Northumberland County, Pennsylvania
Northumberland County | |
|---|---|
Northumberland County Courthouse | |
Location within the U.S. state of Pennsylvania | |
Pennsylvania's location within the U.S. | |
| Coordinates: 40°51′N 76°43′W / 40.85°N 76.71°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Pennsylvania |
| Founded | March 21, 1772 |
| Named after | Northumberland, England |
| Seat | Sunbury |
| Largest city | Sunbury |
| Area | |
• Total | 478 sq mi (1,240 km2) |
| • Land | 458 sq mi (1,190 km2) |
| • Water | 19 sq mi (50 km2) 4.0% |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 91,647 |
| • Density | 204/sq mi (79/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (Eastern) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
| Congressional district | 9th |
| Website | www |
Northumberland County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,647. Its county seat is Sunbury. The county is part of the Central Pennsylvania region of the state.
The county was formed in 1772 from parts of Lancaster, Berks, Bedford, Cumberland, and Northampton Counties and named for the county of Northumberland in northern England. Northumberland County is a fifth class county according to the Pennsylvania's County Code. Northumberland County comprises the Sunbury, Pennsylvania Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Bloomsburg-Berwick-Sunbury, PA Combined Statistical Area. Among its notable residents are Thomas L. Hamer, a Democratic member of Congress in the 1830s, and Joseph Priestley, the Enlightenment chemist and theologian, who left England in 1796 due to religious and political persecution and settled on the Susquehanna River. His former house, originally purchased by chemists from Pennsylvania State University after a colloquium that founded the American Chemical Society, is a historical museum.