Welcome to Lancaster ...

The city of Lancaster is located in Lancaster County<1> and is the County Seat for Lancaster County.

Lancaster was established in 1734.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Lancaster has a population of 59,294 people<2> (see below for details).

The community of Lancaster is 360 feet [110 m] above sea level.<3>.

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

Lancaster lies within the (717) area code.

The ZIP code for Lancaster: 17603<4>

Websites for Lancaster ...

Official Website: www.cityoflancasterpa.com/

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Lancaster had an population of 59,294 people (or an increase of 5.23% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Lancaster had a population of 59,322 people (or 11.42% of the total population of Lancaster County). This makes Lancaster the county's most populous community.

The population of Lancaster represents 0.47% of the total population of Pennsylvania (which has 12,702,379 people), making it the state's 8th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 59,322 people, the population of Lancaster increased 5.28% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 56,348 people).

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

Communities Also Named Lancaster ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 38 communities that are also named Lancaster - they are located in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida (2), Georgia (2), Illinois (3), Indiana (3), Iowa, Kansas (2), Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri (2), New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New York, Newfoundland and Labrador, North Carolina, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon (2), South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

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

Communities near Lancaster ...

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

• Ephrata
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ephrata
  • Ephrata is located in Lancaster County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,801 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ephrata <5>
• Elizabethtown
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elizabethtown have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elizabethtown
  • Elizabethtown is located in Lancaster County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 11,494 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elizabethtown <5>
• Columbia
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Columbia have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Columbia
  • Columbia is located in Lancaster County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,295 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Columbia <5>
• Lititz
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lititz
  • Lititz is located in Lancaster County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,022 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lititz <5>
• Mount Joy
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Joy
  • Mount Joy is located in Lancaster County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,264 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mount Joy <5>
• Red Lion
  (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Lion
  • Red Lion is located in York County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,309 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Red Lion <5>
• New Holland
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Holland
  • New Holland is located in Lancaster County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,547 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Holland <5>
• Manheim
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manheim
  • Manheim is located in Lancaster County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,816 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Manheim <5>
• Cornwall
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cornwall have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cornwall
  • Cornwall is located in Lebanon County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,382 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cornwall <5>
• Akron
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Akron have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Akron
  • Akron is located in Lancaster County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,992 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Akron <5>

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 Lancaster. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Lancaster.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Lancaster. 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 Lancaster.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Lancaster. Our list includes 146 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Lancaster.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Lancaster ...

Looking for more information about Lancaster? 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 Lancaster, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Lancaster.

Adding Lancaster to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Lancaster 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 Lancaster was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<7>

From that list, the Lancaster post office opened in 1775.

We also found Lancaster in the book titled U.S. Post Offices (1803).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Lancaster.

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for Lancaster: www.cityoflancasterpa.com/

The official website for Lancaster County: www.co.lancaster.pa.us/

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