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Demographics of Lehigh County
Affluence Level in Lehigh County
A middle-class area roughly in line with national averages across income, home values, education, and employment.
People of Lehigh County
Lehigh County today is a study in contrasts: a historically Pennsylvania Dutch industrial heartland that has become one of Pennsylvania's most ethnically diverse counties. With 375,408 residents, the county remains majority white at 60.4%, but the Hispanic population has surged to 27.0%, concentrated heavily in Allentown, while Black (6.0%), East/Southeast Asian (1.5%), and Indian (1.9%) communities add to the mix. The foreign-born share stands at 6.2%, and 33.4% of adults hold a college degree, reflecting a population that is both blue-collar rooted and increasingly professional. This is a place where old farm towns like Emmaus and Macungie coexist with Allentown's urban revival and sprawling townships like Upper Macungie and Whitehall.
Settlement & growth (pre-1960)
The land that became Lehigh County was originally home to the Lenape people, who lived along the Lehigh River and its tributaries. European settlement began in earnest in the early 1700s with German-speaking migrants — primarily Lutherans and Reformed Protestants from the Palatinate region — who pushed west from Philadelphia. These Pennsylvania Dutch farmers established tight-knit agricultural communities across what is now the county, founding villages like Emmaus (originally called Maguntsche) and Macungie in the 1730s and 1740s. Their descendants still give the county its distinctive cultural stamp: Pennsylvania Dutch food, dialect remnants, and a tradition of self-reliance and thrift.
The Industrial Revolution transformed the county's demographics after 1800. The Lehigh Canal and later railroads opened the region to anthracite coal and iron ore traffic, fueling the rise of Allentown as a manufacturing hub. By the 1850s, Irish immigrants fleeing the Potato Famine arrived to dig canals and lay track, settling in Allentown's river wards and in Slatington, where slate quarries employed many. After the Civil War, Eastern and Southern European immigrants began arriving in large numbers: Poles, Slovaks, and Italians came between 1880 and 1910 to work in Allentown's steel mills, silk mills, and breweries. The town of Catasauqua, founded around iron furnaces, became a magnet for these workers, with distinct ethnic parishes and social clubs forming by the 1910s.
The early 20th century brought the first wave of Black migration from the rural South, with African Americans moving into Allentown during World War I and again during World War II to take factory jobs left open by military service. By 1960, Lehigh County was a predominantly white, working-class region with small but established Irish, Italian, Polish, and Black communities. The rural townships — Lower Macungie, South Whitehall — remained overwhelmingly Pennsylvania Dutch in character, while Allentown and the industrial boroughs were ethnically diverse by Northeast standards.
Modern era (post-1965)
The 1965 Hart-Cellar Act reshaped Lehigh County more than most inland Pennsylvania counties. The biggest shift has been the explosive growth of the Hispanic population, which rose from barely 1% in 1970 to 27.0% today. This migration began with Puerto Ricans moving directly from the island and from New York City in the 1970s and 1980s, drawn by Allentown's affordable housing and remaining manufacturing jobs. By the 1990s, the flow had expanded to include Dominicans, Mexicans, and Central Americans. Allentown is now a majority-minority city (over 50% Hispanic), and the 7th Street corridor — often called "Little Puerto Rico" — is the cultural and commercial anchor of this community. Hispanic families have also spread into suburban areas like Whitehall Township and Emmaus, though the city remains the core.
Domestic migration has been equally transformative. Beginning in the 1980s and accelerating after 2000, Lehigh County has attracted thousands of former residents of New York City and northern New Jersey seeking lower taxes, better schools, and larger homes. This "coastal flight" has driven intense suburban development in Upper Macungie Township, Lower Macungie Township, and South Whitehall Township, where new subdivisions, shopping centers, and office parks have sprouted along Route 78 and the Turnpike corridor. These migrants are disproportionately white and college-educated, helping push the county's college attainment rate to 33.4%, well above the Pennsylvania average but still modest by Northeast suburban standards.
The Indian and East/Southeast Asian populations have grown from negligible numbers before 1990 to 1.9% and 1.5% respectively. Indian immigrants, many working in healthcare and technology, have clustered in Upper Macungie and Lower Macungie near the Lehigh Valley's hospitals and the growing logistics/warehousing corridor. East/Southeast Asian communities — primarily
* Values derived from national, state, county, city and local statistics and may differ in a specific area. Last updated: 2026-06-24T19:06:48.000Z
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