BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The Lehigh Valley’s population continues to grow, new census data shows.
In the past four years, Lehigh and Northampton counties each saw a roughly 3% population increase, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data released Thursday.
Lehigh and Northampton counties both were in the Top 10 for total population change across the state in terms of growth.U.S Census Bureau
Both counties were in the Top 10 for total population change across the state in terms of growth.
Overall, 28 Pennsylvania counties saw an increase in population, while 39 saw a decrease. Pike County had the largest increase by percentage at 6.54%, while Greene County saw the largest decrease at minus -5.53%.
Lehigh County saw an increase from about 374,552 people in 2020 to 385,655 people last year, or 2.96%.
The biggest gains came from 2023 to 2024, when the population in the county jumped 4,783 residents.
Northampton County saw an increase from about 312,957 people in 2020 to 322,989 in 2024, or 3.21%.
The population growth was more substantial than all surrounding counties.
Berks County had a 2.4% increase, Carbon County saw a 1.6% jump, Schuylkill County was at 1%, and Bucks County saw just a 0.6% gain.
Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania, saw a population decrease of nearly 2%, falling from 1,603,794 to 1,573,916.
Area continues to diversify
Population diversity continues an upward trajectory in the Lehigh Valley, specifically within the Black and Hispanic communities, the new census estimates show.
In the past four years, the Hispanic population in Lehigh County increased 2.7%.
The vast majority reside in Allentown, which counts around 54% of its population as Hispanic or Latino according to the 2020 census. (The city saw a population increase of 1%, from 125,855 people to 127,138 people from 2020 to 2024).
The Black population made gains of 4.97% in Lehigh County, while the Asian population remained unchanged.
Margins were smaller in Northampton County, which saw an increase of 1.6% in the Hispanic community.
Both the Black and Asian populations remained unchanged.
Older vs. younger population
The Census Bureau said the U.S. population age 65 and older rose 3.1% (to 61.2 million), while the population under 18 decreased 0.2% (to 73.1 million) from 2023 to 2024.
But the nationwide data showed the population continued to age, with the share of the population age 65 and older steadily increasing from 12.4% in 2004 to 18% in 2024.
The share of children (those under 18) declined from 25% to 21.5%.
Locally, both Lehigh and Northampton counties saw the gap between younger and older residents continue to close.
Both counties have more younger people than older adults, but the percentage decreased in Lehigh County from 25% vs.16% in 2020 to 24% vs. 18% in 2024.
Northampton County saw its percentage of older adults go from 19% to 21%, while its number of young people dropped a percentage point, from 23% to 22%.
According to the data, as recently as 2020 there were just three states where older adults outnumbered children: Maine, Vermont, and Florida.
By 2024, that had increased to 11, with Delaware, Hawaii, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia joining the ranks.
