HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Did you know that Pennsylvania has thousands of small, local government and municipalities throughout the state? Here are some fun facts about Pennsylvania’s local municipalities and governments!

Roughly 13 million people call Pennsylvania home, and the Keystone State truly has something to offer everyone.

Of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, 48 of them are considered rural and the other 19 counties are considered urban. There are a total of 2,560 municipalities, of which 1,649 are rural and 911 are urban.

Here is a breakdown of Pennsylvania’s municipalities by type:

• 1st class cities – 1
• 2nd class cities – 1
• 2nd class A cities – 1
• 3rd class cities – 53
• Boroughs – 956
• 1st class townships – 93
• 2nd class townships – 1,454
• Towns – 1

Philadelphia is Pennsylvania’s only “1st class city,” which is defined as any city with over one million residents. Pittsburgh is the only second class city, with between 250,000 and one million residents.

Cities between 80,000 and 250,000 people can classify as “2nd class A cities.” So far, Scranton is the only one to do so. Any city with less than 250,000 residents that has not elected to become a 2nd class city is classified as a 3rd class city.

Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania is the state’s only “town,” which was made official in 1870.

Approximately 22% of the state’s population lives in rural municipalities, while 78% live in urban municipalities.

Throughout the various counties, cities, boroughs, and townships, a total of 165,772 people were employed by Pennsylvanian municipalities in 2022.

When it comes to fire services, Pennsylvania has a total of 1,208 throughout the state. Only 31 of those fire services are fully paid, 106 are partially paid and partially volunteer run, and the remaining 1,701 are operated fully by volunteers.

Pennsylvania also reported 3,316 local pension plans issued to police, fire, and non-uniformed residents in 2022.

All information for this article was sourced from the “Local Government Fact Sheet” issued by Pennsylvania’s Governor’s Center for Local Government Services in 2022 and Pennsylvania state websites.