Pennsylvania map

Where Pennsylvania is

Pennsylvania is the rectangular state between the Great Lakes and the Mid-Atlantic coast. It measures about 280 miles east to west and about 160 miles north to south, with a short 51-mile shoreline on Lake Erie in the northwest. Clockwise from the north: New York along the 42nd parallel and the Delaware River, New Jersey across the Delaware to the east, Delaware along a 12-mile arc in the southeast corner, Maryland and West Virginia along the Mason–Dixon Line to the south, and West Virginia and Ohio along a meridian to the west. It is the fifth most populous state and 33rd by area.

Major cities

Philadelphia is the sixth-largest US city and its metro area, with the Pennsylvania suburbs of Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware counties, holds about a third of the state's population. Pittsburgh's metro area is the second, at about 2.4 million.

Geography

• Highest point — Mount Davis, 3,213 ft, in the Allegheny Mountains of Somerset County near the Maryland line.
• Appalachians — the Ridge-and-Valley belt of long parallel ridges crosses the middle of the state diagonally, with the Allegheny Front rising to the Allegheny Plateau that covers the west and north. See the Appalachian Mountains map.
• Susquehanna River — drains half the state, flowing through Wilkes-Barre, Sunbury and Harrisburg to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.
• Delaware River — the eastern border, tidal below Trenton; Philadelphia is a river port 90 miles from the ocean. Sea level on the Delaware is the state's low point.
• Ohio River — formed at Pittsburgh where the Allegheny and Monongahela meet. See the Ohio River map.
• Lake Erie — Presque Isle, a sand spit at Erie, shelters the state's only Great Lakes harbor. See the Great Lakes map.

Borders

The southern border is the Mason–Dixon Line, surveyed in 1763–67 at 39°43'N to settle the Penn–Calvert dispute. The Delaware border is the Twelve-Mile Circle, an arc centered on the New Castle courthouse, the only circular state boundary. The Delaware River forms the border with New Jersey and part of New York; north of Port Jervis the line jumps to the 42nd parallel. The western border with Ohio and West Virginia is a meridian at about 80°31'W, and the Erie Triangle at the northwest corner was bought from the federal government in 1792 to give the state a lake port.

Regions of Pennsylvania

Southeastern Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and its suburbs, Lancaster, Pennsylvania Dutch Country), the Lehigh Valley, the Poconos and Northeastern Pennsylvania (Scranton, Wilkes-Barre), the Susquehanna Valley and Central Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, State College), the Northern Tier along the New York line, the Laurel Highlands, and Western Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, Erie, the Allegheny National Forest).

Related maps

• Pennsylvania county map — all 67 counties with seats.
• Blank Pennsylvania map — outline for printing.
• Printable Pennsylvania map.
• Harrisburg — the capital since 1812.
• Philadelphia and Pittsburgh — the two largest cities.
• Neighbors: New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio.
• Northeast, Middle Atlantic division, Mid-Atlantic, Eastern Time Zone.
• Geography: Mason–Dixon Line, Appalachian Mountains, Ohio River.