Allentown, PA: ZIP 18105
Population: 125,845 | Median Income: ~$52,449 | Pennsylvania's 3rd Largest City
About Allentown
Allentown sits 48 miles north of Philadelphia and 78 miles west of New York City along the Lehigh River, making it one of the most strategically positioned mid-size cities in the Northeast. It is the county seat of Lehigh County and the third most populous city in Pennsylvania, trailing only Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. With a median age of just 33 years, it skews younger than most comparable cities.
The city traces its origins to September 1735, when William Allen, a wealthy Philadelphia shipping merchant and future mayor, purchased a 5,000-acre tract of land in what was then Northampton County. He formally laid out the city in 1762, naming streets after his children: Margaret, William, James, and Ann. The city was incorporated as the Borough of Northampton in 1811 and officially renamed Allentown in 1838, two decades after Allen's death, in his honor.
What most people overlook: William Allen was a Loyalist who sided with the British Crown. The city he founded became one of the most important Patriot strongholds in the Revolution. In September 1777, after the Continental Army's defeat at the Battle of Brandywine, American patriots secretly transported what was then called the State House Bell from Philadelphia to Allentown to keep the British from melting it down for cannons. The bell was hidden under the floorboards of Zion Reformed Church at 622 Hamilton Street for nearly nine months, from September 1777 to June 1778. Today, that site houses the Liberty Bell Museum, where visitors can ring a replica of the original bell.
What Makes Allentown Unique
- The oldest civilian concert band in the United States. The Allentown Band was founded in 1828 and still performs at West Park's bandshell, which was designed by renowned Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer and opened in 1909. Nearly 200 years of continuous music.
- More park land per capita than any city its size in the country. Allentown maintains 27 parks across its 18 square miles, including the 999-acre Lehigh Parkway along Little Lehigh Creek.
- The world's first commercially produced transistor came from Allentown. In October 1951, Western Electric's plant on Union Boulevard manufactured it, a milestone in the history of modern electronics.
- Silk City. By 1928, Allentown had 85 operating silk mills and more than 10,000 residents employed in the industry. The city earned the nickname it still carries today.
- Mack Trucks. The company relocated from Brooklyn to Allentown in 1905. During World War I, British soldiers nicknamed Mack vehicles the "Bulldog," a name the brand adopted as its official mascot. Mack's headquarters remained in Allentown for over a century before moving to Greensboro, NC in 2008.
- The PPL Building at 2 N. 9th Street stands 322 feet tall, making it the city's tallest skyscraper. It was designed by the same architectural firm responsible for Rockefeller Center and has been illuminated every single night since it opened in 1928.
- Billy Joel wrote a song about it. In 1982, Joel released "Allentown" on his Nylon Curtain album, chronicling the city's deindustrialization and factory closures. The song hit the Top 10 and became an anthem for Rust Belt America.
Living in Allentown
Allentown's cost of living runs about 2 percent above the national average, though housing costs remain significantly lower than those of Philadelphia or New York. The Lehigh Valley metro area as a whole employs more than 340,000 workers and hosts over 700 manufacturers. Healthcare dominates the local economy: Lehigh Valley Health Network, the city's largest employer with more than 7,800 employees, anchors its flagship Lehigh Valley Hospital at Cedar Crest, which is Pennsylvania's third-largest hospital with 877 licensed beds and 46 operating rooms.
Fortune 500 companies Air Products (industrial gases) and PPL Corporation (utilities) maintain their headquarters in Allentown. The Bridgeworks Enterprise Center, housed inside a former Mack Trucks manufacturing plant, now serves as an incubator for startup manufacturers and entrepreneurs.
The Neighborhood Improvement Zone, a 128-acre special tax district covering Center City and the Lehigh River riverfront, was established by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2009 and has driven a sustained downtown revival. The PPL Center arena opened in 2014. New hotels, luxury apartments, and office buildings have followed. In 2024, U.S. News and World Report ranked Allentown among the 150 Best Places to Live in the United States and named it the nation's fifth-best city for retirement.
The city's demographic makeup has shifted dramatically over four decades. In 1980, Allentown was 91 percent white. By 2020, 54.2 percent of residents identified as Hispanic or Latino, primarily of Dominican and Puerto Rican heritage, making Allentown one of the most Latino cities in Pennsylvania. This transformation is most visible along the 7th Street International Corridor, where Dominican, Puerto Rican, Jamaican, Mexican, and Middle Eastern restaurants and shops line a stretch of Center City.
Things to Do
Parks and Outdoors
Lehigh Parkway offers 999 acres of trails along Little Lehigh Creek, a trout-stocked waterway that has drawn anglers for generations. Cedar Beach Park (127 acres) includes Lake Muhlenberg and the Malcolm W. Gross Memorial Rose Garden. Trexler Park covers 134 acres in the West End. Each November, Lehigh Parkway hosts the Lights in the Parkway holiday display, now in its 30th year, running from late November through early January.
Attractions and Landmarks
Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom has operated for over 130 years, making it the nation's fifth-longest continuously running amusement park. Its Steel Force roller coaster stretches 5,600 feet, drops 205 feet, and reaches 75 mph. The Allentown Art Museum on N. 5th Street holds a collection of more than 13,000 works, including one of only a handful of rooms designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that remain on public display anywhere in the world.
PPL Center at 701 Hamilton Street is an 8,500-seat arena and home to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the AHL affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers. Coca-Cola Park hosts the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. J. Birney Crum Stadium on Linden Street seats 15,000 and is the largest high school football stadium in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Miller Symphony Hall, opened in 1896 as a public market before conversion to a theater, hosts the Allentown Symphony Orchestra. The Da Vinci Science Center and America on Wheels Museum round out the city's family-oriented options.
Food
Yocco's Hot Dogs at 625 Liberty Street (and four other locations) has been a local institution since 1922. It was founded by Theodore Iacocca, the uncle of Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca. The Downtown Allentown Market gathers multiple food vendors under one roof. A-Treat Bottling Company has produced regional sodas from Allentown since 1918. Five craft breweries currently operate throughout the city.
Annual Events
The Great Allentown Fair has run continuously since 1852 at its current fairgrounds location on N. 17th Street since 1889, making it one of the longest-running annual fairs in the nation. The Mayfair Festival of the Arts (May, Cedar Crest College campus), Blues, Brews, and Barbecue (June, Hamilton Street), and the Dia de los Muertos celebration (November 1, Arts Park) draw crowds each year.
Schools
The Allentown School District, founded in 1828, is Pennsylvania's fourth-largest school district. It serves approximately 16,510 students with 1,050 teachers across two comprehensive high schools: William Allen High School at 106 N. 17th Street and Louis E. Dieruff High School. Both compete in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference. Allentown Central Catholic High School rounds out the local options at the secondary level.
Middle school options include Francis D. Raub, Harrison-Morton, South Mountain, and Trexler. The district operates 16 elementary schools throughout the city.
At the collegiate level, Muhlenberg College at 2400 Chew Street is a liberal arts institution founded in 1848 and renamed in 1867. Cedar Crest College, a women's liberal arts institution, occupies a campus on the city's south side. Lehigh Carbon Community College maintains a satellite campus in Allentown as well.
Local Insights
The city's 2026 event calendar reflects its demographic breadth: Juneteenth celebrations span multiple events in June at Cedar Beach and J. Birney Crum Stadium; Dia de los Muertos draws the Latino community to Arts Park every November 1; the Lights in the Parkway celebrates its 30th anniversary with themed Monday nights including Hanukkah, Polar Express, Kwanzaa, and Three Kings.
The Liberty Bell Museum at 622 Hamilton Street remains an underrated stop. Most visitors to Philadelphia don't realize the bell spent nine months of its most consequential period hidden in an Allentown church basement. The museum tells that story in full and lets you ring a working replica.
13 Allentown sites appear on the National Register of Historic Places. The Old Allentown and Old Fairgrounds historic districts open their doors for a joint house tour each September, offering a rare look inside the city's 19th-century Victorian and rowhouse architecture.
Explore the Allentown Community Board
Local businesses in Allentown can claim a spot on the community board for $1/month. Each listing creates a dedicated, Google-indexed webpage for your business with full LocalBusiness schema, the same structured data that helps you show up in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.
