Mahanoy City

• Settlement Type — Borough • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Name — United States • Subdivision Type1 — State • Subdivision Type2 — County • Subdivision Name1 — Pennsylvania • Subdivision Name2 — Schuylkill • Established Title — Settled • Established Date — 1859 • Established Title1 — Incorporated • Established Date1 — December 16, 1863 • Government Type — Home Rule Charter • Leader Title — Borough Manager • Leader Name — John Fatula • Leader Title1 — Council President • Leader Name1 — Michael Connolly • Unit Pref — Imperial • Area Total Km2 — 1.32 • Area Total Sq Mi — 0.51 • Area Land Km2 — 1.32 • Area Land Sq Mi — 0.51 • Area Water Km2 — 0.00 • Area Water Sq Mi — 0.00 • Elevation Ft — 1240 • Population Total — 3499 • Population As Of — 2020 • Population Density Km2 — 2650.51 • Population Density Sq Mi — 6860.78 • Postal Code Type — ZIP code • Postal Code — 17948 • Area Code — 570 • Website — https: www.mahanoycity.org/ • Timezone — Eastern (EST) • Utc Offset — -5 • Timezone Dst — EDT • Utc Offset Dst — -4 • Blank Name — FIPS code • Blank Info — 42-46592

• Illustration — Breaker boys at dinner hour, Maple Hill Colliery, Mahanoy City, PA in 1908 • Illustration — Mahanoy City's Reading Railroad station abandoned platform in October 2025 Mahanoy City lies in a valley in the Pennsylvania Coal Region and was a major center of anthracite production; the area was embroiled in the Molly Maguires incidents. In 2010, the borough erected the Molly Maguire Historic Park, which features a Zenos Frudakis statue of a hooded miner on a gallows about to be hanged. The borough's principal industries remain the mining and shipping of coal, although the demand for it has steadily declined since its peak in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1930 the St. Nicholas Breaker was built and went into operation in 1932. A controlled explosion destroyed the breaker in March 2018. In 1948, Mahanoy City became the first municipality in the country to have cable television.

Mahanoy City is located at (40.812413, -76.140223), with PA 54 as a main thoroughfare and through road, serving as a main street named Centre Street. To the west it connects to Shenandoah thence to the Susquehanna Valley and to the east reaches through several unincorporated villages then passes through Barnesville as Pine Creek Dr. and then serves Hometown as a main road, intersecting PA 309 (N-S) before passing into Tamaqua and Nesquehoning. The borough is situated in the valley of Mahanoy Creek, approximately 4 miles southeast of Shenandoah and 11 miles west-northwest of Tamaqua, both of which are reached via Route 54. Mahanoy City lies at an elevation of 1240 feet above sea level; Broad Mountain (1795 ft), a ridge extending through Schuylkill County, overlooks it on the southeast. According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 0.5 sqmi, all land. It has a warm-summer humid continental climate (Dfb) and average temperatures range from 24.3 °F in January to 69.3 °F in July. The hardiness zone is borderline between 5b and 6a, meaning that the approximate average annual absolute minimum temperature is -10 °F.

As of the 2020 census, Mahanoy City had a population of 3,499. The median age was 41.8 years. 22.9% of residents were under the age of 18 and 21.2% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 94.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 94.8 males age 18 and over. 98.7% of residents lived in urban areas, while 1.3% lived in rural areas. There were 1,482 households in Mahanoy City, of which 27.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 29.8% were married-couple households, 25.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 36.1% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 37.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 22.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 2,195 housing units, of which 32.5% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 4.3% and the rental vacancy rate was 14.9%. Racial composition as of the 2020 census • Race — Number — Percent • White — 2,854 — 81.6% • Black or African American — 79 — 2.3% • American Indian and Alaska Native — 14 — 0.4% • Asian — 15 — 0.4% • Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander — 0 — 0.0% • Some other race — 293 — 8.4% • Two or more races — 244 — 7.0% • Hispanic or Latino (of any race) — 581 — 16.6%

As of the census of 2000, there were 4,647 people, 2,113 households, and 1,210 families residing in the borough. The population density was 9,060.8 PD/sqmi. There were 2,595 housing units at an average density of 5,059.8 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the borough was 98.79% White, 0.22% African American, 0.09% Native American, 0.22% Asian, 0.22% from other races, and 0.47% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.29% of the population. There were 2,113 households, out of which 22.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.2% were married couples living together, 13.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.7% were non-families. 39.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 24.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.92. In the borough the population was spread out, with 21.3% under the age of 18, 6.8% from 18 to 24, 24.9% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 26.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.6 males. The median income for a household in the borough was $24,347, and the median income for a family was $32,033. Males had a median income of $29,628 versus $20,288 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $14,369. About 12.6% of families and 17.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.3% of those under age 18 and 20.9% of those age 65 or over.

Mahanoy Area School District serves the borough and includes an elementary, middle school, and high school complex for students.

Schuylkill Transportation System operates the #51 bus to/from Pottsville There is a route in the Uptown Vans network which connects Mahanoy City to Paterson, New Jersey and New York City.

• Joe Boley (1896–1962), baseball player • Joe Dugan (1897–1982), baseball player • David Huebner (born 1960), lawyer and diplomat • Joseph Edward Kurtz (born 1946), prelate • Paul Marks (1926–2020), oncologist • Jack McCloskey (1925–2017), basketball player and coach • John P. Morris (1926–2002), trade unionist • Ron Northey (1920–1971), baseball player • James J. Rhoades (1941–2008), politician • Kevin C. Rhoades (born 1957), bishop • Mike Rhoades (born 1972), basketball coach • Victor Schertzinger (1890–1941), composer, film director, producer, and screenwriter • George Senesky (1922–2001), basketball player and coach • John Walson, (1915–1993), inventor