Upper Saucon Township | |
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 Promenade Saucon Valley in Upper Saucon Township in July 2013 | |
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 Location of Upper Saucon Township inLehigh County, Pennsylvania | |
  Upper Saucon Twp Location in the United States Show map of the United States | |
| Coordinates:40°29′30″N75°24′59″W / 40.49167°N 75.41639°W /40.49167; -75.41639 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Pennsylvania |
| County | Lehigh |
| Area | |
• Township | 24.61 sq mi (63.74 km2) |
| • Land | 24.46 sq mi (63.35 km2) |
| • Water | 0.15 sq mi (0.39 km2) |
| Elevation | 833 ft (254 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Township | 16,973 |
| • Density | 673.0/sq mi (259.84/km2) |
| • Metro | 865,310 (US:68th) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| ZIP codes | 18015, mainly 18034 & 18036, 18049, 18060, 18103 |
| Area code | 610 |
| FIPS code | 42-077-79288 |
| Primary airport | Lehigh Valley International Airport |
| Major hospital | Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest |
| School district | Southern Lehigh |
| Website | www |
Upper Saucon Township is atownship inLehigh County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of theLehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populousmetropolitan area in the U.S. as of the 2020 census. The township had a population of 16,973 as of the 2020 census.[2]
Upper Saucon Township is located 8.6 miles (13.8 km) southeast ofAllentown, 52.5 miles (84.5 km) north ofPhiladelphia, and 89.5 miles (144.0 km) southwest ofNew York City.[3]
Present-day Upper Saucon Township originally was populated by theUnami people, a division of the indigenousLenape. The name Saucon comes from theUnami language wordSaukunk, meaning "mouth of the creek".[4]
Established in 1743, Upper Saucon was originally part ofBucks County, which was one of the three initial counties established in 1682 byWilliam Penn, founder of theProvince of Pennsylvania.
In 1752,Northampton County, including what became Upper Saucon Township, was carved out of Bucks County geographically. In 1812,Lehigh County was carved from Northampton County, and present-day Upper Saucon Township was included in Lehigh County.[5]
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 24.6 square miles (63.7 km2), of which 24.5 square miles (63.4 km2) are land and 0.2 square miles (0.4 km2), or 0.59%, are water.[1] Its boundary with Salisbury Township is located onSouth Mountain.[6] Elevations range from 340 feet (100 m) in Spring Valley to 1,042 feet (318 m) at Bauer Rock atop South Mountain in Big Rock County Park. Upper Saucon is in theDelaware River watershed and is drained bySaucon Creek into theLehigh River, except for a very small area in the extreme south just southwest of Locust Valley, which is drained byUnami Creek intoPerkiomen Creek and theSchuylkill River.
Upper Saucon Township has a hot summerhumid continental climate (Dfa) and is inhardiness zone 6b. The average monthly temperature in Center Valley ranges from 29.5 °F (−1.4 °C) in January to 74.3 °F (23.5 °C) in July.[7]
Upper Saucon Township surrounds the borough ofCoopersburg.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 11,939 | — | |
| 2010 | 14,808 | 24.0% | |
| 2020 | 16,973 | 14.6% | |
| [8] | |||
As of thecensus[9] of 2000, there were 11,939 people, 3,970 households, and 3,283 families residing in the township. The population density was 483.9 inhabitants per square mile (186.8/km2). There were 4,117 housing units at an average density of 166.9 units per square mile (64.4 units/km2). The racial makeup of the township was 97.11%White, 0.70%African American, 0.06%Native American, 1.13%Asian, 0.01%Pacific Islander, 0.40% fromother races, and 0.59% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 1.07% of the population.
There were 3,970 households, out of which 37.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 74.2% weremarried couples living together, 5.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 17.3% were non-families. 13.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.07.
In the township, the population was spread out, with 24.0% under the age of 18, 11.1% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 27.2% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.1 males. The median income for a household in the township was $66,703, and the median income for a family was $73,381. Males had a median income of $50,041 versus $30,165 for females. Theper capita income for the township was $27,606. About 0.9% of families and 1.8% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 1.6% of those under age 18 and 3.1% of those age 65 or over.
Three colleges and universities are based in Upper Saucon Township:DeSales University,Penn State Lehigh Valley, andStrayer University's Allentown campus.
Upper Saucon Township is served by theSouthern Lehigh School District. Upper Saucon Township students in grades nine through 12 attendSouthern Lehigh High School in the district.
Upper Saucon Township Community Park was dedicated on May 18, 1996, and was designed to meet the current and future recreational needs of the Township's residents. The park covers approximately 70 acres and is conveniently located in the central portion of the Township.[10]
In 2006,Olympus Corporation opened its U.S. headquarters in the township.[11]
Upper Saucon is a second-class township and elects five at-large supervisors.
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 2024 | 5,656 | 50.33% | 5,466 | 48.64% | 115 | 1.02% |
| 2020 | 5,282 | 50.63% | 5,051 | 48.41% | 100 | 0.96% |
| 2016 | 4,503 | 53.40% | 3,588 | 42.55% | 342 | 4.06% |
| 2012 | 4,130 | 57.31% | 3,002 | 41.66% | 74 | 1.03% |
| 2008 | 3,796 | 52.34% | 3,387 | 46.70% | 69 | 0.95% |
| 2004 | 3,686 | 56.59% | 2,804 | 43.05% | 24 | 0.37% |
As of 2022, there were 131.43 miles (211.52 km) of public roads in Upper Saucon Township, of which 50.61 miles (81.45 km) were maintained by thePennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and 80.82 miles (130.07 km) were maintained by the township.[14]
Upper Saucon has three north-to-south numbered routes:Pennsylvania Route 309,Pennsylvania Route 145, andPennsylvania Route 378.
LANta Route 323 serves Upper Saucon to and from Allentown.[15]
Places adjacent to Upper Saucon Township, Pennsylvania | |
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Articles relating to Upper Saucon Township | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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