major cities have had significant revitalization in their downtown areas.^[75] Philadelphia anchors the seventh-largest metropolitan area in the country, while Pittsburgh is the center of the twenty-seventh largest metro area in the country. The growth of the Lehigh Valley has made it one of the seventy most populous metro areas in the country,^[76] while Pennsylvania also has six other metro areas among the top 200 most populous American metro areas. Philadelphia forms part of the Northeast megalopolis and is associated with the Northeastern United States, while Pittsburgh is part of the Great Lakes megalopolis and is often associated with the Midwestern United States and the Rust Belt.

21st century

On September 11, 2001, during the terrorist attacks on the United States, the small town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania received worldwide attention after United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township, 1.75 miles (2.82 km) north of the town, killing all 40 civilians and four Al-Qaeda hijackers on board. The hijackers had intended to crash the plane into either the United States Capitol or The White House.^[66] After learning from family members via air phone of the earlier attacks on the World Trade Center, however, Flight 93 passengers on board revolted against the hijackers and fought for control of the plane, causing it to crash. It was the only one of the four aircraft hijacked that day that never reached its intended target and the heroism of the passengers has been commemorated.^[77]

Beginning in 2003, the Tekko anime convention is held annually in Pittsburgh.^[78] In October 2018, the Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation experienced the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.^[79]

Discover more about History related topics

History of Pennsylvania

History of Pennsylvania

The history of Pennsylvania stems back thousands of years when the first indigenous peoples occupied the area of what is now Pennsylvania. In 1681, Pennsylvania became an English colony when William Penn received a royal deed from King Charles II of England. Although European activity in the region precedes that date. The area was home to the Lenape, Susquehannocks, Iroquois, Erie, Shawnee, Arandiqiouia, and other American Indian tribes. Most of these tribes were driven off or reduced to remnants as a result of diseases, such as smallpox.

List of Pennsylvania firsts

List of Pennsylvania firsts

This is a list of firsts achieved in the colony and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

List of people from Pennsylvania

List of people from Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania, the fifth most populous state in the United States, is the birthplace or childhood home of many famous Americans. People from Pennsylvania are called "Pennsylvanians".

Last Glacial Period

Last Glacial Period

The Last Glacial Period (LGP), also known colloquially as the last ice age or simply ice age, occurred from the end of the Eemian to the end of the Younger Dryas, encompassing the period c. 115,000 – c. 11,700 years ago. The LGP is part of a larger sequence of glacial and interglacial periods known as the Quaternary glaciation which started around 2,588,000 years ago and is ongoing. The definition of the Quaternary as beginning 2.58 million years ago (Mya) is based on the formation of the Arctic ice cap. The Antarctic ice sheet began to form earlier, at about 34 Mya, in the mid-Cenozoic. The term Late Cenozoic Ice Age is used to include this early phase. The previous ice age, the Saale glaciation, which ended about 128,000 years ago, was more severe than the Last Glacial Period in some areas such as Britain, but less severe in others.

Jefferson Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania

Jefferson Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania

Jefferson Township is a township in Washington County, Pennsylvania. The population was 1,116 at the 2020 census.

Clovis culture

Clovis culture

The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleoamerican culture, named for distinct stone and bone tools found in close association with Pleistocene fauna, particularly two mammoths, at Blackwater Locality No. 1 near Clovis, New Mexico, in 1936 and 1937. It existed from roughly 13,400–12,700 years ago near the end of the last glacial period, is characterized by the manufacture of "Clovis points" and distinctive bone and ivory tools, and it is represented by hundreds of sites, from which >10,000 Clovis points have been recovered.

Hunter-gatherer

Hunter-gatherer

A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, honey, or anything safe to eat, and/or by hunting game, roughly as most animal omnivores do. Hunter-gatherer societies stand in contrast to the more sedentary agricultural societies, which rely mainly on cultivating crops and raising domesticated animals for food production, although the boundaries between the two ways of living are not completely distinct.

Agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. In the twentieth century, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monocultures came to dominate agricultural output.

European colonization of the Americas

European colonization of the Americas

During the Age of Discovery, a large scale European colonization of the Americas took place between about 1492 and 1800. Although the Norse had explored and colonized areas of the North Atlantic, colonizing Greenland and creating a short term settlement near the northern tip of Newfoundland circa 1000 CE, the later and more well-known wave by the European powers is what formally constitutes as beginning of colonization, involving the continents of North America and South America.

Lenape

Lenape

The Lenape also called the Lenni Lenape, and Delaware people, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada.

Algonquian languages

Algonquian languages

The Algonquian languages are a subfamily of Indigenous American languages that include most languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Indigenous Ojibwe language (Chippewa), which is a senior member of the Algonquian language family. The term Algonquin has been suggested to derive from the Maliseet word elakómkwik, "they are our relatives/allies". A number of Algonquian languages are considered extinct languages by the modern linguistic definition.

Lenapehoking

Lenapehoking

Lenapehoking is widely translated as 'homelands of the Lenape', which in the 16th and 17th centuries, ranged along the Eastern seaboard from western Connecticut to Delaware, and encompassed the territory adjacent to the Delaware and lower Hudson river valleys, and the territory between them.

Pennsylvania is 170 miles (274 km) north to south and 283 miles (455 km) east to west.^[80] Of a total 46,055 square miles (119,282 km²), 44,817 square miles (116,075 km²) are land, 490 square miles (1,269 km²) are inland waters, and 749 square miles (1,940 km²) are waters in Lake Erie.^[81] It is the 33rd-largest state in the United States.^[82] Pennsylvania has 51 miles (82 km)^[83] of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles (92 km)^[8] of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Of the original Thirteen Colonies, Pennsylvania is the only state that does not border the Atlantic Ocean.

The boundaries of the state are the Mason–Dixon line (39°43' N) to the south, Twelve-Mile Circle on the Pennsylvania-Delaware border, the Delaware River to the east, 80°31' W to the west, and the 42° N to the north, except for a short segment on the western end where a triangle extends north to Lake Erie. The state has five geographical regions: Allegheny Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Atlantic Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and Erie Plain.

Climate

Köppen climate types in Pennsylvania

Autumn in North Branch Township in Wyoming County, October 2011

Pennsylvania's diverse topography produces a variety of climates, though the entire state experiences cold winters and humid summers. Straddling two major zones, the majority of the state, except for the southeastern corner, has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb). The southern portion of the state has a humid subtropical climate. The largest city, Philadelphia, has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa).

Summers are generally hot and humid. Moving toward the mountainous interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increases, and snowfall amounts are greater. Western areas of the state, particularly locations near Lake Erie, can receive over 100 inches (250 cm) of snowfall annually, and the entire state receives plentiful precipitation throughout the year. The state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into autumn. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, such as 30 recorded tornadoes in 2011; generally speaking, these tornadoes do not cause significant damage.^[84]

Municipalities

Cities in Pennsylvania include Philadelphia, Reading, Lebanon and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, and the tri-cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton in the central east, known as the Lehigh Valley. The northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Nanticoke, and Hazleton. Erie is located in the northwest. State College is located in the central region. Williamsport is in the north-central region with York, Carlisle, and the state capital Harrisburg on the Susquehanna River in the east-central region of the state. Altoona and Johnstown are in the state's west-central region.

The state's three most populated cities, in order of size, are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Allentown.

Largest municipalities in Pennsylvania Source:[7]
	Rank	Name	County	Pop.	Rank	Name	County	Pop.
Philadelphia Pittsburgh	1	Philadelphia	Philadelphia	1,603,797	11	Lancaster	Lancaster	58,039	Allentown Reading
	2	Pittsburgh	Allegheny	302,971	12	Millcreek Township	Erie	54,073
	3	Allentown	Lehigh	125,845	13	Lower Paxton Township	Dauphin	53,501
	4	Reading	Berks	95,112	14	Haverford Township	Delaware	50,431
	5	Erie	Erie	94,831	15	Harrisburg	Dauphin	50,099
	6	Upper Darby	Delaware	85,681	16	York	York	44,800
	7	Scranton	Lackawanna	76,328	17	Wilkes-Barre	Luzerne	44,328
	8	Bethlehem	Northampton	75,781	18	Altoona	Blair	43,963
	9	Lower Merion Township	Montgomery	63,633	19	Hempfield Township	Westmoreland	41,466
	10	Bensalem Township	Bucks	62,707	20	Penn Hills	Allegheny	41,059

Adjacent states and province

• Ontario (Province of Canada) (Northwest)
• New York (North and Northeast)
• New Jersey (East and Southeast)
• Delaware (Extreme Southeast)
• Maryland (South)
• West Virginia (Southwest)
• Ohio (West)

Discover more about Geography related topics

Geography of Pennsylvania

Geography of Pennsylvania

The geography of Pennsylvania varies from sea level marine estuary to mountainous plateau. The state is known for its natural resources, ports, and the leading role it played in the nation's founding and history.

List of counties in Pennsylvania

List of counties in Pennsylvania

The following is a list of the 67 counties of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The city of Philadelphia is coterminous with Philadelphia County, the municipalities having been consolidated in 1854, and all remaining county government functions having been merged into the city after a 1951 referendum. Eight of the ten most populous counties are in the southeastern portion of the state, including four out of the top five, and eight of the top ten most populous counties are in either the Philadelphia or Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

Lake Erie

Lake Erie

Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. At its deepest point Lake Erie is 210 feet (64 m) deep.

Delaware River

Delaware River

The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for 282 miles (454 km) along the borders of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, before emptying into Delaware Bay. It is the longest free-flowing river in the Eastern United States.

Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about 106,460,000 km2 (41,100,000 sq mi). It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe, and Asia from the "New World" of the Americas in the European perception of the World.

Mason–Dixon line

Mason–Dixon line

The Mason–Dixon line, also called the Mason and Dixon line or Mason's and Dixon's line, is a demarcation line separating four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia. It was surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon as part of the resolution of a border dispute involving Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware in colonial America. The dispute had its origins almost a century earlier in the somewhat confusing proprietary grants by King Charles I to Lord Baltimore (Maryland) and by King Charles II to William Penn.

Delaware

Delaware

Delaware is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Delaware Bay, in turn named after Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor.

42nd parallel north

42nd parallel north

The 42nd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 42 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.

Allegheny Plateau

Allegheny Plateau

The Allegheny Plateau is a large dissected plateau area of the Appalachian Mountains in western and central New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, northern and western West Virginia, and eastern Ohio. It is divided into the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau and the glaciated Allegheny Plateau.

Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians

Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians

The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division and are also a belt within the Appalachian Mountains extending from southeastern New York in the north through northwestern New Jersey, westward into Pennsylvania through the Lehigh Valley, and southward into Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. They form a broad arc between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Appalachian Plateau physiographic province. They are characterized by long, even ridges, with long, continuous valleys in between.

Piedmont (United States)

Piedmont (United States)

The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the Eastern United States. It is situated between the Atlantic Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New York in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont Province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division which consists of the Gettysburg-Newark Lowlands, the Piedmont Upland, and the Piedmont Lowlands sections.

Erie Plain

Erie Plain

The Erie Plain is a lacustrine plain that borders Lake Erie in North America. From Buffalo, New York, to Cleveland, Ohio, it is quite narrow, but broadens considerably from Cleveland around Lake Erie to Southern Ontario, where it forms most of the Ontario peninsula. The Erie Plain was used in the United States as a natural gateway to the North American interior, and in both the United States and Canada the plain is heavily populated and provides very fertile agricultural land.

As of the 2020 U.S. census, Pennsylvania had a population of 13,011,844, up from 12,702,379 in 2010. In 2019, net migration to other states resulted in a decrease of 27,718, and immigration from other countries resulted in an increase of 127,007. Net migration to the Commonwealth was 98,289. Migration of native Pennsylvanians resulted in a decrease of 100,000 people. From 2008 to 2012, 5.8% of the population was foreign-born.^[91] Pennsylvania is the fifth most populated state in the U.S. after California, Florida, New York, and Texas.^[92]

According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 12,691 homeless people in Pennsylvania.^{[93] [94]}

Place of origin

Among Pennsylvania residents, as of 2020, 74.5% were born in Pennsylvania, 18.4% were born in a different U.S. state, 1.5% were born in Puerto Rico, U.S. Island areas, or born abroad to American parent(s), and 5.6% were foreign born.^[95] Foreign-born Pennsylvanians are largely from Asia (36.0%), Europe (35.9%), and Latin America (30.6%) with the remainder from Africa (5%), North America (3.1%), and Oceania (0.4%). The state's largest ancestry groups, expressed as a percentage of total people who responded with a particular ancestry for the 2010 census, are:^[96][97]

• German 28.5%
• Irish 18.2%
• Italian 12.8%
• African Americans 9.6%
• English 8.5%
• Polish 7.2%
• French 4.2%

Race and ethnicity

Pennsylvania's Hispanic or Latino American population grew by 82.6% between 2000 and 2010, marking one of the largest increases in a state's Hispanic population. The significant growth of the Hispanic or Latino population is due to migration to the state mainly from Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, and to a lesser extent immigration from countries such as the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and various Central and South American nations and a wave of Hispanic and Latinos leaving New York and New Jersey for safer and more affordable living. The Asian population swelled by almost 60%, fueled by Indian, Vietnamese, and Chinese immigration, and many Asian transplants moving to Philadelphia from New York. The rapid growth of this community has given Pennsylvania one of the largest Asian populations in the nation. The African American population grew by 13%, which was the largest increase in that population among the state's peers (New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan).^[98] Pennsylvania has a high in-migration of black and Hispanic people from other nearby states with the eastern and south-central portions of the state seeing the bulk of the increases.^[99][100]

The majority of Hispanic or Latino Americans in Pennsylvania are of Puerto Rican descent.^[101][102] Most of the remaining Hispanic or Latino population is made up of Mexicans and Dominicans. Most Hispanic or Latinos are concentrated in Philadelphia, Lehigh Valley, and South Central Pennsylvania.^[103] The Hispanic or Latino population is greatest in Bethlehem, Allentown, Reading, Lancaster, York, and around Philadelphia. It is not clear how much of this change reflects a changing population and how much reflects increased willingness to self-identify minority status. As of 2010, it is estimated that about 85% of all Hispanics or Latino Americans in Pennsylvania live within a 150-mile (240 km) radius of Philadelphia, with about 20% living within the city itself.

Among the state's black population, the vast majority in the state are African American. There are also a growing number of black residents of West Indian, recent African, and Hispanic or Latino origins.^[104] Most black people live in the Philadelphia area, Pittsburgh, and South Central Pennsylvania. Non-Hispanic whites make up the majority of Pennsylvania; they are mostly descended from German, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Italian, and English immigrants. Rural portions of South Central Pennsylvania are recognized nationally for their notable Amish communities. Wyoming Valley, including Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, has the highest percentage of white residents of any metropolitan area with a population of 500,000 or above in the U.S.; in Wyoming Valley, 96.2% of the population claim to be white with no Hispanic background. Pennsylvania's center of population is in Duncannon in Perry County.^[105]

Birth data

Note: Births in table do not add up because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number.

• Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin have not been collected, but included in one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

Age and poverty

As of the 2010 census, Pennsylvania had the fourth-highest proportion of elderly (65+) citizens in the nation at 15.4%, compared to a national average of 13.0%.^[119] According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the state's poverty rate was 12.5% in 2017 compared to 13.4% for the U.S. as a whole.^[120]

Languages

An Amish family riding in a traditional Amish buggy in Lancaster County. Pennsylvania has the largest Amish population of any state.

As of 2010, 90.2% (10,710,239) of Pennsylvania residents age five and older spoke English at home as a primary language while 4.1% (486,058) spoke Spanish, 0.9% (103,502) spoke German including Pennsylvania Dutch, and 0.5% (56,052) spoke Chinese, which includes Mandarin of the population over the age of five. In total, 9.9% (1,170,628) of Pennsylvania's population age 5 and older spoke a mother tongue other than English.^[121]

Pennsylvania Dutch language

Pennsylvania German, spoken by nearly one percent of Pennsylvania's population as of 2010, is often misleadingly called Pennsylvania Dutch. The term Dutch was used to mean German,^[122] including the Netherlands, before the Latin name for them replaced it. When referring to the language spoken by the Pennsylvania Dutch people, Pennsylvania German, it means German". In fact, Germans, in their own language, call themselves Deutsch, (Pennsylvania German: "Deitsch"). Pennsylvania Dutch is a descendant of German in the West Central German dialect family and is closest to Palatine German. Pennsylvania German is still very vigorous as a first language among Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonites, principally in the Lancaster County and Berks County areas; it is almost extinct as an everyday language outside the plain communities, though a few words have passed into English usage.

Religion

Of the original Thirteen Colonies, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island had the most religious freedom.^[124] Voltaire, writing of William Penn in 1733, observed: "The new sovereign also enacted several wise and wholesome laws for his colony, which have remained invariably the same to this day. The chief is, to ill-treat no person on account of religion, and to consider as brethren all those who believe in one God."^[125] One result of this uncommon freedom was a wide religious diversity, which continues to the present.

Pennsylvania's population in 2010 was 12,702,379; of these, 6,838,440 (53.8%) were estimated to belong to some sort of organized religion. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) at Pennsylvania State University, the largest religious bodies in Pennsylvania by adherents were the Roman Catholic Church with 3,503,028 adherents, the United Methodist Church with 591,734 members, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America with 501,974 members. Since 2014, among the state's religious population, 73% were Christian, according to Pew Research Center.^[123] In 2020, the Public Religion Research Institute estimated 68% of the population identified with Christianity.^[126] As of 2014, 47% of all Pennsylvanians identified as Protestants, making Protestantism far and away the most prominent religious affiliation among Pennsylvanians. Among all self-identified Christians in the state, however, 24% identified as Catholics, the most of any Christian religious affiliation.

Pennsylvania, especially in the Greater Pittsburgh area, has one of the largest communities of Presbyterians in the nation, the third highest by percentage of population and the largest outright in membership as Protestant Christians.^[127] The American Presbyterian Church, with about 250,000 members and 1,011 congregations, is the largest Presbyterian denomination while the Presbyterian Church in America is also significant, with 112 congregations and approximately 23,000 adherents; the EPC has around 50 congregations, including the ECO, according to 2010 estimates. The fourth-largest Protestant denomination, the United Church of Christ, has 180,000 members and 627 congregations in the state. The American Baptist Churches, also referred to as the Northern Baptist Convention is based in King of Prussia.

Pennsylvania was the center state of the German Reformed denomination from the 1700s.^[128] Bethlehem is one of the headquarters of the Moravian Church in the U.S. Pennsylvania also has a very large Amish population, second only to Ohio among U.S. states.^[129] As of 2000, there was a total Amish population of 47,860 in Pennsylvania and an additional 146,416 Mennonites and 91,200 Brethren. The total Anabapist population including Bruderhof^[130] was 232,631, about two percent of the population.^[131] While Pennsylvania owes its existence to Quakers, and much of the historic character of the Commonwealth is ideologically rooted in the teachings of the Religious Society of Friends (as they are officially known), practicing Quakers are a small minority of about 10,000 adherents as of 2010.^[132]

Discover more about Demographics related topics

1790 United States census

1790 United States census

The United States census of 1790 was the first census of the whole United States. It recorded the population of the United States as of Census Day, August 2, 1790, as mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution and applicable laws. In the first census, the population of the United States was enumerated to be 3,929,214.

1800 United States census

1800 United States census

The United States census of 1800 was the second census conducted in the United States. It was conducted on August 4, 1800. It showed that 5,308,483 people were living in the United States, of whom 893,602 were enslaved. The 1800 census included the new District of Columbia. The census for the following states were lost: Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Virginia.

1810 United States census

1810 United States census

The United States census of 1810 was the third census conducted in the United States. It was conducted on August 6, 1810. It showed that 7,239,881 people were living in the United States, of whom 1,191,362 were slaves.

1820 United States census

1820 United States census

The United States census of 1820 was the fourth census conducted in the United States. It was conducted on August 7, 1820. The 1820 census included six new states: Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama and Maine. There has been a district wide loss of 1820 census records for Arkansas Territory, Missouri Territory and New Jersey.

1830 United States census

1830 United States census

The United States census of 1830, the fifth census undertaken in the United States, was conducted on June 1, 1830. The only loss of census records for 1830 involved some countywide losses in Massachusetts, Maryland, and Mississippi.

1840 United States census

1840 United States census

The United States census of 1840 was the sixth census of the United States. Conducted by the Census Office on June 1, 1840, it determined the resident population of the United States to be 17,069,453 – an increase of 32.7 percent over the 12,866,020 persons enumerated during the 1830 census. The total population included 2,487,355 slaves. In 1840, the center of population was about 260 miles (418 km) west of Washington, near Weston, Virginia.

1850 United States census

1850 United States census

The United States census of 1850 was the seventh census of the United States. Conducted by the Census Office, it determined the resident population of the United States to be 23,191,876—an increase of 35.9 percent over the 17,069,453 persons enumerated during the 1840 census. The total population included 3,204,313 slaves.

1860 United States census

1860 United States census

The United States census of 1860 was the eighth census conducted in the United States starting June 1, 1860, and lasting five months. It determined the population of the United States to be 31,443,322 in 33 states and 10 organized territories. This was an increase of 35.4 percent over the 23,069,876 persons enumerated during the 1850 census. The total population included 3,953,762 slaves.

1870 United States census

1870 United States census

The United States census of 1870 was the ninth United States census. It was conducted by the Census Bureau from June 1, 1870, to August 23, 1871. The 1870 census was the first census to provide detailed information on the African American population, only five years after the culmination of the Civil War when slaves were granted freedom. The total population was 38,925,598 with a resident population of 38,558,371 individuals, a 22.6% increase from 1860.

1880 United States census

1880 United States census

The United States census of 1880 conducted by the Census Bureau during June 1880 was the tenth United States census. It was the first time that women were permitted to be enumerators. The Superintendent of the Census was Francis Amasa Walker. This was the first census in which a city—New York City—recorded a population of over one million.

1890 United States census

1890 United States census

The United States census of 1890 was taken beginning June 2, 1890, but most of the 1890 census materials were destroyed in 1921 when a building caught fire and in the subsequent disposal of the remaining damaged records. It determined the resident population of the United States to be 62,979,766—an increase of 25.5 percent over the 50,189,209 persons enumerated during the 1880 census. The data reported that the distribution of the population had resulted in the disappearance of the American frontier.

1900 United States census

1900 United States census

The United States census of 1900, conducted by the Census Office on June 1, 1900, determined the resident population of the United States to be 76,212,168, an increase of 21.01% from the 62,979,766 persons enumerated during the 1890 census.

  Pennsylvania unemployment rate, 1976–2021

  US unemployment rate

Average income by location in Pennsylvania as reported by American Community Survey's five-year estimates as of 2014

As of 2021, Pennsylvania's gross state product (GSP) of $839.4 billion ranks 6th among all U.S. states, behind California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois.^[133] As of 2021, if Pennsylvania were an independent country, its economy would rank as the 22nd largest in the world.^[134] On a per capita basis, Pennsylvania's 2021 per capita GSP of $64,751 ranks 24th among the fifty states.^[133] As of 2016, there were 5,354,964 people in employment in Pennsylvania with 301,484 total employer establishments. As of May 2020, the state's unemployment rate is 13.1%.^[135][136]

Philadelphia in the southeast corner, Pittsburgh in the southwest corner, Erie in the northwest corner, Scranton-Wilkes-Barre in the northeast corner, and the Lehigh Valley in the east central region are urban manufacturing centers. Much of Pennsylvania is rural; this dichotomy affects state politics and the state economy.^[137] Philadelphia is home to six Fortune 500 companies,^[138] with more located in suburbs like King of Prussia; it is a leader in the financial^[139] and insurance industries.

Pittsburgh is home to eight Fortune 500 companies, including U.S. Steel, PPG Industries, and H.J. Heinz.^[138] In all, Pennsylvania is home to 50 Fortune 500 companies.^[138] Hershey is home to The Hershey Company, one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world. Erie is home to GE Transportation, the nation's largest manufacturer of train locomotives. In eastern Pennsylvania, the Lehigh Valley has become an epicenter for the growth of the U.S. logistics industry, including warehousing and the intermodal transport of goods.^[140]

Like many U.S. states, Walmart is the largest private employer in Pennsylvania followed by the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League private research university in Philadelphia.^[141][142] Pennsylvania is home to the oldest investor-owned utility company in the U.S., The York Water Company.

Banking

The first nationally chartered bank in the U.S., the Bank of North America, was founded in 1781 in Philadelphia. After a series of mergers, the Bank of North America is now part of Wells Fargo. Pennsylvania is home to the first nationally-chartered bank under the 1863 National Banking Act. That year, the Pittsburgh Savings & Trust Company received a national charter and renamed itself the First National Bank of Pittsburgh as part of the National Banking Act. That bank is still in existence today as PNC and remains based in Pittsburgh. PNC is currently the state's largest bank and the nation's sixth largest bank.

Agriculture

Pennsylvania ranks 19th overall among all states in agricultural production.^[146] Its leading agricultural products are mushrooms, apples, Christmas trees, layer chickens, nursery, sod, milk, corn for silage, grapes (including juice grapes), and horses production. Pennsylvania ranks eighth in the nation in winemaking.^[147]

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture worked with private companies to establish "PA Preferred" as a way to brand agricultural products grown or made in the state.^[148] The financial impact of agriculture in Pennsylvania^[149] includes employment of more than 66,800 people employed by the food manufacturing industry and over $1.7 billion in food product export as of 2011.

Gambling

Rivers Casino, located on the Ohio River in Pittsburgh, is one of Pennsylvania's 16 casinos.

Casino gambling was legalized in Pennsylvania in 2004. As of 2022, there are 16 casinos in the state.^[150][151] Table games such as poker, roulette, blackjack, and craps were approved by the state legislature and signed into law in January 2010.

Film

The Pennsylvania Film Production Tax Credit began in 2004 and stimulated the development of a film industry in the state.^[152]

Discover more about Economy related topics

List of Pennsylvania counties by per capita income

List of Pennsylvania counties by per capita income

Pennsylvania has the twenty-fourth highest per capita income in the United States of America, at $20,880 (2000). Its personal per capita income is $31,998 (2003), the sixteenth highest in the country. Its median household income is $40,106 (2000), ranked twenty-eighth in the country, and its median family income is $49,184 (2000), the twenty-sixth highest in the country. The median value of an owner-occupied housing unit is $97,000 (2000), ranked thirty-fourth in the country.

American Community Survey

American Community Survey

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a demographics survey program conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census, including ancestry, citizenship, educational attainment, income, language proficiency, migration, disability, employment, and housing characteristics. These data are used by many public-sector, private-sector, and not-for-profit stakeholders to allocate funding, track shifting demographics, plan for emergencies, and learn about local communities. Sent to approximately 295,000 addresses monthly, it is the largest household survey that the Census Bureau administers.

List of U.S. states and territories by GDP

List of U.S. states and territories by GDP

This is a list of U.S. states and territories by Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This article presents the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia and their nominal GDP at current prices.

California

California

California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2 million residents across a total area of approximately 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2), it is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. It is also the most populated subnational entity in North America and the 34th most populous in the world. The Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions respectively, with the former having more than 18.7 million residents and the latter having over 9.6 million. Sacramento is the state's capital, while Los Angeles is the most populous city in the state and the second most populous city in the country. San Francisco is the second most densely populated major city in the country. Los Angeles County is the country's most populous, while San Bernardino County is the largest county by area in the country. California borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, the Mexican state of Baja California to the south; and it has a coastline along the Pacific Ocean to the west.

New York (state)

New York (state)

New York, often called New York state to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City, is a state in the Northeastern United States. With 20.2 million people enumerated at the 2020 United States census, its highest decennial count ever, it is the fourth-most populous state in the United States as of 2021, approximately 44% of the state's population lives in New York City, including 25% in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens; and 15% of the state's population is on the remainder of Long Island, the most populous island in the United States. With a total area of 54,556 square miles (141,300 km2), New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state by area. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to its south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to its east; it shares a maritime border with Rhode Island, east of Long Island; and an international border with the Canadian provinces of Quebec to its north and Ontario to its northwest.

Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico; Alabama to the northwest; Georgia to the north; the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean to the east; and the Straits of Florida and Cuba to the south. It is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. With a population exceeding 21 million, it is the third-most populous state in the nation as of 2020. It spans 65,758 square miles (170,310 km2), ranking 22nd in area among the 50 states. The Miami metropolitan area, anchored by the cities of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, is the state's largest metropolitan area with a population of 6.138 million, and the state's most-populous city is Jacksonville with a population of 949,611. Florida's other major population centers include Tampa Bay, Orlando, Cape Coral, and the state capital of Tallahassee.

Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is a state in the Midwestern United States. It shares borders with Wisconsin to its north, Iowa to its northwest, Missouri to its southwest, Kentucky to its south, and Indiana to its east. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other metropolitan areas include Peoria and Rockford, as well as Springfield, its capital. Of the fifty U.S. states, Illinois has the fifth-largest gross domestic product (GDP), the sixth-largest population, and the 25th-largest land area.

Philadelphia

Philadelphia

Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. It is one of the most historically significant cities in the United States and served as the nation's capital city until 1800. Philadelphia is the nation's sixth-largest city with a population of 1,603,797 as of the 2020 census. Since 1854, the city has been coextensive with Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the Delaware Valley, the nation's seventh-largest and one of the world's largest metropolitan regions with 6.245 million residents in 2020. Philadelphia is known for its extensive contributions to American history and for its role in the life sciences, business and industry, art, literature, and music.

Lehigh Valley

Lehigh Valley

The Lehigh Valley, known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic and metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bounded to its north by Blue Mountain, to its south by South Mountain, to its west by Lebanon Valley, and to its east by the Delaware River and Warren County, New Jersey. The Valley is about 40 miles (64 km) long and 20 miles (32 km) wide. The Lehigh Valley's largest city is Allentown, the third largest city in Pennsylvania and the county seat of Lehigh County, with a population of 125,845 residents as of the 2020 census.

Fortune 500

Fortune 500

The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along with privately held companies for which revenues are publicly available. The concept of the Fortune 500 was created by Edgar P. Smith, a Fortune editor, and the first list was published in 1955. The Fortune 500 is more commonly used than its subset Fortune 100 or superset Fortune 1000.

King of Prussia, Pennsylvania

King of Prussia, Pennsylvania

King of Prussia is a census-designated place in Upper Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 22,028. The community took its unusual name in the 18th century from a local tavern named the King of Prussia Inn, which was named after King Frederick the Great of Prussia. Like the rest of Montgomery County, King of Prussia continues to experience rapid development. One of the largest shopping malls in the United States, King of Prussia, is located here. Also located here is the headquarters of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region I. King of Prussia is considered to be an edge city of Philadelphia, consisting of large amounts of retail and office space situated at the convergence of four highways.

PPG Industries

PPG Industries

PPG Industries, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 company and global supplier of paints, coatings, and specialty materials. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PPG operates in more than 70 countries around the globe. By revenue it is the largest coatings company in the world followed by AkzoNobel. It is headquartered in PPG Place, an office and retail complex in downtown Pittsburgh, and is known for its glass facade designed by Postmodern architect Philip Johnson.

Pennsylvania has had five constitutions during its statehood:^[153] 1776, 1790, 1838, 1874, and 1968. Before that the province of Pennsylvania was governed for a century by a Frame of Government, of which there were four versions: 1682, 1683, 1696, and 1701.^[153] The capital of Pennsylvania is Harrisburg. The legislature meets there in the State Capitol.

In a 2020 study, Pennsylvania was ranked as the 19th hardest state for citizens to vote in.^[154]

Executive

The current Governor is Josh Shapiro. The other elected officials composing the executive branch are the Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis, Acting Attorney General Michelle Henry, Auditor General Timothy DeFoor, and Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor run as a ticket in the general election and are up for re-election every four years during the midterm elections. The elections for Attorney General, Auditor General, and Treasurer are held every four years coinciding with a Presidential election.^[155]

Legislative

The Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg

Pennsylvania has a bicameral legislature set up by Commonwealth's constitution in 1790. The original Frame of Government of William Penn had a unicameral legislature.^[156] The General Assembly includes 50 Senators and 203 Representatives. Joe Scarnati is currently President Pro Tempore of the State Senate, Jake Corman the Majority Leader, and Jay Costa the Minority Leader.^[157] Bryan Cutler is Speaker of the House of Representatives, with Kerry A. Benninghoff as Majority Leader and Frank Dermody as Minority Leader.^[158] As of the 2018 elections, the Republicans hold the majority in the State House and Senate.

Judiciary

Pennsylvania is divided into 60 judicial districts,^[159] most of which (except Philadelphia) have magisterial district judges (formerly called district justices and justices of the peace), who preside mainly over preliminary hearings in felony and misdemeanor offenses, all minor (summary) criminal offenses, and small civil claims.^[159] Most criminal and civil cases originate in the Courts of Common Pleas, which also serve as appellate courts to the district judges and for local agency decisions.^[159] The Superior Court hears all appeals from the Courts of Common Pleas not expressly designated to the Commonwealth Court or Supreme Court. It also has original jurisdiction to review warrants for wiretap surveillance.^[159] The Commonwealth Court is limited to appeals from final orders of certain state agencies and certain designated cases from the Courts of Common Pleas.^[159] The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the final appellate court. All judges in Pennsylvania are elected; the chief justice is determined by seniority.^[159]

Local government

Map of Pennsylvania's 67 counties

Pennsylvania is divided into 67 counties.^[160] Counties are further subdivided into municipalities that are either incorporated as cities, boroughs, or townships.^[161] One county, Philadelphia County, is coterminous with the city of Philadelphia after it was consolidated in 1854. The most populous county in Pennsylvania is Philadelphia, while the least populous is Cameron (4,547).^[99]

There are a total of 56 cities in Pennsylvania, which are classified, by population, as either first-, second-, or third-class cities.^[160][162] Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's largest city, has a population of 1.6 million and is the state's only first-class city.^[161] Pittsburgh (303,000) and Scranton (76,000) are second-class and second-class 'A' cities, respectively.^[161] The rest of the cities, like the third and fourth-largest—Allentown (126,000) and Reading (95,000)—to the smallest—Parker with a population of only 820—are third-class cities.^[163] First- and second-class cities are governed by a "strong mayor" form of mayor–council government, whereas third-class cities are governed by either a "weak mayor" form of government or a council–manager government.^[161]

Boroughs are generally smaller than cities, with most Pennsylvania cities having been incorporated as a borough before being incorporated as a city.^[161] There are 958 boroughs in Pennsylvania, all of which are governed by the "weak mayor" form of mayor-council government.^[160][161] The largest borough in Pennsylvania is State College (40,501) and the smallest is Centralia.

Townships are the third type of municipality in Pennsylvania and are classified as either first-class or second-class townships. There are 1,454 second-class townships and 93 first-class townships.^[164] Second-class townships can become first-class townships if they have a population density greater than 300 inhabitants per square mile (120/km²) and a referendum is passed supporting the change.^[164] Pennsylvania's largest township is Upper Darby Township (85,681), and the smallest is East Keating Township.

There is one exception to the types of municipalities in Pennsylvania: Bloomsburg was incorporated as a town in 1870 and is, officially, the only town in the state.^[165] In 1975, McCandless Township adopted a home-rule charter under the name of "Town of McCandless", but is, legally, still a first-class township.^[166] The state has 56 cities, 958 boroughs, 93 first-class townships, 1,454 second-class townships, and one town (Bloomsburg) for a total of 2,562 municipalities.

Taxation

Pennsylvania had the 15th-highest state and local tax burden in the nation as of 2012, according to the Tax Foundation.^[167] Residents paid a total of $83.7 billion in state and local taxes with a per capita average of $4,589 annually. Residents share 76% of the total tax burden. Many state politicians have tried to increase the share of taxes paid by out-of-state sources. Suggested revenue sources include taxing natural gas drilling as Pennsylvania is the only state without such a tax on gas drilling.^[168] Additional revenue prospects include trying to place tolls on interstate highways; specifically Interstate 80, which is used heavily by out of state commuters with high maintenance costs.^[169]

Sales taxes provide 39% of the Commonwealth's revenue; personal income taxes 34%; motor vehicle taxes about 12%, and taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages 5%.^[170] The personal income tax is a flat 3.07%. An individual's taxable income is based on the following eight types of income: compensation (salary); interest; dividends; net profits from the operation of a business, profession or farm; net gains or income from the dispositions of property; net gains or income from rents, royalties, patents and copyrights; income derived through estates or trusts; and gambling and lottery winnings (other than Pennsylvania Lottery winnings).^[171]

Counties, municipalities, and school districts levy taxes on real estate. In addition, some local bodies assess a wage tax on personal income. Generally, the total wage tax rate is capped at 1% of income but some municipalities with home rule charters may charge more than 1%. Thirty-two of the Commonwealth's sixty-seven counties levy a personal property tax on stocks, bonds, and similar holdings. With the exception of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, municipalities and school districts are allowed to enact a local earned income tax within the purview of Act 32. Residents of these municipalities and school districts are required to file a local income tax return in addition to federal and state returns. This local return is filed with the local income tax collector, a private collection agency appointed by a particular county to collect the local earned income and local services tax (the latter a flat fee deducted from salaried employees working within a particular municipality or school district).^{[172][173][174][175]}

Philadelphia has its own local income taxation system. Philadelphia-based employers are required to withhold the Philadelphia wage tax from the salaries of their employees. Residents of Philadelphia working for an employer are not required to file a local return as long as their Philadelphia wage tax is fully withheld by their employer. If their employer does not withhold the Philadelphia wage tax, residents are required to register with the Revenue Department and file an Earnings Tax return. Residents of Philadelphia with self-employment income are required to file a Net Profits Tax (NPT) return, while those with business income from Philadelphia sources are required to obtain a Commercial Activity License (CAL) and pay the Business Income and Receipts Tax (BIRT) and the NPT. Residents with unearned income (except for interest from checking and savings accounts) are required to file and pay the School Income-tax (SIT).^[176]

The complexity of Pennsylvania's local tax filing system has been criticized by experts, who note that the outsourcing of collections to private entities is akin to tax farming and that many new residents are caught off guard and end up facing failure to file penalties even if they did not owe any tax. Attempts to transfer local income tax collections to the state level (i.e. by having a separate local section on the state income tax return, currently the method used to collect local income taxes in New York, Maryland, Indiana, and Iowa) have been unsuccessful.^[177]

State law enforcement

The Pennsylvania State Police is the chief law enforcement agency in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

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Government of Pennsylvania

Government of Pennsylvania

The Government of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the governmental structure of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as established by the Pennsylvania Constitution. It is composed of three branches: executive, legislative and judicial. The capital of the Commonwealth is Harrisburg.

Commonwealth (U.S. state)

Commonwealth (U.S. state)

Commonwealth is a term used by four of the 50 states of the United States in their full official state names. "Commonwealth" is a traditional English term used to describe a political community as having been founded for the common good. The four states – Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia – are all in the Eastern United States, and prior to the formation of the United States in 1776 were British colonial possessions. As such, they share a strong influence of English common law in some of their laws and institutions. However, the "commonwealth" appellation has no legal or political significance, and it does not make "commonwealth" states any different from other U.S. states.

Pennsylvania Constitution

Pennsylvania Constitution

The Constitution of Pennsylvania is the supreme law within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. All acts of the General Assembly, the governor, and each governmental agency are subordinate to it. Since 1776, Pennsylvania's Constitution has undergone five versions. The current Constitution entered into force in 1968, and has been amended numerous times.

Frame of Government of Pennsylvania

Frame of Government of Pennsylvania

The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania was a proto-constitution for the Province of Pennsylvania, a proprietary colony granted to William Penn by Charles II of England. The Frame of Government has lasting historical importance as an important step in the development of American and world democracy.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of 2021, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pennsylvania.

Josh Shapiro

Josh Shapiro

Joshua David Shapiro is an American politician and attorney who has served as the 48th governor of Pennsylvania since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 50th Pennsylvania attorney general from 2017 to 2023.

Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania

Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania

The lieutenant governor is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The lieutenant governor is elected for a four-year term in the same year as the governor. Each party picks a candidate for lieutenant governor independently of the gubernatorial primary. The winners of the party primaries are then teamed together as a single ticket for the fall general election. The lieutenant governor presides in the Pennsylvania State Senate and is first in the line of succession to the governor; in the event the governor dies, resigns, or otherwise leaves office, the lieutenant governor becomes governor.

Austin Davis (politician)

Austin Davis (politician)

Austin Davis is an American politician who is the 35th lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, since 2023. Prior to that, he served as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing the 35th District from 2018 to 2022.

Pennsylvania Attorney General

Pennsylvania Attorney General

The Pennsylvania Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It became an elected office in 1980. The current acting attorney general is Democrat Michelle Henry.

Michelle Henry

Michelle Henry

Michelle A. Henry is an American prosecutor who is the current Pennsylvania Attorney General since 2023. She was previously the first deputy attorney general, the first woman to serve in the role. Henry served as the district attorney of Bucks County in 2008.

Pennsylvania Auditor General

Pennsylvania Auditor General

The Pennsylvania auditor general is the chief fiscal officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It became an elected office in 1850. The current auditor general of Pennsylvania is Republican Timothy DeFoor.

List of Pennsylvania state agencies

List of Pennsylvania state agencies

State related agencies of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

2020 U.S. presidential election results by county in Pennsylvania

  Democratic

  Republican

Since the latter half of the 20th century, Pennsylvania has been perceived as a powerful swing state, and winning Pennsylvania has since been deemed as essential to U.S. presidential candidates. Only twice between 1932 to 1988 (1932 and 1968 with Herbert Hoover and Hubert Humphrey, respectively) has a winning presidential candidate failed to carry Pennsylvania.

Between 1992 and 2016, Pennsylvania trended Democratic in presidential elections; Bill Clinton won the state twice by large margins and Al Gore won it by a slightly closer margin in 2000. In the 2004 presidential election, John F. Kerry beat President George W. Bush in Pennsylvania, 2,938,095 (51%) to 2,793,847 (48%). In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama defeated Republican John McCain in Pennsylvania, 3,276,363 (54%) to 2,655,885 (44%).

In the 2016 presidential election, however, Republican Donald Trump broke the Democratic streak in the state, winning by 2,970,733 (48%) votes to 2,926,441 (47%) votes.^[179] The state returned to the Democratic column in 2020 by voting for Joe Biden over Trump, 3,458,229 (50%) to 3,377,674 (49%). The state holds 19 electoral votes.^[180]

In recent national elections since 1992, Pennsylvania had leaned Democrat. The state voted for the Democratic ticket for president in every election between 1992 and 2012. During the 2008 election campaign, a recruitment drive saw registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by 1.2 million. However, Pennsylvania has a history of electing Republican U.S. Senators. From 2009 to 2011, the state was represented by two Democratic senators for the first time since 1947 after Republican Senator Arlen Specter switched party affiliation. In 2010, Republicans recaptured a U.S. Senate seat and a majority of the state's congressional seats, control of both chambers of the state legislature, and the governorship. Democrats won back the governorship, however, four years later in the 2014 election. It was the first time since a governor became eligible for reelection that an incumbent governor had been defeated in a reelection bid.

Historically, Democratic strength was concentrated in Philadelphia in the southeast, the Pittsburgh and Johnstown areas in the southwest, and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the northeast. Republican strength was concentrated in the Philadelphia suburbs and the more rural areas in the state's central, northeastern, and western portions, some of which have long been considered among the nation's most conservative areas. Since 1992, however, the Philadelphia suburbs have swung Democratic; the brand of Republicanism there was traditionally a moderate one. In the 21st century, however, Pittsburgh suburbs, which historically had been Democrat strongholds, have swung more Republican.

Democratic political consultant James Carville once pejoratively described Pennsylvania as "Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west, and Alabama in the middle", suggesting that political power in the state was based in its two largest cities, which have been reliably Democrat, offset by the state's large rural power base, which has proven equally reliably Republican. Political analysts and editorials refer to central Pennsylvania as the "T" in statewide elections. The state's three valleys (Delaware, Lehigh, and Wyoming Valleys) and Greater Pittsburgh generally vote Democrat, while the majority of the counties in the central part of the state vote Republican. As a result, maps showing the results of statewide elections invariably form a shape that resembles a "T".

Pennsylvania retains the death penalty. There is currently a gubernatorial Hold on executions.^[181]

Federal representation

Pennsylvania's two U.S. Senators are Bob Casey Jr. and John Fetterman, both of whom are Democrats. Casey would seek reelection in 2024 should he seek another term. Fetterman was elected in 2022 to succeed retiring Republican Pat Toomey.

Pennsylvania has 17 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives as of 2023.^[182]

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Elections in Pennsylvania

Elections in Pennsylvania

Elections in Pennsylvania elect the five state-level offices, the Pennsylvania General Assembly, including the senate and house of representatives, as well as the state's congressional delegation for the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. Presidential elections are held every four years in Pennsylvania. The state is one of the most competitive nationally, with narrow victories that alternate between the parties across all major offices. On the presidential level, the state has been considered a swing state throughout its entire history as it only voted for the nationwide loser on only 10 occasions. Meaning it has voted for the national winner 83% of the time, as of 2020.

Democratic Party (United States)

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Founded in 1828, it was predominantly built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled politicians in every state behind war hero Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party. Its main political rival has been the Republican Party since the 1850s, with both parties being big tents of competing and often opposing viewpoints. Modern American liberalism — a variant of social liberalism — is the party's majority ideology. The party also has notable centrist, social democratic, and left-libertarian factions.

2020 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania

2020 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania

The 2020 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Pennsylvania voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, President Donald Trump, and running mate Vice President Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate California Senator Kamala Harris. Pennsylvania has 20 electoral votes in the Electoral College.

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Clark Hoover was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933. He was a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Great Depression in the United States. A self-made man who became rich as a mining engineer, Hoover led the Commission for Relief in Belgium, served as the director of the U.S. Food Administration, and served as the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

Hubert Humphrey

Hubert Humphrey

Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. was an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing Minnesota from 1949 to 1964 and 1971 to 1978. As a senator he was a major leader of modern liberalism in the United States. As President Lyndon B. Johnson's vice president, he supported the controversial Vietnam War. An intensely divided Democratic Party nominated him in the 1968 presidential election, which he lost to Republican nominee Richard Nixon.

Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again from 1983 to 1992, and as attorney general of Arkansas from 1977 to 1979. A member of the Democratic Party, Clinton became known as a New Democrat, as many of his policies reflected a centrist "Third Way" political philosophy. He is the husband of Hillary Clinton, who was a U.S. senator from New York from 2001 to 2009, secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 and the Democratic nominee for president in the 2016 presidential election.

Al Gore

Al Gore

Albert Arnold Gore Jr. is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic nominee for the 2000 presidential election, losing to George W. Bush in a very close race after a Florida recount.

George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American retired politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party and the Bush family, he previously served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is an American former politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African-American president of the United States. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004, and previously worked as a civil rights lawyer before entering politics.

John McCain

John McCain

John Sidney McCain III was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the United States House of Representatives and was the Republican nominee for president of the United States in the 2008 election, which he lost to Barack Obama.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump

Donald John Trump is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.

Joe Biden

Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is an American politician who is the 46th and current president of the United States. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 under President Barack Obama, and represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009.

Pennsylvania has 500 public school districts, thousands of private schools, publicly funded colleges and universities, and over 100 private institutions of higher education.

Primary and secondary education

South Philadelphia High School on Broad Street in South Philadelphia, February 2010

Under state law, school attendance in Pennsylvania is mandatory for a child from the age of 8 until the age of 17, or until graduation from an accredited high school (whichever is earlier) unless students are homeschooled.^[183] As of 2005, 83.8% of Pennsylvania residents age 18 to 24 are high school graduates; Among residents age 25 and over, 86.7% have graduated from high school.

The following are the four-year graduation rates for students completing high school in 2016:^[184]

Additionally, 27.5% of high school graduates in the state went on to obtain a bachelor's degree or higher, as of 2009.^[185] State students consistently do well in standardized testing. In 2007, Pennsylvania ranked 14th in mathematics, 12th in reading, and 10th in writing for 8th grade students.^[186] In 1988, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed Act 169, which allows parents or guardians to homeschool their children as an option for compulsory school attendance. This law specifies the requirements and responsibilities of the parents and the school district where the family lives.^[187]

Higher education

Benjamin Franklin statue on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution in Philadelphia and one of the top universities in the world.^{[188][189][190]}

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) is the public university system of the Commonwealth, with 14 state-owned schools. West Chester University has by far the largest student body of the 14 universities. The Commonwealth System of Higher Education is an organizing body of the four state-related schools in Pennsylvania; these schools (Pennsylvania State University, Lincoln University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Temple University) are independent institutions that receive some state funding. There are also 15 publicly funded two-year community colleges and technical schools that are separate from the PASSHE system. Additionally, there are many private two- and four-year technical schools, colleges, and universities.

Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Pittsburgh are members of the Association of American Universities, an invitation-only organization of leading research universities. Lehigh University is a private research university located in Bethlehem. The Pennsylvania State University is the Commonwealth's land-grant university, Sea Grant College and, Space Grant College. The University of Pennsylvania, located in Philadelphia, is considered the first university in the United States and established the country's first medical school. The University of Pennsylvania is also the Commonwealth's only, and geographically most southern, Ivy League school. The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) is a private graduate school of medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy with a main campus in Erie, and a branch campus located in Greensburg (with two other campuses outside of Pennsylvania). With over 2,200 enrolled medical students, the College of Osteopathic Medicine at LECOM is the largest medical school in the United States.^{[191][192][193][194]} The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is the first and oldest art school in the United States.^[195] Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, now a part of University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, was the first pharmacy school in the United States.^[196]

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Education in Pennsylvania

Education in Pennsylvania

There are numerous elementary, secondary, and higher institutions of learning in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which is home to 500 public school districts, thousands of private schools, many publicly funded colleges and universities, and over 100 private institutions of higher education.

List of high schools in Pennsylvania

List of high schools in Pennsylvania

This is a list of senior high schools operating in the state of Pennsylvania:

List of school districts in Pennsylvania

List of school districts in Pennsylvania

This is a list of school districts in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a U.S. state.

Broad Street (Philadelphia)

Broad Street (Philadelphia)

Broad Street is a major arterial street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The street runs for approximately 13 miles (21 km), beginning at the intersection of Cheltenham Avenue on the border of Cheltenham Township and the West/East Oak Lane neighborhoods of North Philadelphia to the Philadelphia Navy Yard in South Philadelphia. It is Pennsylvania Route 611 along its entire length with the exception of its northernmost part between Old York Road and Pennsylvania Route 309 and the southernmost part south of Interstate 95.

Homeschooling in the United States

Homeschooling in the United States

Homeschooling in the United States of America constitutes the education of about 3.4% of U.S. students as of 2012. The number of homeschoolers in the United States has increased significantly over the past few decades since the end of the 20th century. In the United States, the Supreme Court has ruled that parents have a fundamental right to direct the education of their children. The right to homeschool is not frequently questioned in court, but the amount of state regulation and help that can or should be expected continues to be subject to legal debate.

List of colleges and universities in Pennsylvania

List of colleges and universities in Pennsylvania

The following is a list of colleges and universities in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, forger and political philosopher. Among the leading intellectuals of his time, Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, a drafter and signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and the first United States Postmaster General.

Ivy League

Ivy League

The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term Ivy League is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools as a group of elite colleges with connotations of academic excellence, selectivity in admissions, and social elitism. Its members are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University.

Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education

Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that oversees 10 state-owned universities. Collectively, it is the largest provider of higher education in the commonwealth. All of the schools are primarily NCAA Division II members and affiliated with the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC).

Commonwealth System of Higher Education

Commonwealth System of Higher Education

The Commonwealth System of Higher Education is a statutory designation by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that confers "state-related" status on four universities located within the state: Lincoln University, the Pennsylvania State University, Temple University, and the University of Pittsburgh. The designation establishes the schools as an "instrumentality of the commonwealth" and provides each university with annual, non-preferred financial appropriations in exchange offering tuition discounts to students who are residents of Pennsylvania and a minority state-representation on each school's board of trustees. Legally, the universities remain separate and private entities, operating under their own charters, governed by independent boards of trustees, and with assets under their own ownership and control, thereby retaining much of the freedom and individuality of private institutions, both administratively and academically. It is the only public-private hybrid system of higher education of its particular type in the United States, although some other schools, such as Cornell University, the University of Delaware, and Rutgers University, all also have public-private partnerships of their own kind.

Pennsylvania State University

Pennsylvania State University

The Pennsylvania State University is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became the state's only land-grant university in 1863. Its instructional mission includes undergraduate, graduate, professional and continuing education offered through resident instruction and online delivery.

Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)

Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)

Lincoln University (LU) is a public state-related historically black university (HBCU) near Oxford, Pennsylvania. Founded as the private Ashmun Institute in 1854, it has been a public institution since 1972 and is the second oldest HBCU in the state after Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. Its main campus is located on 422 acres near the town of Oxford in southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. The university has a second location in the University City area of Philadelphia. Lincoln University provides undergraduate and graduate coursework to approximately 2,000 students. It is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom's Steel Force and Thunderhawk roller coasters in Allentown. Steel Force is the eighth longest steel roller coaster in the world with a first drop of 205 feet (62 m) and a top speed of 75 miles per hour (121 km/h).^[197]

Pennsylvania is home to the nation's first zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo.^[198] Other long-accredited AZA zoos include the Erie Zoo and the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium. The Lehigh Valley Zoo and ZooAmerica are other notable zoos. The Commonwealth boasts some of the finest museums in the country, including the Allentown Art Museum in Allentown, Carnegie Museums in Pittsburgh, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and several others. One unique museum is the Houdini Museum in Scranton, the only building in the world devoted to the legendary magician.^[199] Pennsylvania is also home to the National Aviary, located in Pittsburgh.

All 121 state parks in Pennsylvania feature free admission.

Pennsylvania's notable amusement parks include Conneaut Lake Park, Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, Dutch Wonderland, DelGrosso's Amusement Park, Great Wolf Lodge, Hersheypark, Idlewild Park, Kalahari Resorts Poconos, Kennywood, Knoebels, Lakemont Park, Sandcastle Waterpark, Sesame Place, and Waldameer Park. Pennsylvania also is home to the largest indoor waterpark resort on the East Coast, Splash Lagoon in Erie.

The state's notable music festivals include Musikfest, the nation's largest free music festival held annually each August in Bethlehem,^[200] the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Creation Festival, and Purple Door. The Great Allentown Fair, held annually at the Allentown Fairgrounds since the 19th century, is one of the nation's longest-running annual fairs.

There are nearly one million licensed hunters in Pennsylvania. Whitetail deer, black bear, cottontail rabbits, squirrel, turkey, and grouse are common game species. Pennsylvania is considered one of the finest wild turkey hunting states in the Union, alongside Texas and Alabama. Sport hunting in Pennsylvania provides a massive boost for the Commonwealth's economy. A report from The Center for Rural Pennsylvania (a Legislative Agency of the Pennsylvania General Assembly) reported that hunting, fishing, and furtaking generated a total of $9.6 billion statewide.

The Boone and Crockett Club reports that five of the ten largest (skull size) black bear entries came from the state.^[201] The state also has a tied record for the largest hunter shot black bear in the Boone & Crockett books at 733 lb (332 kg) and a skull of 23 3/16 tied with a bear shot in California in 1993.^[201] The largest bear ever found dead was in Utah in 1975, and the second-largest was shot by a poacher in the state in 1987.^[201] As of 2007, Pennsylvania has the second highest number of Boone and Crockett-recorded record black bears at 183, behind Wisconsin's 299.^[201]

Discover more about Recreation related topics

Gambling in Pennsylvania

Gambling in Pennsylvania

Gambling in Pennsylvania includes casino gambling, the Pennsylvania Lottery, horse racing, Bingo, and small games of chance conducted by nonprofit organizations and taverns under limited circumstances. Although casino gaming has been legal for less than two decades, Pennsylvania is second only to Nevada in commercial casino revenues.

List of festivals in Pennsylvania

List of festivals in Pennsylvania

This is a partial list of festivals and celebrations in Pennsylvania.

List of Pennsylvania state parks

List of Pennsylvania state parks

As of 2023, there are 124 state parks in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks, a division of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), is the governing body for all these parks, and directly operates 116 of them. The remaining parks are operated in cooperation with other public and private organizations.

Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom

Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom

Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom is an American amusement and water park located between Allentown and Emmaus, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The park features 64 rides, including six roller coasters, other adult and children's rides, and a waterpark, Wildwater Kingdom, with 19 water rides.

Allentown, Pennsylvania

Allentown, Pennsylvania

Allentown is a city in Lehigh County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. The city had a population of 125,845 at the 2020 census. Allentown is the fastest-growing major city in Pennsylvania and the state's third-largest city after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. It is the largest city in both Lehigh County and the Lehigh Valley, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th most populous metropolitan area in the United States as of 2020. Allentown was founded in 1762 and is the county seat of Lehigh County.

Erie Zoo

Erie Zoo

The Erie Zoo, is a zoological park in Erie, Pennsylvania. It is located on 15 acres (6.1 ha) of land in Glenwood Park, just off West 38th Street between Cherry Street and Glenwood Park Avenue. The zoo has more than 400 animals, while the botanical gardens and greenhouse have over 600 species of plants from around the world. The zoo, which operates from March to November, attracts more than 400,000 annual visitors.

Lehigh Valley Zoo

Lehigh Valley Zoo

The Lehigh Valley Zoo is a 29-acre (11.7 ha) zoo located in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is located inside the 1,100-acre (445 ha) Trexler Nature Preserve. The zoo is open year round.

Allentown Art Museum

Allentown Art Museum

The Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley is an art museum located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1934 by a group organized by Walter Emerson Baum, a Pennsylvania impressionist painter. The museum maintains a collection of over 19,000 works of art and is a major regional art institution. The museum also maintains a library and archives containing over 16,000 titles and 40 current periodicals.

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at Eakins Oval. The museum administers collections containing over 240,000 objects including major holdings of European, American and Asian origin. The various classes of artwork include sculpture, paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, armor, and decorative arts.

Houdini Museum

Houdini Museum

The Houdini Museum is located at Scranton, Pennsylvania. Harry Houdini appeared in Scranton and did several special challenges there. His brother, Hardeen, also appeared in Scranton and in its sister city, Wilkes-Barre. The longest engagement of Houdini's career was in this area of northeast Pennsylvania, when he spent two full seasons with the Welsh Brothers Circus. Documents and letters attesting to this are on display in the museum's renovated 125-year-old building and on its website. Houdini performed at Sylvester Z. Poli's theater for in Scranton, which was part of the Keith-Albee-Orpheum circuit at the time. This would later become the RKO Pictures circuit.

National Aviary

National Aviary

The National Aviary, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the only independent indoor nonprofit aviary in the United States. It is also the country's largest aviary, and the only one accorded honorary "National" status by the United States Congress.

Conneaut Lake Park

Conneaut Lake Park

Conneaut Lake Park is a summer resort and event venue located in Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania, United States. It has long served as a regional tourist destination, and was noted by roller coaster enthusiasts for its classic Blue Streak coaster, which was classified as "historic" by the American Coaster Enthusiasts group in 2010. Conneaut Lake is Pennsylvania's largest natural (glacier) lake, and is a popular summer destination for recreational boaters due to there being no horsepower limit on the lake.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, abbreviated as PennDOT, is responsible for transport issues within the commonwealth.

Air

Philadelphia International Airport is the busiest airport in Pennsylvania and the 21st busiest airport in the nation with nearly 10 million passengers annually as of 2021.

Pennsylvania has seven major airports: Philadelphia International, Pittsburgh International, Lehigh Valley International, Harrisburg International, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International, Erie International, and University Park Airport. A total of 134 public-use airports are located in the state.^[202]

Bus and coach

Intercity bus service is provided between cities in Pennsylvania and other major points in the Northeast by Bolt Bus, Fullington Trailways, Greyhound Lines, Martz Trailways, Megabus, OurBus, Trans-Bridge Lines, and various Chinatown bus companies. In 2018, OurBus began offering service from West Chester, Malvern, King of Prussia, and Fort Washington to New York City.

Rail

Amtrak's Pennsylvanian on Horseshoe Curve near Altoona

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is the sixth-largest transit agency in the United States and operates the commuter, heavy and light rail transit, and transit bus service in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Pittsburgh Regional Transit is the 25th-largest transit agency and provides transit bus and light rail service in and around Pittsburgh.^[203]

Intercity passenger rail transit is provided by Amtrak, with the majority of traffic occurring on the Keystone Service in the high-speed Keystone Corridor between Harrisburg and Philadelphia's 30th Street Station before heading north to New York City, as well as the Northeast Regional providing frequent high-speed service up and down the Northeast Corridor. The Pennsylvanian follows the same route from New York City to Harrisburg, but extends out to Pittsburgh. The Capitol Limited also passes through Pittsburgh, as well as Connellsville, on its way from Chicago to Washington, D.C.^[202] Traveling between Chicago and New York City, the Lake Shore Limited passes through Erie once in each direction.^[202] There are 67 short-line, freight railroads operating in Pennsylvania, the highest number in any U.S. state.^[202] With more than four million inter-city rail passengers in 2018, Philadelphia's 30th Street Station is Amtrak's third busiest train station in the nation after Penn Station in Manhattan and Union Station in Washington, D.C.^[204] and North America's 12th-busiest train station overall.

Road

PennDOT owns 39,861 miles (64,150 km) of the 121,770 miles (195,970 km) of roadway in the state, making it the fifth-largest state highway system in the United States.^[205] The Pennsylvania Turnpike system is 535 miles (861 km) long, with the mainline portion stretching from Ohio to Philadelphia and New Jersey.^[205] It is overseen by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. Another major east–west route is Interstate 80, which runs primarily in the northern tier of the state from Ohio to New Jersey at the Delaware Water Gap. Interstate 90 travels the relatively short distance between Ohio and New York through Erie County, in the extreme northwestern part of the state.

Primary north–south highways are Interstate 79 from its terminus in Erie through Pittsburgh to West Virginia, Interstate 81 from New York state through Scranton, Lackawanna County and Harrisburg to Maryland and Interstate 476, which begins 7 miles (11 km) north of the Delaware border, in Chester, Delaware County and travels 132 miles (212 km) to Clarks Summit, where it joins I-81. All but 20 miles (32 km) of I-476 is the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The highway south of the Pennsylvania Turnpike is officially called the "Veterans Memorial Highway", but is commonly referred to colloquially as the "Blue Route".

Water

The Port of Pittsburgh is the second-largest inland port in the United States and the 18th-largest port overall; the Port of Philadelphia is the 24th-largest port in the United States.^[206] Pennsylvania's only port on the Great Lakes is located in Erie. The Allegheny River Lock and Dam Two is the most-used lock operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers of its 255 nationwide.^[207] The dam impounds the Allegheny River near Downtown Pittsburgh.

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Pennsylvania Department of Transportation

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, currently Michael B. Carroll. PennDOT supports over 40,500 miles (65,200 km) of state roads and highways, about 25,000 bridges, and new roadway construction with the exception of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

List of airports in Pennsylvania

List of airports in Pennsylvania

This is a list of airports in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, grouped by type and sorted by location. The list includes public-use and military airports in the state. Some private-use and former airports may be included where notable, such as airports that were previously public-use, those with commercial enplanements recorded by the FAA, or airports assigned an IATA airport code.

Philadelphia International Airport

Philadelphia International Airport

Philadelphia International Airport is the primary airport serving Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The airport served 19.6 million passengers annually in 2021, making it the 21st busiest airport in the United States. The airport is located 7 miles (11 km) from the city's downtown area and has 22 airlines that offer nearly 500 daily departures to more than 130 destinations worldwide.

List of the busiest airports in the United States

List of the busiest airports in the United States

These are lists of the busiest airports in the United States, based on various ranking criteria.

Pittsburgh International Airport

Pittsburgh International Airport

Pittsburgh International Airport, formerly Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, is a civil–military international airport in Findlay Township and Moon Township, Pennsylvania. Located about 10 miles (15 km) west of downtown Pittsburgh, it is the primary international airport serving the Greater Pittsburgh Region as well as adjacent areas in West Virginia and Ohio. The airport is owned and operated by the Allegheny County Airport Authority and offers passenger flights to destinations throughout North America and Europe. PIT has four runways and covers 10,000 acres (4,000 ha).

Lehigh Valley International Airport

Lehigh Valley International Airport

Lehigh Valley International Airport, formerly Allentown–Bethlehem–Easton International Airport, is a domestic airport located in Hanover Township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. Lehigh Valley International Airport is located in the center of the Lehigh Valley, roughly 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Allentown, 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Bethlehem, and 11 miles (18 km) southwest of Easton.

Harrisburg International Airport

Harrisburg International Airport

Harrisburg International Airport is a public airport in Middletown, Pennsylvania, nine miles (15 km) southeast of Harrisburg. It is owned by the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority.

Erie International Airport

Erie International Airport

Erie International Airport Tom Ridge Field is a public airport five miles (8.0 km) southwest of Erie, in Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Airline service at Erie faces stiff competition from the Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Toronto airports, all within three hours of Erie by car. In 2004, Erie was the third-fastest-growing airport in the United States, and the fastest-growing airport in Pennsylvania. It is 128 miles (206 km) from Pittsburgh, 111 miles (179 km) from the Canada–U.S. border, 95 miles (153 km) from Cleveland, Ohio and 105 miles (169 km) from Buffalo, New York.

Greyhound Lines

Greyhound Lines

Greyhound Lines, Inc. (Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America. Services include Greyhound Mexico, charter bus services, and Amtrak Thruway services. Greyhound operates 1,700 coach buses produced mainly by Motor Coach Industries and Prevost serving 230 stations and 1,700 destinations. The company's first route began in Hibbing, Minnesota in 1914 and the company adopted the Greyhound name in 1929. The company is owned by Flix North America, Inc., an affiliate of Flixbus, and is based in Downtown Dallas.

Megabus (North America)

Megabus (North America)

Megabus, branded as megabus.com, is an intercity bus service of Coach USA/Coach Canada operating in the eastern, southern and midwestern United States and in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is the North American service equivalent to the European Megabus.

OurBus

OurBus

OurBus Inc. is is a broker for motor carriers of passengers, and arranges for the transportation of passengers. The company offers intercity and commuter bus routes serving cities in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C., Massachusetts, Illinois, Indiana, and Florida. The company's first route in New Jersey launched in 2016.

Chinatown bus lines

Chinatown bus lines

Chinatown bus lines are discount intercity bus services, often operated by Chinese Americans. They have been established primarily in the Chinatown communities of the East Coast of the United States since 1998, and similar services operate on the West Coast. Most Chinatown bus lines are based in the northeastern United States.

Sports

Professional sports

The Philadelphia Eagles are presented with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl LII on February 4, 2018

Pittsburgh Steelers' fans waving the Terrible Towel, a tradition that dates back to 1975

Citizens Bank Park in South Philadelphia, home of the Philadelphia Phillies, the oldest continuous same-name, same-city franchise in American professional sports

NASCAR racing at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond

Pennsylvania is home to eight major league professional sports teams: the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball, the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA, the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL, the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL, and the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. Among them, these teams have accumulated seven World Series championships (with the Pirates winning five and Phillies winning two), 16 National League pennants (with the Pirates winning nine and Phillies winning seven), three pre-Super Bowl era NFL championships (all won by the Eagles), seven Super Bowl championships (with the Steelers winning six and the Eagles one), two NBA championships (both won by the 76ers), and seven Stanley Cup championships (with the Penguins winning five and Flyers winning two).

With five professional sports teams and some of the most passionate sports fans in the nation, Philadelphia is often described as the nation's best sports city.^[208][209]

In baseball, in addition to its two MLB franchises, Pennsylvania has minor league and semi-pro sports teams: the Triple-A baseball Lehigh Valley IronPigs and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the Triple-A East; the Double-A baseball Altoona Curve, Erie SeaWolves, Harrisburg Senators, and Reading Fightin Phils of the Double-A Northeast; the collegiate summer baseball State College Spikes and Williamsport Crosscutters of the MLB Draft League; the independent baseball Lancaster Barnstormers and York Revolution of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball; the independent baseball Washington Wild Things of the Frontier League; the Erie BayHawks of the NBA G League; the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League; the Reading Royals and of the ECHL; and the Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League. Among them, these teams have accumulated 12 triple and double-A baseball league titles (RailRiders 1, Senators 6, Fightin Phils 4 Curve 1), 3 Arena Bowl Championships (Soul), and 11 Calder Cups (Bears).

The first World Series between the Boston Americans (which later became the Boston Red Sox) and Pittsburgh Pirates was played in Pittsburgh in 1903. Since 1959, the Little League World Series has been held each August in South Williamsport near where Little League Baseball was founded in Williamsport.^[210]

With the addition of the Philadelphia Union of the MLS, Pennsylvania now boasts three teams that are eligible to compete for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup annually. The other two teams are Philadelphia Union II and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.^[211] Both of the United Soccer League (USL). Within the American Soccer Pyramid, the MLS takes the first tier while the USL-2 claims the third tier.

Arnold Palmer, one of the 20th century's most accomplished professional golfers, comes from Latrobe, and Jim Furyk, a current PGA member grew up near in Lancaster. PGA tournaments in Pennsylvania include the 84 Lumber Classic played at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, in Farmington and the Northeast Pennsylvania Classic played at Glenmaura National Golf Club in Moosic.

Philadelphia is home to LOVE Park across from City Hall, a popular location for skateboarding and host to ESPN's X Games in 2001 and 2002.^[212]

Motorsports

In motorsports, the Mario Andretti dynasty of race drivers hails from Nazareth in the Lehigh Valley. Pennsylvania racetracks include Jennerstown Speedway in Jennerstown, Lake Erie Speedway in North East, Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, and Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, which is home to two NASCAR Cup Series races and an IndyCar Series race. The state is also home to Maple Grove Raceway, near Reading, which hosts major National Hot Rod Association-sanctioned drag racing events each year.

There are also two motocross race tracks that host a round of the AMA Toyota Motocross Championships in Pennsylvania. High Point Raceway is located in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, and Steel City is located in Delmont, Pennsylvania.

Horse racing courses in Pennsylvania consist of The Meadows near Pittsburgh, Mohegan Pennsylvania in Wilkes-Barre, and Harrah's Philadelphia in Chester, which offer harness racing, and Penn National Race Course in Grantville, Parx Racing (formerly Philadelphia Park) in Bensalem, and Presque Isle Downs near Erie, which offer thoroughbred racing. Smarty Jones, the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner, had Philadelphia Park as his home course.

College sports

In college football, three Pennsylvania universities compete in NCAA Division I, the highest level of sanctioned collegiate play in the sport: Penn State in the Big Ten Conference, Pitt in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and Temple in the American Athletic Conference.

Over their respective college football histories, Penn State claims two national championships (1982 and 1986) and seven undefeated seasons (1887, 1912, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1986, and 1994) and Pitt has won nine national championships (1915, 1916, 1918, 1929, 1931, 1934, 1936, 1937, and 1976) and had eight undefeated seasons (1904, 1910, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1920, 1937, and 1976).^[213] Penn State plays its home games at Beaver Stadium, a 106,572-capacity stadium that is the second largest stadium in the nation; the team is coached by James Franklin. Pitt plays its home games at Acrisure Stadium, a 68,400-capacity stadium it shares with the Pittsburgh Steelers; the team is coached by Pat Narduzzi. Over their respective histories, four additional Pennsylvania universities and colleges have won national college football championships: Lafayette in Easton (1896), Villanova in Villanova (2009), Penn in Philadelphia (1895, 1897, 1904, and 1908),^[214] and Washington & Jefferson in Washington (1921).

In college basketball, five Philadelphia and Philadelphia-area universities, collectively known as the Big Five, have a rich tradition in NCAA Division I basketball. National titles in college basketball have been won by La Salle (1954), Temple (1938), Penn (1920 and 1921), Pitt (1928 and 1930), and Villanova (1985, 2016, and 2018).^[215][216]

Pennsylvania has several universities and colleges known as national leaders in college wrestling. Penn State, coached by Cael Sanderson, has won ten NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in its history, second most among all universities and colleges after Oklahoma State. Lehigh in Bethlehem has had 28 NCAA Division I individual champions over its history.

Food

Geno's Steaks in South Philadelphia is widely credited with inventing the cheesesteak in 1933^[217]

The Hershey Company in Hershey

In 2008, author Sharon Hernes Silverman called Pennsylvania the snack food capital of the world.^[218] It leads all other states in the manufacture of pretzels and potato chips. The Sturgis Pretzel House introduced the pretzel to America, and companies like Anderson Bakery Company, Intercourse Pretzel Factory, and Snyder's of Hanover are leading manufacturers in the Commonwealth. Two of the three companies that define the U.S. potato chip industry are based in Pennsylvania: Utz Quality Foods, which started making chips in Hanover, Pennsylvania, in 1921 and Wise Foods, which started making chips in Berwick also in 1921. The third, Frito-Lay is part of PepsiCo, and is based in Plano, Texas. Other companies such as Herr's Snacks, Martin's Potato Chips, Snyder's of Berlin (not associated with Snyder's of Hanover), Middleswarth Potato Chips (in Middleburg) and Troyer Farms Potato Products are popular chip manufacturers.

The U.S. chocolate industry is centered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, with Mars, Godiva, and Wilbur Chocolate Company nearby, and smaller manufacturers such as Asher's^[219] in Souderton,^[220] and Gertrude Hawk Chocolates of Dunmore. Other notable companies include Just Born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, makers of Hot Tamales, Mike and Ikes, the Easter favorite marshmallow Peeps, and Boyer Brothers of Altoona, Pennsylvania, which is well known for its Mallo Cups. Auntie Anne's Pretzels began as a market-stand in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, and now has corporate headquarters in Lancaster City.^[221] Traditional Pennsylvania Dutch foods include chicken potpie, ham potpie, schnitz un knepp (dried apples, ham, and dumplings), fasnachts (raised doughnuts), scrapple, pretzels, bologna, chow-chow, and Shoofly pie. Martin's Famous Pastry Shoppe, headquartered in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, specializes in potato bread, another traditional Pennsylvania Dutch food. D.G. Yuengling & Son, America's oldest brewery, has been brewing beer in Pottsville since 1829.

Among the regional foods associated with Philadelphia are cheesesteaks, hoagies, soft pretzels, Italian water ice, Irish potato candy, scrapple, Tastykake, and strombolis. In Pittsburgh, tomato ketchup was improved by Henry John Heinz from 1876 to the early 20th century. Famous to a lesser extent than Heinz ketchup is the Pittsburgh's Primanti Brothers Restaurant sandwiches, pierogies, and city chicken. Outside of Scranton, in Old Forge, there are dozens of Italian restaurants specializing in pizza made unique by thick, light crust, and American cheese. Erie also has its share of unique foods, including Greek sauce and sponge candy. Sauerkraut along with pork and mashed potatoes is a traditional meal on New Year's Day in Pennsylvania; its tradition began with the Pennsylvania Dutch who believe the meal leads to good luck in the new year to come.

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Culture of Allentown, Pennsylvania

Culture of Allentown, Pennsylvania

The culture of Allentown, Pennsylvania dates back to the settlement of the city and the surrounding Lehigh Valley in the early 1700s by Germans of the Protestant Lutheran, Moravian, and Reformed faith, who fled religious persecution and war in Europe to settle in Allentown and its surrounding towns and communities. Before their arrival, the region had been historically inhabited by Lenape Native American tribes.

Culture of Philadelphia

Culture of Philadelphia

The culture of Philadelphia goes back to 1682 when Philadelphia was founded by William Penn. Originally inhabited by the Lenape, Philadelphia was envisioned as a place where people could live without fear of persecution because of their religion. As a result, many Quakers, Mennonites, and others came to find refuge within the city. As Philadelphia grew into a major political and economic center of the United States, many different groups of religions and ethnicities flocked to the city. 19th and 20th century immigration and migration led to large concentrations of Irish, Italians, Germans, Asians, Puerto Ricans and African Americans. Philadelphia continues to be a major destination for immigrants, with large Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, East African, Middle Eastern, Indian and Mexican immigrant populations, among others.

LGBT culture in Philadelphia

LGBT culture in Philadelphia

The development of LGBT culture in Philadelphia can be traced back to the early 20th century. It exists in current times as a dynamic, diverse, and philanthropically active culture with establishments and events held to promote LGBT culture and rights in Philadelphia and beyond.

Culture of Pittsburgh

Culture of Pittsburgh

The Culture of Pittsburgh stems from the city's long history as a center for cultural philanthropy, as well as its rich ethnic traditions. In the 19th and 20th centuries, wealthy businessmen such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry J. Heinz, Henry Clay Frick, and nonprofit organizations such as the Carnegie Foundation donated millions of dollars to create educational and cultural institutions.

Philadelphia Eagles

Philadelphia Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays its home games at Lincoln Financial Field in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex.

1975 Pittsburgh Steelers season

1975 Pittsburgh Steelers season

The 1975 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the franchise's 43rd in the National Football League (NFL). The Steelers were defending champions for the first time in their forty-year history and repeated as league champions. The team was led by a dominating defense and a quick offense, and won Super Bowl X over the Dallas Cowboys, 21–17. The 1975 Steelers had one of the greatest defensive teams of all time. The team posted their best defensive numbers since 1946, and scored more points than any other Steelers team, later surpassed by two points in 2010.

Citizens Bank Park

Citizens Bank Park

Citizens Bank Park is a baseball stadium located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the city's South Philadelphia Sports Complex. It is the home playing field of the Philadelphia Phillies, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise. The stadium opened April 3, 2004, and hosted its first regular season baseball game on April 12 of the same year, with the Phillies losing to the Cincinnati Reds, 4–1. It is named after Citizens Financial Group.

Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has been Citizens Bank Park, located in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. Founded in 1883, the Philadelphia Phillies are the oldest continuous same-name, same-city franchise in all of American professional sports.

NASCAR

NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and his son, Jim France, has been the CEO since August 2018. The company is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida. Each year, NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 48 US states as well as in Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Europe.

Long Pond, Pennsylvania

Long Pond, Pennsylvania

Long Pond is an unincorporated community in Monroe County in the Pocono Mountains region of Pennsylvania, a part of the Appalachian Mountains. Long Pond is located within the Tunkhannock Creek Watershed. Its ZIP code is 18334.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Association in 1881 under the name Pittsburgh Allegheny, the club joined the National League in 1887 and was a member of the National League East from 1969 through 1993. The Pirates have won five World Series championships, nine National League pennants, nine National League East division titles and made three appearances in the Wild Card Game.

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. Formed in 1876 and 1901 respectively, the NL and AL cemented their cooperation with the National Agreement in 1903. They remained legally separate entities until 2000, when they merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball. MLB is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. It is considered one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.

Pennsylvania has been known as the Keystone State since 1802,^[222] based in part on its central location among the original Thirteen Colonies from which the United States was formed, and in part because of the important founding American documents, including the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution, that were signed and ratified in Pennsylvania. It has also been a keystone state economically with both manufacturing common to the North, including wares as Conestoga wagons and rifles,^[223][224] and also agriculture common to the South, including feed, fiber, food, and tobacco.^[225]

During the colonial era, Pennsylvania carried the nickname the Quaker State^[226] in recognition of Quaker^[227] William Penn's First Frame of Government^[228] constitution for the Province of Pennsylvania that guaranteed liberty of conscience. Penn knew of the hostility Quakers faced when they opposed religious ritual, taking oaths, violence, war, and military service, and what they viewed as ostentatious frippery.^[229][230]

The Coal State, The Oil State, and The Steel State were each adopted nicknames when those respective industries were, at various times during the 19th and 20th centuries, the state's largest respective industries.^[231] The State of Independence appears on several present road signs entering Pennsylvania from neighboring states.

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Keystone (architecture)

Keystone (architecture)

A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone at the apex of a masonry arch or typically round-shaped one at the apex of a vault. In both cases it is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch or vault to bear weight. In arches and vaults keystones are often enlarged beyond the structural requirements and decorated. A variant in domes and crowning vaults is a lantern.

Thirteen Colonies

Thirteen Colonies

The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centuries, the American Enlightenment led these colonies to revolution, and declaring full independence in July 1776. With victory over Britain in the American Revolutionary War the former colonies were confirmed as the new United States of America. Just prior to declaring independence, the Thirteen Colonies in their traditional groupings were: New England ; Middle ; Southern. The Thirteen Colonies came to have very similar political, constitutional, and legal systems, dominated by Protestant English-speakers. The first of these colonies was Virginia Colony in 1607, a Southern colony. While all these colonies needed to become economically viable, the founding of the New England colonies, as well as the colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania, were substantially motivated by their founders' concerns related to the practice of religion. The other colonies were founded for business and economic expansion. The Middle Colonies were established on an earlier Dutch colony, New Netherland. All the Thirteen Colonies were part of Britain's possessions in the New World, which also included territory in Canada, Florida, and the Caribbean.

United States Declaration of Independence

United States Declaration of Independence

The United States Declaration of Independence, officially The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House, which was later renamed Independence Hall, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1776. Enacted during the American Revolution, the Declaration explains why the Thirteen Colonies at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain regarded themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states and no longer subject to British colonial rule. With the Declaration, the 13 states took a collective first step in forming the United States and, de facto, formalized the American Revolutionary War, which had been ongoing since April 1775.

Constitution of the United States

Constitution of the United States

The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the national frame and constraints of government. The Constitution's first three articles embody the doctrine of the separation of powers, whereby the federal government is divided into three branches: the legislative, consisting of the bicameral Congress ; the executive, consisting of the president and subordinate officers ; and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts. Article IV, Article V, and Article VI embody concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments, the states in relationship to the federal government, and the shared process of constitutional amendment. Article VII establishes the procedure subsequently used by the 13 states to ratify it. The Constitution of the United States is the oldest and longest-standing written and codified national constitution in force in the world today.

Northern United States

Northern United States

The Northern United States, commonly referred to as the American North, the Northern States, or simply the North, is a geographical or historical region of the United States.

Long rifle

Long rifle

The long rifle, also known as the longrifle, Kentucky rifle, Pennsylvania rifle, or American longrifle, is a muzzle-loading firearm used for hunting and warfare. It was one of the first commonly-used rifles. The American rifle was characterized by a very long barrel of relatively small caliber, uncommon in European rifles of the period.

Southern United States

Southern United States

The Southern United States is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the Western United States, with the Midwestern and Northeastern United States to its north and the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico to its south.

Quakers

Quakers

Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements are generally united by a belief in each human's ability to experience the light within or see "that of God in every one". Some profess a priesthood of all believers inspired by the First Epistle of Peter. They include those with evangelical, holiness, liberal, and traditional Quaker understandings of Christianity. There are also Nontheist Quakers, whose spiritual practice does not rely on the existence of God. To differing extents, the Friends avoid creeds and hierarchical structures. In 2017, there were an estimated 377,557 adult Quakers, 49% of them in Africa.

William Penn

William Penn

William Penn was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Native Americans.

Frame of Government of Pennsylvania

Frame of Government of Pennsylvania

The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania was a proto-constitution for the Province of Pennsylvania, a proprietary colony granted to William Penn by Charles II of England. The Frame of Government has lasting historical importance as an important step in the development of American and world democracy.

Province of Pennsylvania

Province of Pennsylvania

The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn, who received the land through a grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania was derived from "Penn's Woods", referring to William's father Admiral Sir William Penn.

Conscience

Conscience

Conscience is a cognitive process that elicits emotion and rational associations based on an individual's moral philosophy or value system. Conscience stands in contrast to elicited emotion or thought due to associations based on immediate sensory perceptions and reflexive responses, as in sympathetic central nervous system responses. In common terms, conscience is often described as leading to feelings of remorse when a person commits an act that conflicts with their moral values. The extent to which conscience informs moral judgment before an action and whether such moral judgments are or should be based on reason has occasioned debate through much of modern history between theories of basics in ethic of human life in juxtaposition to the theories of romanticism and other reactionary movements after the end of the Middle Ages.

• Matanzas Province, Cuba^[232]
• Rhône-Alpes, France