Blair County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 122,822. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Hollidaysburg, and its largest city is Altoona. The county was created on February 26, 1846, from parts of

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...

and

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

counties. The county is part of the Southwest region of the commonwealth. Blair County comprises the Altoona, PA metropolitan statistical area. It is also part of the Altoona-

, PA Combined Statistical Area, which includes Blair and Huntingdon counties.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.2%) is water. Blair County is one of the 423 counties served by the

Appalachian Regional Commission The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is a United States federal–state partnership that works with the people of Appalachia to create opportunities for self-sustaining economic development and improved quality of life. Congress established A ...

, and it is identified as part of "Greater Appalachia" by Colin Woodard in his book '' American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America''.

Features

* Brush Mountain * Logan Valley * Morrison Cove * Tussey Mountain

Adjacent counties

* Centre County (north) * Huntingdon County (east) * Bedford County (south) * Cambria County (west) * Clearfield County (northwest)

National protected area

* Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site (part)

Major highways

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Climate

Blair has a warm-summer

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(''Dfb'').

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 127,089 people and 52,159 households within the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 55,061 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 96.18%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.68%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.11% Native American, 0.56% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.23% from other races, and 1.22% from two or more races. 0.97% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. 40.0% were of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 12.2% Irish, 10.7%

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, 9.9% American, and 6.0% English ancestry. There were 52,159 households, out of which 28.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.60% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 11.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.30% were non-families. 27.80% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.96. In the county, the population was spread out, with 21.1% under the age of 18, 3.5% from 18 to 19, 5.9% from 20 to 24, 11.1% from 25 to 34, 19.3% from 35 to 49, 21.4% from 50 to 64, and 17.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. The population was 48.55% male and 51.45% female.

2020 census

Law and government

Blair County has been a Republican Party stronghold since the party was founded.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

in 1936 and

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

in 1964 are the only Democratic presidential candidates to date to win the county (with neither taking more than 52% of the county's vote), although

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

won it as the candidate of the Progressive Party in 1912.

County commissioners

*David Kessling, chair, Republican *Laura Burke, Vice-chair, Democrat *Amy Webster, Secretary, Republican

Other county offices

*Clerk of Courts and Prothonotary, Robin Patton, Republican *Controller, A.C. Stickel, Republican *Coroner, Patricia Ross, Republican *District Attorney, Pete Weeks, Republican *Register of Wills and Recorder of Deeds, Anita Terchanik, Republican *Sheriff, James Ott, Republican *Treasurer, James Carothers, Republican

Police agencies

*Allegheny Township Police *Altoona City Police *Altoona Area School District Police * Amtrak Police Department *Bellwood Borough Police *Blair County District Attorneys Office *Blair County Parole & Probation Office *Blair County Sheriff's Office *Blair Township Police *Central Pennsylvania Humane Society Police *Duncansville Borough Police *Freedom Township Police *Greenfield Township Police *Hollidaysburg Borough Police *Logan Township Police *Martinsburg Borough Police *Norfolk Southern Railroad Police *North Woodbury Township Police * Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources *

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is an independent state agency responsible for the regulation of all fishing and boating in the state of Pennsylvania within the United States of America. Unlike many U.S. states, Pennsylvania has a sepa ...

* Pennsylvania Game Commission *

Pennsylvania State Police The Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) is the state police, state police agency of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, responsible for statewide law enforcement. The Pennsylvania State Police is a full service law enforcement agency which handles both ...

*Pennsylvania State University Altoona Police *Roaring Spring Borough Police *Spring Cove School District Police *Tyrone Borough Police *Tyrone Area School District Police *

United States Postal Inspection Service The United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), or the Postal Inspectors, is the Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service. It supports and protects the U.S. Postal Servic ...

*UPMC Altoona Hospital Police *Van Zandt VA Hospital Police *Williamsburg Borough Police

State senate

* Judy Ward, Republican, Pennsylvania's 30th Senatorial District

State House of Representatives

* Louis C. Schmitt Jr., Republican,

Pennsylvania's 79th Representative District The 79th Pennsylvania House of Representatives District is located in central Pennsylvania and has been represented by Louis Schmitt Jr. since 2019. District profile The 79th District is located in Blair County, Pennsylvania, Blair County and ...

* Scott Barger, Republican, Pennsylvania's 80th Representative District

United States House of Representatives

* John Joyce, Republican, Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district

United States Senate

John Fetterman John Karl Fetterman ( ; born August 15, 1969) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Pennsylvania, a seat he has held since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 2006 to 2019 as the mayor o ...

, Democrat * David McCormick, Republican

Politics

Voter registration

As of April 23, 2025 there are 81,144 registered voters in Blair County. * Republican: 50,735 (62.52%) * Democratic: 19,699 (24.28%) *

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

: 7,946 (9.79%) *

Third party Third party may refer to: Business * Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller * Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party * Third-party insurance, such as a veh ...

: 2,764 (3.41%)

Education

Colleges and universities

* Penn State Altoona

Community, junior and technical colleges

* South Hills School of Business and Technology * YTI Career Institute * Pennsylvania Highlands Community College

Public school districts

School districts include: * Altoona Area School District * Bellwood-Antis School District * Claysburg-Kimmel School District (also in Bedford County) * Hollidaysburg Area School District * Penn Cambria School District (also in Cambria County) *

Spring Cove School District The Spring Cove School District is a small rural, public school district in Blair County, Pennsylvania. It serves the boroughs of Roaring Spring and Martinsburg plus the townships of North Woodbury, Huston, Taylor, and Freedom. Spring Co ...

* Tyrone Area School District (also in Centre and Huntingdon Counties) * Williamsburg Community School District

Charter schools

* Agora Cyber Charter School * Central Pennsylvania Digital Learning Foundation Charter School (K-12). Altoona.

Technology school

* Greater Altoona Career and Technology Center - Altoona

Private schools

*Alternative Education Program - Hollidaysburg *Holy Trinity Middle School - Altoona *Holy Trinity Elementary School - Altoona Campus *Holy Trinity Elementary School - Hollidaysburg Campus *Altoona Hospital School of Nursing * Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic High School - Altoona *Blair County Christian School - Duncansville *Champion Life Christian Academy - Altoona *Cove Lane Parochial School - Martinsburg *Crawford Elementary at Adelphoi Village *Emmanuel Baptist Christian School - Claysburg *Faith Tabernacle School - Altoona *Great Commission Schools - Altoona *Harbor House Center Early Academy - Altoona *Heritage Christian School - Martinsburg *Hollidaysburg Catholic School - Hollidaysburg *Living Water Christian Academy - Williamsburg *Northwestern Human Services Autism School *Penn Mont Academy - Hollidaysburg *Penn Mont at Penn State Altoona *Piney Creek Parochial School - New Enterprise *Shady Grove School - Martinsburg *Shady Pond School - Altoona *St John Evangelist School - Altoona *St Matthew School - Tyrone *St Patrick School - Newry *Sylvan Learning Center - Hollidaysburg *Tender Love for Children - Altoona *The Nehemiah Project - Altoona *Training & Development Tech - Hollidaysburg *White Oak School - Tyrone Data taken from Pennsylvania EdNA - PDE database of public private schools 2012

Libraries

Blair County hosts a system of nine libraries that can be accessed with one library card. Resource sharing exists between the eight libraries. Books from any of the eight system libraries can be placed on hold and delivered to a patron's home library and then returned to any of the eight libraries in the system. *Altoona Area Public Library - Altoona *Bellwood Antis Public Library - Bellwood *Blair County Library System - Altoona *Claysburg Area Public Library - Claysburg *Hollidaysburg Area Public Library - Hollidaysburg *Martinsburg Community Library - Martinsburg *Roaring Spring Community Library - Roaring Spring *Tyrone-Snyder Twnshp Pub Library - Tyrone *Williamsburg Public Library - Williamsburg

Recreation

There is one Pennsylvania state park in Blair County, Canoe Creek State Park in Frankstown Township.

Communities

Under Pennsylvania law, there are four types of incorporated municipalities:

cities A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

, townships, and, in at most two cases,

towns A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

. The following cities, boroughs and townships are located in Blair County:

City

* Altoona

Boroughs

* Bellwood * Duncansville * Hollidaysburg (county seat) * Martinsburg *

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...

* Roaring Spring * Tunnelhill (mostly in Cambria County) * Tyrone *

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

Townships

* Allegheny * Antis *

Blair Blair is a Scots-English-language name of Scottish Gaelic origin. The surname is derived from any of the numerous places in Scotland called ''Blair'', derived from the Scottish Gaelic ''blàr'', meaning "plain", "meadow" or " field", frequently ...

* Catharine * Frankstown *

Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

* Greenfield * Huston * Juniata * Logan * North Woodbury * Snyder *

Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) ** List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) ...

* Tyrone * Woodbury

Census-designated places

Census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

s are geographical areas designated by the

for the purposes of compiling demographic data. They are unincorporated communities and not actual jurisdictions under Pennsylvania law. *

Bald Eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...

* Beavertown *

Blue Knob Blue Knob (elevation ) is a summit in the eastern United States with a broad dome that is the northernmost 3,000-footer in the Allegheny Mountains. It is the highest point in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. The mountain is the site of Blue Knob ...

* Brooks Mill * Canan Station * Canoe Creek * Carson Valley * Charlottsville * Clappertown * Claysburg * Cotton Town * Cove Forge * Cross Keys * Culp * Curryville * Dumb Hundred * East Altoona * East Freedom * East Sharpsburg * Elberta * Eldorado * Fisherville * Foot of Ten * Fort Fetter * Fostoria * Franklin Forge * Frankstown * Fredericksburg * Friesville * Ganister * Geeseytown *

Gray Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

* Grazierville * Greenwood * Henrietta * Homewood at Martinsburg * Ironville * Jugtown * Juniata Gap * Klahr * Lakemont * Larke * Leamersville * Linds Crossing * Loop * Martinsburg Junction * McKee * Mill Run * Millerstown * Moores Mill * Nealmont * Newburg * Northwood * Olivia * Ore Hill * Oreminea * Penn Farms * Pinecroft * Point View * Puzzletown * Red Hill * Reese * Reightown *

Reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

* Robeson Extension *

Roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusin ...

* Royer * Shelltown * Shellytown * Sickles Corner *

Skelp Skelp (sometimes spelled scelp) is wrought iron or steel that is rolled or forged into narrow strips and ready to be made into pipe or tubing by being bent (into a cylindrical shape) and welded. The word is most commonly used in the traditiona ...

* Ski Gap * Smith Corner * Spring Drive Mobile Home Park * Sproul * St. Clair * Sunbrook * Sylvan Hills *

Tipton Tipton is an industrial town in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It had a population of 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham and southeas ...

* Tyrone Forge *

Vail Vail is a home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the town is known for its hotels, dining, and for the nume ...

* Vicksburg * Wopsononock * Yellow Springs

Population ranking

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2020 census of Blair County.https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/blaircountypennsylvania/PST040224 † county seat

References

External links

Blair County Business and Information DirectoryForever Free: Blair County's Civil WarThe Blair County Historical SocietyBlair County governmentBlair County Chamber of CommerceCatharine TownshipMorrisons Cove Herald
{{coord, 40.47, -78.35, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-PA_source:UScensus1990 1846 establishments in Pennsylvania Populated places established in 1846 Keystone symbol