Municipalities

Cities

As governmental units, cities generally have broad powers, and all first class
and second class cities – i.e. Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Scranton – have home rule charters,
which further expands their autonomy. Third class cities follow the Third Class City Code.

Cities

Meadville

Titisville

Boroughs

A borough (sometimes spelled boro) is a self-governing municipal entity, best thought of as a town, usually smaller than a city,
but with a similar population density in its residential areas. Sometimes thought of as "junior cities", boroughs
generally have fewer powers and responsibilities than full-fledged cities.
Boroughs tend to have more developed business districts and concentrations of public and commercial office buildings,
including court houses. Boroughs are larger, less spacious, and more developed than the relatively rural townships, which often
have the greater territory and even surround boroughs of a related or even the same name.

Blooming Valley	Cambridge Springs	Centerville	Cochranton	Conneaut Lake	Conneautville	Geneva
Hydetown	Linesville	Saegertown	Spartansburg	Springboro	Townville	Venango
Woodcock

Townships

Townships were established based on convenient local geographical boundaries within the borders of the 67 encompassing Pennsylvania counties,
and typically vary in size from 6 to 40 square miles (16–104 km2). There are two classifications of townships, first class and second class.
To become a first class township and operate under the powers of the "First Class Township Code" in
Pennsylvania statute law, townships of the second class must have a population density of 300 inhabitants
per square mile (120/km2) and voters must approve the change of classification in a referendum.
The principal difference between the two types is the form and the title, and period of office for the township administrators.
In the majority and second-class case, townships have three supervisors (can be increased to five by referendum) elected at large
(by all voters) for overlapping six-year terms. In first-class townships, the governing body is 5–15 township commissioners—with two
variations: either five commissioners are elected at large, or where population densities permit geopolitical wards be set up,
an odd number of commissioners (up to 15) may be periodically elected for four year overlapping terms.
However, many townships have chosen to remain second-class townships even though they meet the population density requirements to become first-class townships.

Athens	Beaver	Bloomfield	Cambridge	Conneaut	Cussewago	East Fairfield
East Fallowfield	East Mead	Fairfield	Greenwood	Hayfield	North Shenango	Oil Creek
Pine	Randolph	Richmond	Rockdale	Rome	Sadsbury	South Shenango
Sparta	Spring	Stuben	Summerhill	Summit	Troy	Union
Venango	Vernon	Wayne	West Fallowfield	West Mead	West Shenango	Woodcock

Former Boroughs & Townships

Cambridgeboro

Hartstown

Riceville

Vallonia

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This page was last updated 22 Aug 2024