About Harrisburg

Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,099 as of the 2020 census, Harrisburg is the 15th largest city in Pennsylvania (the 9th largest including townships and boroughs).Harrisburg lies on the east bank of the Susquehanna River. It is the larger of the two anchor cities of the Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan statistical area, also known as the Susquehanna Valley, which had a 2020 population of 591,712, making it the fourth most populous metropolitan area in Pennsylvania after the Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Lehigh Valley metropolitan areas. Harrisburg played a role in American history during the Westward Migration, the American Civil War and the Industrial Revolution. During part of the 19th century, the building of the Pennsylvania Canal, and later the Pennsylvania Railroad, allowed Harrisburg to become one of the most industrialized cities in the Northeastern United States.