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List of Pennsylvania municipalities and counties with home rule charters, optional charters, or optional plans

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This is a list of Pennsylvania municipalities and counties with home rule charters, optional charters, or optional plans, including municipalities with home rule charters, optional charters, or optional plans.

Home rule municipalities

Most municipalities in Pennsylvania must follow state law except where the state has expressly given jurisdiction to the municipality, and are therefore subject to the Third Class City Code, the Borough Code, the First Class Township Code, the Second Class Township Code, or other acts for sui generis municipalities.

Home rule municipalities in Pennsylvania enjoy the opposite situation (i.e., they may govern themselves except where expressly forbidden by state law), and are governed according to their unique home rule charter rather than one of the above codes. While most home rule charter municipalities continue to reference their previous forms of government in their corporate names, they may also adopt a new corporate name that references a different form of government, or that omits the form from the name altogether.

Name Type
(Municipal charter)		 Type
(State classification)		 Class
(State classification)		 County Effective Date
Allentown City City Third Lehigh January 6, 1997
Altoona City City Third Blair January 5, 2015
Beaver Falls City City Third Beaver January 1, 2022
Bellevue Borough Borough N/A Allegheny January 5, 1976
Bethel Park Municipality Borough N/A Allegheny January 2, 1978
Braddock Borough Borough N/A Allegheny January 4, 2021
Bradford Woods Borough Borough N/A Allegheny January 6, 1975
Bryn Athyn Borough Borough N/A Montgomery January 2, 1978
Cambridge Springs Borough Borough N/A Crawford January 5, 1976
Carbondale City City Third Lackawanna January 2, 1977
Carlisle Borough Borough N/A Cumberland January 1, 2016
Chalfont Borough Borough N/A Bucks January 5, 1976
Cheltenham Township Township First Montgomery January 1, 1977
Chester City City Third Delaware January 7, 1981
Chester Township Township Second Delaware July 2, 1990
Clairton Municipality City Third Allegheny January 1, 1990
Coatesville City City Third Chester January 7, 1980
Concord Township Township Second Delaware January 1, 2017
Easton City City Third Northampton January 2, 2008
Edinboro Borough Borough N/A Erie January 5, 1976
Elk Township Township Second Chester January 1, 1975
Farrell City City Third Mercer January 5, 1976
Ferguson Township Township Second Centre January 5, 1976
Franklin City City Third Venago January 5, 1976
Grant Township Township Second Indiana November 21, 2015
Green Tree Borough Borough N/A Allegheny January 6, 1975
Greensburg City City Third Westmoreland January 2, 1989
Greenville Town Borough N/A Mercer January 1, 2020
Hampton Township Township Second Allegheny January 4, 1982
Hanover Township Township Second Lehigh January 2, 1978
Haverford Township Township First Delaware January 3, 1977
Hermitage City City Third Mercer January 1, 1976
Highland Township Township Second Elk November 28, 2016
Horsham Township Township Second Montgomery January 5, 1976
Johnstown City City Third Cambria January 1, 1994
Kingston Municipality Borough N/A Luzerne January 5, 1976
Kingston Township Township Second Luzerne January 1, 1976
Latrobe City Borough N/A Westmoreland January 5, 1998
Lebanon City City Third Lebanon January 3, 1994
Mahanoy City Borough Borough N/A Schuylkill January 1, 2021
Malvern Borough Borough N/A Chester January 1, 2009
McCandless Town Township First Allegheny January 1, 1975
McKeesport City City Third Allegheny January 5, 1976
Middletown Township Township Second Delaware January 2, 1978
Monroeville Municipality Borough N/A Allegheny January 5, 1976
Mt. Lebanon Municipality Township First Allegheny January 1, 1975
Murrysville Municipality Borough N/A Westmoreland January 1, 1978
Nanticoke City City Third Luzerne January 1, 2012
New Castle City City Third Lawrence January 3, 2022
Norristown Municipality Borough N/A Montgomery January 6, 1986
O'Hara Township Township First Allegheny January 5, 1976
Penn Hills Municipality Township First Allegheny January 5, 1976
Peters Township Township Second Washington January 5, 1976
Philadelphia City City First Philadelphia January 7, 1952
Pine Township Township Second Allegheny January 6, 1992
Pittsburgh City City Second Allegheny January 5, 1976
Pittston City City Third Luzerne January 2, 2013
Plymouth Township Township Second Luzerne January 2, 2012
Plymouth Township Township First Montgomery January 5, 1976
Portage Borough Borough N/A Cambria January 1, 1996
Radnor Township Township First Delaware January 1, 1977
Reading City City Third Berks January 1, 1996
Richland Township Township Second Allegheny January 5, 1976
St. Marys City City Third Elk January 3, 1994
Scranton City City Second A Lackawanna January 5, 1976
Sharon City City Third Mercer January 7, 2008
State College Borough Borough N/A Centre January 5, 1976
Towamencin Township Township Second Montgomery July 1, 2023
Tredyffrin Township Township Second Chester January 5, 1976
Tyrone Borough Borough N/A Blair January 3, 1983
Upper Darby Township Township First Delaware January 5, 1976
Upper Providence Township Township Second Delaware January 5, 1976
Upper St. Clair Township Township First Allegheny January 5, 1976
Warren City City Third Warren January 2, 1978
West Chester Borough Borough N/A Chester January 1, 1994
West Deer Township Township Second Allegheny January 5, 1976
Whitehall Borough Borough N/A Allegheny January 1, 1975
Whitehall Township Township First Lehigh January 5, 1976
Whitemarsh Township Township Second Montgomery January 3, 1983
Wilkes-Barre City City Third Luzerne January 5, 1976
Wilkes-Barre Township Township First Luzerne January 5, 1976
Youngsville Borough Borough N/A Warren January 5, 1976

Counties with home rule charters

Counties with a home rule charter may design their own form of county government, but are still generally subject to the County Code (which covers first-, third-, fourth-, fifth-, sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-class counties) or the Second-Class County Code (which covers second-class and second-class A counties). Because home rule charters primarily function to change the form of local government, and do not significantly change the relationship between a county and the state, as they do with municipalities, counties with home rule charters are still generally considered counties under state law.

Philadelphia County is unique in Pennsylvania in that it is a consolidated city-county, and so while the county is technically not governed by a home rule charter (and is therefore not included on the list), the fact that Philadelphia City (which constitutes the same land area as and administers all the governmental affairs of Philadelphia County) is a home rule municipality means that in practice the county is as well.

Name Class
Allegheny Second
Delaware Second A
Erie Third
Lackawanna Third
Lehigh Third
Luzerne Third
Northampton Third

Optional charter and optional plan municipalities

In addition to home rule charters, two other forms of non-standard government exist in Pennsylvania: optional plans and optional charters. Optional charter forms of government were made available to third-class cities in 1957. Since 1972, it has no longer been possible to adopt these forms; however, cities already operating under these forms retain them unless they adopt another form of government. Optional plan forms of government, which operate similarly to optional charter forms of government, were made available to all municipalities and counties in 1972. They both allow the municipality to adopt a form of government that differs from the general forms that municipalities are typically subject to, but do not change the municipality's relationship with the state government. Therefore, they are still considered boroughs, third-class cities, or townships of the first or second class, respectively, under state law.

Name Type Class County Charter/Plan Form
Bensalem Township Second Bucks Plan Mayor-Council Plan B
Bethlehem City Third Lehigh
Northampton		 Charter Mayor-Council Plan A
Bristol Township First Bucks Plan Mayor-Council Plan C
College Township Second Centre Plan Council-Manager
DuBois City Third Clearfield Plan Council-Manager
Erie City Third Erie Charter Mayor-Council Plan A
Harrisburg City Third Dauphin Charter Mayor-Council Plan A
Hazleton City Third Luzerne Plan Mayor-Council Plan B
Indiana Township Second Allegheny Plan Council-Manager
Lancaster City Third Lancaster Charter Mayor-Council Plan A
Lock Haven City Third Clinton Charter Council-Manager
Lower Saucon Township Second Northampton Plan Council-Manager
Meadville City Third Crawford Charter Council-Manager
Oil City City Third Venango Charter Council-Manager
Quakertown Borough N/A Bucks Plan Council-Manager
Titusville City Third Crawford Charter Council-Manager
Washington Township Second Erie Plan Council-Manager
Weatherly Borough N/A Carbon Plan Council-Manager
Williamsport City Third Lycoming Charter Mayor-Council Plan A
York City Third York Charter Mayor-Council Plan A

Government study commissions

The following municipalities approved questions to create government study commissions.

Name Type
(Municipal charter)		 Type
(State classification)		 Class
(State classification)		 County Election
Wilkinsburg Borough Borough N/A Allegheny November 8, 2022
Lancaster City City Third Lancaster May 16, 2023

Former home rule, optional charter, and optional plan municipalities

Name Type
(Municipal charter)		 Type
(State classification)		 Class
(State classification)		 County
Bradford City City Third McKean
Wheatland Borough Borough N/A Mercer

See also

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