Polk Township is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in Monroe County,

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 ...

, United States. The population was 7,473 at the 2020 census.

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 township has a total area of 31.4 square miles (81.4 km²), of which 31.0 square miles (80.4 km²) is land and 0.4 square mile (1.1 km²) (1.30%) is water. It is drained by the Pohopoco Creek, which flows westward into the

Lehigh River The Lehigh River () is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in eastern Pennsylvania. The river flows in a generally southward ...

. Pohopoco Mountain forms its natural northern boundary. Its villages include Dottersville, Gilbert (also in Chestnuthill Township), Jonas, and Kresgeville.

Neighboring municipalities

* Tunkhannock Township (tangent to the northeast) * Chestnuthill Township (east) * Ross Township (tangent to the southeast) * Eldred Township (south) * Towamensing Township, Carbon County (west) * Penn Forest Township, Carbon County (northwest and north)

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 6,533 people, 2,301 households, and 1,808 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 2,824 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 96.37%

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 ...

, 1.84%

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 ...

, 0.20% Native American, 0.57% Asian, 0.32% from other races, and 0.70% 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 3.37% of the population. There were 2,301 households, out of which 37.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.2% 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, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.4% were non-families. 16.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.81 and the average family size was 3.16. In the township the population was spread out, with 27.5% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 29.2% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.5 males. The median income for a household in the township was $45,016, and the median income for a family was $46,250. Males had a median income of $36,467 versus $25,017 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 township was $20,090. About 5.3% of families and 6.9% 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 6.3% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.

Climate

According to the

Trewartha climate classification The Trewartha climate classification (TCC), or the Köppen–Trewartha climate classification (KTC), is a climate classification system first published by American geographer Glenn Thomas Trewartha in 1966. It is a modified version of the Köp ...

system, Polk Township has a Temperate

Continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...

(''Dc'') with warm summers (''b''), cold winters (''o'') and year-around precipitation (''Dcbo''). ''Dcbo'' climates are characterized by at least one month having an average mean temperature ≤ , four to seven months with an average mean temperature ≥ , all months with an average mean temperature < and no significant precipitation difference between seasons. Although most summer days are slightly humid in Polk Township, episodes of heat and high humidity can occur, with

heat index The heat index (HI) is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity, in shade (shadow), shaded areas, to posit a human-perceived equivalent temperature, as how hot it would feel if the humidity were some other value in the Shade (s ...

values > . Since 1981, the highest air temperature was on July 22, 2011, and the highest daily average mean

dew point The dew point is the temperature the air needs to be cooled to (at constant pressure) in order to produce a relative humidity of 100%. This temperature depends on the pressure and water content of the air. When the air at a temperature above the ...

was on August 1, 2006. July is the peak month for

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustics, acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorm ...

activity, which correlates with the average warmest month of the year. The average wettest month is September, which correlates with tropical storm remnants during the peak of the

Atlantic hurricane season The Atlantic hurricane season is the period in a year, from June 1 through November 30, when Tropical cyclone, tropical or subtropical cyclones are most likely to form in the North Atlantic Ocean. These dates, adopted by convention ...

. Since 1981, the wettest calendar day was 5.87 inches (149 mm) on September 30, 2010. During the winter months, the

plant hardiness zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most widely ...

is 6a, with an average annual extreme minimum air temperature of . Since 1981, the coldest air temperature was on January 21, 1994. Episodes of extreme cold and wind can occur with

wind chill Wind chill (popularly wind chill factor) is the sensation of cold produced by the wind for a given ambient air temperature on exposed skin as the air motion accelerates the rate of heat transfer from the body to the surrounding atmosphere. Its va ...

values < . The average snowiest month is January, which correlates with the average coldest month of the year.

Ice storm An ice storm, also known as a glaze event or a silver storm, is a type of winter storm characterized by freezing rain. The National Weather Service, U.S. National Weather Service defines an ice storm as a storm which results in the accumulatio ...

s and large snowstorms depositing ≥ 12 inches (30 cm) of snow occur once every couple of years, particularly during nor’easters from December through March.

Transportation

As of 2020, there were of public roads in Polk Township, of which were maintained by the

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, Michael B. Carroll. PennDOT ...

(PennDOT) and were maintained by the township. U.S. Route 209 and Pennsylvania Route 534 are the numbered highways serving Polk Township. US 209 follows Interchange Road along a southwest-northeast alignment across the southern portion of the township. PA 534 starts at US 209 and follows Scenic Drive northwestward through the center of the township.

Ecology

According to the A. W. Kuchler U.S. potential natural vegetation types, Polk Township would have a dominant vegetation type of Appalachian

Oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

(''104'') with a dominant vegetation form of Eastern

Hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...

Forest (''25''). The peak spring bloom typically occurs in late-April and peak fall color usually occurs in mid-October. The

is 6a with an average annual extreme minimum air temperature of .

References

{{authority control Populated places established in 1760 Townships in Monroe County, Pennsylvania Townships in Pennsylvania