Paradise is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

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 ...

(CDP) in

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Lancaster County (; ), sometimes nicknamed the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States ...

, United States, with a ZIP code of 17562. The population was 1,129 at the 2010 census. Paradise, like Intercourse, is a popular site in

Pennsylvania Dutch The Pennsylvania Dutch (), also referred to as Pennsylvania Germans, are an ethnic group in Pennsylvania in the United States, Ontario in Canada, and other regions of both nations. They largely originate from the Palatinate (region), Palatina ...

Country for tourists who like the name of the town; they are together often named in lists of "delightfully named towns" in Pennsylvania Dutchland, along with Blue Ball,

Lititz Lititz is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, north of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Lancaster. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 9,370. History Lititz was ...

, Bareville,

Fertility Fertility in colloquial terms refers the ability to have offspring. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to reproduce, which is termed fecundity. The fertility rate ...

, Bird-in-Hand and Mount Joy. It was the setting of the 1994

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

'' Trapped in Paradise''.

Geography

Paradise is located in eastern Lancaster County at (40.009469, -76.124781), in the northern part of Paradise Township. Its northern border is

Pequea Creek Pequea Creek ( ; ) is a tributary of the Susquehanna River that runs for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 8, 2011 from the eastern border of Lancaster County and ...

, across which is Soudersburg in Leacock and East Lampeter townships. U.S. Route 30 (the

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is one of the first transcontinental highways in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated Octob ...

) passes through the center of Paradise, leading west-northwest to Lancaster, the

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 ...

, and east to Coatesville.

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

is east of Paradise. 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 CDP has a total area of , of which , or 1.50%, are water. Via the west-flowing Pequea Creek, Paradise is part of the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

watershed.

Demographics

At the 2000

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 ...

, there were 1,028 people, 363 households and 284 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 386 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup was 97.57%

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 ...

, 1.75%

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 ...

, 0.10% Asian, 0.10% from other races, and 0.49% 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 1.07% of the population. There were 363 households, of which 35.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.2% 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, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.5% were non-families. 16.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 3.08. 27.2% of the population were under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 29.2% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.8 males. The

median household income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of und ...

was $41,875 and the median family income was $44,583. Males had a median income of $31,800 and females $21,917. 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 ...

was $18,700. About 1.8% of families and 7.1% of the population were 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 under age 18 and 8.5% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

The Paradise Quarry, currently owned and operated by Allan Myers, Inc., is just south of

Vintage In winemaking, vintage is the process of picking grapes to create wine. A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine ...

on McIlvaine Road.Paradise Quarry
Allan Myers website, Retrieved 28 June 2017.

Notes

References

* Anderson, William Charles (1979
''Home Sweet Home Has Wheels: Or, Please Don't Tailgate the Real Estate''
* Henry Louis Mencken, Raven Ioor McDavid (1963
''The American Language: An Inquiry Into the Development of English in the United States'', volume 1
*

Museums Association The Museums Association (MA) is a professional membership organisation based in London for museum, gallery and heritage professionals and organisations of the United Kingdom. It also offers international membership. History The association w ...

(2006
''The Museums Journal'', volume 106, issues 1-6''
Indexes to papers read before the Museums Association, 1890–1909. Compiled by Charles Madeley. *

Rand McNally Rand McNally is an American technology and publishing company that provides mapping software and hardware for consumer electronics, commercial transportation, and education markets. The company is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois with a di ...

and Company (1978
''Vacation & Travel Guide''''Ward's Quarterly'', volume 1
1965 {{authority control Census-designated places in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Census-designated places in Pennsylvania