Laflin is a

borough 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 ...

in the Greater Pittston area of

Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Luzerne County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water. It is Northeaste ...

, United States. The population was 1,443 at the time of the 2020 census.

History

Laflin was incorporated as a borough in 1889. It was likely named for one of the owners of the Laflin & Rand Powder Company. The following year, in 1890, the population of the newly formed borough was just over two hundred.

Coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

led to a population boom in the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

. Laflin witnessed its greatest increase between 1970 and 1980, when the number of residents grew by over 313% (or from 399 people to 1,650 people).

Geography

According to the

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

, the borough has a total area of , all of it land.

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 1,502 people, 612 households, and 452 families residing in the borough. The population density was . There were 632 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the borough was 95.61%

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 ...

, 0.13%

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 ...

, 3.66% Asian, 0.13% from other races, and 0.47% from two or more races.

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 were 0.60% of the population. There were 612 households, out of which 26.6% had children under the age of eighteen living with them; 62.9% 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, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.1% were non-families. 24.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.1% had someone living alone who was sixty-five years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.90. In the borough the population was spread out, with 20.5% under the age of eighteen, 4.5% from eighteen to twenty-four, 24.8% from twenty-five to forty-four, 33.4% from forty-five to sixty-four, and 16.8% who were sixty-five years of age or older. The median age was forty-five years. For every one hundred females there were 88.9 males. For every one hundred females aged eighteen and over, there were 86.9 males. The median income for a household in the borough was $55,658, and the median income for a family was $69,226. Males had a median income of $50,433 compared with that of $29,375 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the borough was $29,581. Roughly 1.5% of families and 2.5% of the population were living below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 4.0% of those who were under the age of eighteen and 3.9% of those who were aged sixty-five or over.

Government

The government consists of a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

and a five-member

borough council A borough is an administrative division in various 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 In the Middle Ag ...

. , the mayor is William C Kennedy, and the members of the Borough Council are Marc Malvizzi (Council President), Joe Boos (Vice President), Drew Malvizzi, Melissa Werner, and Carl Yastremski.

Infrastructure

Major highways include

Interstate 81 Interstate 81 (I-81) is a north–south (physically northeast–southwest) Interstate Highway in the eastern part of the United States. Its southern terminus is at Interstate 40, I-40 in Dandridge, Tennessee, Dandridge, Tennessee; its nort ...

and Route 315.

Education

It is in the

Wilkes-Barre Area School District Wilkes–Barre Area School District is an urban public school district located in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The district encompasses approximately 123 square miles. The district includes the city of Wilkes-Barre as well as sm ...

.
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References

External links

* {{authority control Populated places established in 1889 Boroughs in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania 1889 establishments in Pennsylvania