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The Commemorative
Quarter for
Pennsylvania

The Commemorative Quarter for Pennsylvania





Welcome to Harrisburg ...

The city of Harrisburg is located in Dauphin County<1>. It is the County Seat and the capital of Pennsylvania.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Harrisburg, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1803.

When the people of Harrisburg refer to themselves (known as a demonym), they frequently use Harrisburger<2>

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Harrisburg has a population of 49,241 people<3> (see below for details).

Harrisburg is 340 feet [104 m] above sea level.<4>.

Time Zone: Harrisburg lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Harrisburg is located in the (717) area code.

Websites for Harrisburg ...

Official Website: www.harrisburgcity.com/

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Harrisburg had an population of 49,241 people. This is a decrease of 0.58% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 0.59% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Harrisburg had a population of 49,528 people (which is 18.47% of the total population of Dauphin County). This makes Harrisburg the county's most populous community.

The population of Harrisburg represents 0.39% of the population of Pennsylvania (which has 12,702,379 people), making it the state's 9th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 49,528 people, the population of Harrisburg increased 1.18% from the 2000 Census (which had a count of 48,950 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Harrisburg.

Communities Also Named Harrisburg ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are two Pennsylvania communities named Harrisburg: This one is located in Dauphin County and the other is located in Philadelphia County.

Beyond Pennsylvania, there are 44 communities that are also named Harrisburg - they are located in Alabama (2), Arizona (2), Arkansas, California, Colorado (2), Florida, Georgia (3), Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas (2), Maryland, Michigan, Missouri (2), Nebraska, New Mexico, New York (3), North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio (4), Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas (2), Utah and Virginia.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Harrisburg.

Communities near Harrisburg ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Harrisburg.

  • Carlisle
  • Elizabethtown
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elizabethtown
    • Elizabethtown lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<5> to the southeast of Harrisburg.
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,494 people
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elizabethtown have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Google Maps centered on Elizabethtown
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elizabethtown<6>
  • Middletown
  • Mechanicsburg
  • Palmyra
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmyra
    • Palmyra lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<5> to the east of Harrisburg.
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,528 people
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Palmyra have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Google Maps centered on Palmyra
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Palmyra<6>
  • Hummelstown
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hummelstown
    • Hummelstown lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<5> to the east of Harrisburg.
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,814 people
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hummelstown have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Google Maps centered on Hummelstown
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hummelstown<6>
  • Manchester
  • Dillsburg
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dillsburg
    • Dillsburg lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<5> to the southwest of Harrisburg.
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,579 people
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dillsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Google Maps centered on Dillsburg
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dillsburg<6>
  • Millersburg
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millersburg
    • Millersburg lies 18 miles [29 km]<5> to the north of Harrisburg.
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,514 people
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millersburg have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Google Maps centered on Millersburg
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Millersburg<6>
  • Highspire
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highspire
    • Highspire lies 7 miles [11.3 km]<5> to the southeast of Harrisburg.
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,369 people
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Highspire have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Google Maps centered on Highspire
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Highspire<6>

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Harrisburg. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Harrisburg.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Harrisburg. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Harrisburg.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Harrisburg. Our list includes 176 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Harrisburg.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Harrisburg ...

Looking for more information about Harrisburg? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Harrisburg, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Harrisburg.

Adding Harrisburg to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Harrisburg in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Harrisburg was in the book titled U.S. Post Offices (1803).

We also found Harrisburg in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Harrisburg.

The official website for Harrisburg: www.harrisburgcity.com/

The official website for State of Pennsylvania: https://www.pa.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Pennsylvania's counties, including Dauphin, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>A demonym is the name for a resident of a community which is usually derived from (or is related to) the name of that community. In other words, it's how the residents of Harrisburg refer to themselves. It's important to note that there aren't any rules for taking a city's name and turning it into a demonym. A demonym is informal and while the majority of Harrisburg may use one name, keep in mind that others may use something different.
<3>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Harrisburg.
<4>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Harrisburg - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Harrisburg) to Point B.If you need the driving distance, we recommend that you use one of the Mapping Services listed on our Map Page for Harrisburg. Since we usually use Google Maps, we've provided the following link: Google Map and Driving Directions starting from HarrisburgOur distance measurements begin at a specific point in Harrisburg. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.2831, Longitude: -76.8810    
<6>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<7>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.




 

 

 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Sep 2023