Wyoming County, Pennsylvania

Wyoming County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 26,069.[1] Its county seat is Tunkhannock.[2] It was created in 1842 from part of Luzerne County. The county is part of the Northeast Pennsylvania region of the state.[a]

Wyoming County
The Wyoming County courthouse in Tunkhannock
The Wyoming County courthouse in Tunkhannock
Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Wyoming County
Location within the U.S. state of Pennsylvania
Map of the United States highlighting Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 41°31′N 76°01′W / 41.52°N 76.02°W / 41.52; -76.02
Country United States
State Pennsylvania
FoundedApril 4, 1842
Named forWyoming Valley
SeatTunkhannock
Largest boroughTunkhannock
Area
 • Total
405 sq mi (1,050 km2)
 • Land397 sq mi (1,030 km2)
 • Water7.7 sq mi (20 km2)  1.9%
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
26,069
 • Density66/sq mi (25/km2)
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district9th
Websitewyomingcountypa.gov

Wyoming County is included in the ScrantonWilkes-BarreHazleton, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography

edit

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 405 square miles (1,050 km2), of which 397 square miles (1,030 km2) is land and 7.7 square miles (20 km2) (1.9%) is water.[3] The county is intersected by the North Branch of the Susquehanna River, and drained by Tunkhannock, Mehoopany, and other large creeks. The land surface is generally hilly or mountainous, Mehoopany, Tunkhannock, Knob, and Bowman's mountains occupying a portion. The soil is fertile. Timber, coal, and iron are very abundant.[4]

Climate

edit

The county has a humid continental climate which is warm-summer (Dfb) except along the river starting below Falls where it is hot-summer (Dfa). Average monthly temperatures in Tunkhannock range from 25.2 °F in January to 70.9 °F in July.[5]

Adjacent counties

edit

Major roads

edit

Demographics

edit
Historical population
CensusPop.Note
185010,655
186012,54017.7%
187014,58516.3%
188015,5986.9%
189015,8911.9%
190017,1527.9%
191015,509−9.6%
192014,101−9.1%
193015,51710.0%
194016,7027.6%
195016,7660.4%
196016,8130.3%
197019,08213.5%
198026,43338.5%
199028,0766.2%
200028,0800.0%
201028,2760.7%
202026,069−7.8%
U.S. Decennial Census[6]
1790-1960[7] 1900-1990[8]
1990-2000[9] 2010-2017[10] 2010-2020[11]

As of the census[12] of 2000, there were 28,080 people, 10,762 households, and 7,705 families residing in the county. The population density was 71 people per square mile (27 people/km2). There were 12,713 housing units at an average density of 32 per square mile (12/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 98.28% White, 0.53% Black or African American, 0.27% Asian, 0.17% Native American, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.15% from other races, and 0.59% from two or more races. 0.67% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 20.3% were of German, 12.9% Irish, 11.9% English, 11.6% Polish, 9.6% American and 8.1% Italian ancestry.

There were 10,762 households, out of which 33.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.10% were married couples living together, 9.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.40% were non-families. 24.10% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.02. In the county, the population was spread out, with 25.50% under the age of 18, 8.00% from 18 to 24, 28.10% from 25 to 44, 25.20% from 45 to 64, and 13.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 98.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.80 males.

2020 census

edit
Wyoming County Racial Composition[13]
Race Num. Perc.
White (NH) 24,142 92.6%
Black or African American (NH) 214 0.82%
Native American (NH) 32 0.12%
Asian (NH) 115 0.44%
Pacific Islander (NH) 3 0.01%
Other/Mixed (NH) 982 3.76%
Hispanic or Latino 581 2.22%

Politics

edit
United States presidential election results for Wyoming County, Pennsylvania[14][15]
Year Republican Democratic Third party(ies)
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2024 10,222 67.72% 4,680 31.00% 193 1.28%
2020 9,936 66.68% 4,704 31.57% 260 1.74%
2016 8,837 66.63% 3,811 28.74% 614 4.63%
2012 6,587 55.26% 5,061 42.45% 273 2.29%
2008 6,983 52.81% 5,985 45.26% 255 1.93%
2004 7,782 60.65% 4,982 38.82% 68 0.53%
2000 6,922 59.12% 4,363 37.26% 424 3.62%
1996 4,888 46.96% 4,049 38.90% 1,471 14.13%
1992 5,143 47.40% 3,158 29.11% 2,549 23.49%
1988 6,607 69.94% 2,797 29.61% 43 0.46%
1984 7,230 74.01% 2,518 25.78% 21 0.21%
1980 5,919 64.57% 2,766 30.17% 482 5.26%
1976 5,705 60.34% 3,628 38.37% 122 1.29%
1972 6,423 74.42% 2,112 24.47% 96 1.11%
1968 5,207 64.09% 2,366 29.12% 551 6.78%
1964 3,864 47.45% 4,268 52.41% 12 0.15%
1960 6,188 69.36% 2,726 30.56% 7 0.08%
1956 5,906 73.56% 2,120 26.40% 3 0.04%
1952 5,772 75.72% 1,815 23.81% 36 0.47%
1948 4,332 70.70% 1,674 27.32% 121 1.97%
1944 4,581 69.60% 1,982 30.11% 19 0.29%
1940 5,273 67.14% 2,548 32.44% 33 0.42%
1936 5,321 61.25% 3,269 37.63% 97 1.12%
1932 3,968 58.00% 2,728 39.88% 145 2.12%
1928 5,321 85.00% 906 14.47% 33 0.53%
1924 3,213 68.06% 1,194 25.29% 314 6.65%
1920 3,208 68.43% 1,247 26.60% 233 4.97%
1916 1,698 52.12% 1,444 44.32% 116 3.56%
1912 480 13.59% 1,505 42.60% 1,548 43.82%
1908 2,234 55.79% 1,629 40.68% 141 3.52%
1904 2,308 56.90% 1,575 38.83% 173 4.27%
1900 2,247 52.61% 1,875 43.90% 149 3.49%
1896 2,373 53.24% 1,951 43.77% 133 2.98%
1892 2,029 49.82% 1,905 46.77% 139 3.41%
1888 2,026 50.70% 1,841 46.07% 129 3.23%

As of May 15, 2023, there were 17,361 registered voters in Wyoming County.[16]

  • Republican: 10,561 (60.83%)
  • Democratic: 4,807 (27.69%)
  • No party affiliation: 1,304 (7.51%)
  • Other parties: 689 (3.97%)

Chart of Voter Registration

  Republican (60.83%)
  Democratic (27.69%)
  Independent (7.51%)
  Other Parties (3.97%)

County commissioners

edit
  • Richard Wilbur, Chair, Republican
  • Thomas Henry, Vice-chair, Republican
  • Ernest King, Democrat

Law enforcement

edit

As of 2016 all areas in the county use the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) in a law enforcement capacity, either with part-time police departments or with no other police departments.[17]

Other county offices

edit
  • Auditors:
    • Laura Dickson, Democrat
    • Ashley Ritz Darby, Republican
    • Judy Shupp, Republican
  • District Attorney, Joe Peters, Republican
  • Prothonotary, Cindy Adams, Republican
  • Register of Wills & Recorder of Deeds, Dennis Montross, Republican
  • Sheriff, Robert Roberts, Republican
  • Treasurer, Patricia Mead, Republican

State representative

edit

State senator

edit

United States House of Representatives

edit

United States Senator

edit

Education

edit
 
Map of Wyoming County, Pennsylvania School Districts

Public school districts

edit

School districts include:[18]

Higher education

edit

Transportation

edit

Skyhaven Airport is a public use airport located in Wyoming County, one nautical mile (1.85 km) south of the central business district of Tunkhannock.[19]

With the town sited on the lower end of the upper third of the Susquehanna, busily wending its way south to the Chesapeake Bay, the river banks to either side the whole length of the Susquehanna were historically used as a rail transport corridor with competing railroads typically making their way on either side on the important NYC and Philadelphia to Buffalo, New York routes connecting the eastern seaboard to cities such as Chicago on the Great Lakes; towns like Tunkhannock played an important role in the highly competitive stakes for such high profit passenger expresses for steam locomotives had surprisingly short cruising ranges and passenger travel had higher earnings than freight. Today, except for select parts, the river bank rail transport infrastructures remaining are mainly left bank located assets of a single railroad's operations department, even shared roads (operated over by several lines) these days use the single corridor along the east/left river bank connecting the large Sayre Yard on the stateline in Sayre, Pennsylvania further upriver to the transitional Duryea yard. After the collapse of Conrail, trackage on the Northern Susquehanna is operated by Norfolk Southern, with some areas sublet to other road companies. The trackage running through Tunkhannock

Pennsylvania Route 29, a continuation of PA-309 from Philadelphia and Allentown, connects to the New York state line providing north–south road connections by secondary highway while PA-92, and especially U.S. Route 6, provide major east–west secondary highway access to the region.

Communities

edit
 
Map of Wyoming County, Pennsylvania with Municipal Labels showing Boroughs (red) and Townships (white).

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

Boroughs

edit

Townships

edit

Census-designated places

edit

Unincorporated communities

edit

Ghost towns

edit

Population ranking

edit

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2010 census of Wyoming County.[20]

county seat

Rank City/Town/etc. Municipal type Population (2010 Census)
1 Tunkhannock Borough 1,836
2 Factoryville Borough 1,158
3 Nicholson Borough 767
4 Lake Winola CDP 748
5 Noxen CDP 633
6 Meshoppen Borough 563
7 West Falls CDP 382
8 Laceyville Borough 379

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Includes Luzerne, Lackawanna, Monroe, Schuylkill, Carbon, Pike, Bradford, Wayne, Susquehanna, Wyoming and Sullivan Counties
  1. ^ "Census - Geography Profile: Wyoming County, Pennsylvania". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
  2. ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  3. ^ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  4. ^ Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). "Wyoming. II. A N. E. county of Pennsylvania" . The American Cyclopædia.
  5. ^ "PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University".
  6. ^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  7. ^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Archived from the original on August 11, 2012. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  8. ^ Forstall, Richard L., ed. (March 24, 1995). "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on March 20, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  9. ^ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. April 2, 2001. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 18, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  10. ^ "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  11. ^ "census 2020".
  12. ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
  13. ^ "P2 HISPANIC OR LATINO, AND NOT HISPANIC OR LATINO BY RACE – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Wyoming County, Pennsylvania".
  14. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Archived from the original on March 23, 2018. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  15. ^ The leading "other" candidate, Progressive Theodore Roosevelt, received 1,464 votes, while Prohibition candidate Eugene Chafin received 51 votes, and Socialist Labor candidate Arthur Reimer received 33 votes.
  16. ^ Pennsylvania Department of State (May 15, 2023). "Voter registration statistics by county". dos.pa.gov. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  17. ^ Klibanoff, Eleanor (May 4, 2016). "Half of Pa. municipalities rely fully on state police". WHYY-TV. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
  18. ^ "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Wyoming County, PA" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved July 24, 2024. - Text list
  19. ^ FAA Airport Form 5010 for 76N PDF. Federal Aviation Administration. Effective February 11, 2010.
  20. ^ "2010 U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
edit

41°31′N 76°01′W / 41.52°N 76.02°W / 41.52; -76.02