List of cities and boroughs in Pennsylvania by population
# List of cities and boroughs in Pennsylvania by population

| Rank | City | Population (2020 Census) | County | Motto | Description |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Philadelphia | 1,603,797 | Philadelphia | "Philadelphia maneto" ("Let brotherly love endure") | The largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the sixth-largest city in the United States, Philadelphia was founded on October 27, 1682, by William Penn. It is known as the "City of Brotherly Love" because "Philadelphia" is Greek for "brotherly love". Economy mostly based on financial services, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and freight shipping. It is home to such major league sports teams as the 76ers, Flyers, the 2008 World Series champion Phillies, and the Super Bowl LII champion Eagles. Philadelphia is also home to the monumental Liberty Bell. |
| 2 | Pittsburgh | 302,971 | Allegheny | "Benigno Numine" ("With the Benevolent Deity" also translated as "By the favor of heaven") | Known as "the Steel City" due to the steel factories of the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Pittsburgh was a huge contributor of steel during World War II, producing 95 million tons of steel. The city is located at the confluence of the Allegheny and the Monongahela Rivers, where they meet to form the Ohio River. While the city is historically known for its steel industry, today it is largely based on healthcare, education, and technology. It is home to such major league sports teams as the Steelers, who have won an NFL-record six Super Bowls, as well as the Pirates and Penguins. |
| 3 | Allentown | 125,845 | Lehigh | "Sic Semper Tyrannis" | Located on the Lehigh River, Allentown is the largest of three adjacent cities that make up a region of eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey known as the Lehigh Valley, with the cities of Bethlehem and Easton nearby. Allentown is 60 miles (97 km) north of Philadelphia, 80 miles (130 km) east of Harrisburg, the state capital, and 90 miles (140 km) west of New York City, the nation's largest city. |
| 4 | Reading | 95,112 | Berks | "Deo Adjuvante Labor Proficit" ("Labor profits with the help of God") | The city lent its name to the now-defunct Reading Railroad, which brought anthracite coal from the Pennsylvania Coal Region to cities along the Schuylkill River. The railroad is one of the four railroad properties in the classic English-language version of the Monopoly board game. During the general decline of heavy manufacturing, Reading was one of the first localities where outlet shopping became a tourist industry. It has been known as "The Pretzel City" because of numerous local pretzel bakeries. It is also known as "Baseballtown," after the Reading Phillies trademarked this moniker to market Reading's rich baseball history. |
| 5 | Erie | 94,831 | Erie | n/a | Named after the Great Lake of the same name, Erie is known as the flagship city because of the presence of Oliver Hazard Perry's flagship Niagara. Erie has also been called the Gem City because of the sparkling lake. Erie is home of the Erie SeaWolves of the Double A Eastern League. The SeaWolves are the Double A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. |
| 6 | Upper Darby | 85,681 | Delaware | "The World in One Place" | Upper Darby Township is a home rule township bordering West Philadelphia in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Upper Darby shares most of its eastern border with Philadelphia, along a line that follows Cobbs Creek. Upper Darby is also home to the Tower Theater, a historic music venue on 69th Street built in the 1920s. Upper Darby's population is diverse, representing over 100 ethnic cultures. The township hosts a range of housing types including densely populated rowhouse sections, tree-lined neighborhoods of turn-of-the-century single-family houses and mid-century developments. It is Pennsylvania's sixth most populous municipality. |
| 7 | Scranton | 76,328 | Lackawanna | "Embracing Our People, Our Traditions, and Our Future" | Scranton is the geographic and cultural center of the Lackawanna River valley. It is the largest city located in a contiguous quilt-work of former anthracite coal mining communities including the smaller cities of Wilkes-Barre, Nanticoke, Pittston, and Carbondale. Scranton was incorporated as a borough on February 14, 1856 and as a city on April 23, 1866. |
| 8 | Bethlehem | 75,781 | Lehigh and Northampton | n/a | Bethlehem lies in the center of the Lehigh Valley, a region of 731 square miles (1,893 km²) that is home to more than 750,000 people. The Valley embraces a trio of cities (Bethlehem, Allentown and Easton) within two counties (Lehigh and Northampton), making it Pennsylvania's third-largest metropolitan area. Smaller than Allentown but larger than Easton, Bethlehem is the Lehigh Valley's second most populous city. |
| 9 | Lower Merion | 63,633 | Montgomery | n/a | Lower Merion is a township located in Montgomery County, and is located on the Main Line a region of the Philadelphia suburbs which connect towns across 3 counties. On the Main Line, it is the most eastern suburb of Philadelphia. The name Merion, stemmed from Merionshire in Wales. The township was initially settled by Quakers. By 1713, Lower Merion had about 52 landholders and tenants and was deemed an independent township. Today the township's population is 58,288, according to the most recent Census data. |
| 10 | Bensalem Township | 62,707 | Bucks | | Bensalem Township is a township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States which borders the northeast section of Philadelphia. The township is composed of many communities, including Bensalem, Trevose, Oakford, Cornwells Heights, Eddington, and Andalusia. As of the 2010 census, the township had a total population of 60,427, which makes it the largest municipality in Bucks County, and the ninth largest in Pennsylvania. The township, which was founded in 1692, is almost as old as Pennsylvania itself, which was founded in 1682. |
| 11 | Lancaster | 58,039 | Lancaster | n/a | Originally called Hickory Town, now called the red rose city, the city was renamed after the English city of Lancaster by native John Wright. Its symbol, the red rose, is from the House of Lancaster. Lancaster was part of the 1681 Penn's Woods Charter of William Penn, and was laid out by James Hamilton in 1734. It was incorporated as a borough in 1742 and incorporated as a city in 1818. During the American Revolution, it was briefly the capital of the colonies on September 27, 1777, when the Continental Congress fled Philadelphia, which had been captured by the British. After meeting one day, they moved still farther away, to York, Pennsylvania. Lancaster was capital of Pennsylvania from 1799 to 1812, after which the capital was moved to Harrisburg. |
| 12 | Millcreek | 54,073 | Erie | "Gateway to Presque Isle" | Millcreek Township is a township in Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States, within the Erie metropolitan area. The population was 53,773 at the 2016 census. Millcreek is Erie's largest suburb and serves as the gateway to Presque Isle State Park. One of Pennsylvania's largest malls, the Millcreek Mall, is located here on upper Peach Street. Also Waldameer Park, home of the Ravine Flyer which crosses above Peninsula Drive, is located at the entrance to Presque Isle State Park. Also on upper Peach Street is Splash Lagoon, an indoor water park. |
| 13 | Lower Paxton | 53,501 | Dauphin | n/a | Lower Paxton Township was incorporated in 1729 and is situated in south-central Dauphin County, bordering Susquehanna Township to the west, West Hanover and South Hanover townships to the east, Middle Paxton Township to the north, and Swatara Township to the south. Beaver Creek, a south-flowing tributary of Swatara Creek, which flows to the Susquehanna River forms the eastern border of Lower Paxton. |
| 14 | Haverford | 50,431 | Delaware | n/a | Haverford Township (named after the town of Haverfordwest in Wales, UK) is a home rule township in Delaware County—a close-in inner commuting suburb of Philadelphia, it is located due west of Philadelphia, in southeastern Pennsylvania, United States, and is officially known as the Township of Haverford. Despite being under a home rule charter since 1977, it continues to operate under a Board of Commissioners divided into wards, as do "First Class" townships that are still under the Pennsylvania Township Code. Haverford Township was founded in 1682 and incorporated in 1911. |
| 15 | Harrisburg | 50,099 | Dauphin | "En la rou Justita" | The capital of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg played a notable role in American history during the Westward Migration, the American Civil War, and the Industrial Revolution. During part of the 19th century, the building of the Pennsylvania Canal and later the Pennsylvania Railroad allowed Harrisburg to become one of the most industrialized cities in the Northeastern United States. |
| 16 | York | 44,800 | York | n/a | York was founded in 1741 by settlers from the Philadelphia region, and named for the English city of the same name. By 1777, most of the area residents were of either German or Scotch-Irish descent. York was incorporated as a borough on September 24, 1787, and as a city on January 11, 1887. During the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), York served as the temporary capital of the Continental Congress. The Articles of Confederation were drafted and adopted in York, though they would not be ratified until March 1781. It is now called the white rose city. |
| 17 | Wilkes-Barre | 44,328 | Luzerne | "Pattern After Us" | Founded in 1769, Wilkes-Barre is the county seat of Luzerne County and is at the center of the Wyoming Valley area. It is surrounded by the Pocono Mountains to the east, the Lehigh Valley to the south, and the Endless Mountains to the west. The Susquehanna River flows through the northwestern portion of the city. |
| 18 | Altoona | 43,963 | Blair | The Mountain City, Railroad City | Having grown around the railroad industry, the city is currently working to recover against industrial decline and urban decentralization over the past several decades. The city is home to the Altoona Curve baseball team of the Double A Eastern League, which is the Double A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. |
| 19 | Hempfield | 41,466 | Westmoreland | "A Great Place to Raise a Family" | Hempfield is the largest metropolitan suburb in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area. Its name is derived from the hemp fields in the area and was incorporated in 1773. |
| 20 | State College | 40,501 | Centre | n/a | State College is dominated economically and demographically by the presence of the main campus of the Pennsylvania State University, often referred to as Penn State. Happy Valley is an often-used term to refer to the State College area, including the borough itself and the townships of College, Harris, Patton, and Ferguson. On home football Saturdays, Happy Valley becomes the third-largest city in Pennsylvania with College Township holding a majority of the people, with an estimated population over 230,000. |
| 21 | Penn Hills | 40,405 | Allegheny | “A Home Rule Community” | Penn Hills is the second-largest municipality in Allegheny County and the second-largest suburb of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area. On January 16, 1850, Robert Logan, Thomas Davison, and Daniel Bieber were appointed by the court to review the boundaries of a new township to be formed from the northern part of Wilkins Township. This new township was formed and named Adams and later renamed to Penn Hills. It became a home rule municipality in 1976. |
