Upper Burrell 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 Westmoreland 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, within the

Pittsburgh metropolitan area Greater Pittsburgh is the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Pittsburgh in Western Pennsylvania, United States. The region includes Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, Pittsburgh's urban core county and economic hub, and s ...

. The population was 2,159 at the 2020 census.

History

Northern Westmoreland County was once part of the hunting grounds of the Iroquois Five Nations, first settled by Europeans in the 1760s. In 1852, Allegheny Township, which covered nearly all of the northeastern corner of Westmoreland County, was divided into smaller districts to accommodate a growing population. One of these became Burrell Township, which in 1879 was divided into Lower and Upper Burrell townships. In the 1890s, Lower Burrell was further divided into the cities of New Kensington and Arnold. Farming, coal mining, and milling were the mainstays of the local economy in the 19th and early 20th century. There are several historic buildings from that era still standing in Upper Burrell Township; the Byerly House was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1985.

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 15.2 square miles (39.3 km²), all land. Upper Burrell is the site of Penn State New Kensington, and a large research facility of

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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 2,240 people, 856 households, and 647 families living in the township. The population density was . There were 914 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 96.34%

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 ...

, 2.81%

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 ...

, 0.04% Native American, 0.31% Asian, 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 0.45% of the population. There were 856 households, out of which 31.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.1% 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, 7.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.4% were non-families. 19.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.01. In the township the population was spread out, with 22.9% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 27.0% from 45 to 64, and 13.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 102.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 103.4 males. The median income for a household in the township was $39,880, and the median income for a family was $46,855. Males had a median income of $37,083 versus $24,583 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 $18,344. About 4.5% of families and 6.4% 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 5.2% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

* James Hawdon, sociologist and Director of the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention at

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

References

{{Coord, 40, 33, 19, N, 79, 40, 30, W, type:city_region:US-PA_source:GNIS-enwiki, display=title Townships in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania