Cranberry Township, Butler County Winners in Census Results

Results from the 2010 census are in, and Butler was the rare county in Western Pennsylvania to show an uptick in population.

Cranberry Township also showed growth, jumping from 23,625 people in 2000 to 28,098 in 2010.

Overall, the population in Pennsylvania increased 3.4 percent to just more than 12.7 million. Most of the communities with increases are on the eastern side of the state.

Allegheny, Beaver, Westmoreland and Fayette counties were population losers. Allegheny County’s population was recorded at 1,223,348, a 4.6 percent decrease from a decade ago. Fayette County was the area’s top census loser, with an 8.1 percent downswing in population.

According to census figures, Butler and Washington were the only counties in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area to show growth. Butler County's population grew 5.6 percent to reach 183,862 people.

The increase was expected by Cranberry Township Manager Jerry Andree, who has seen Cranberry’s population nearly double in the past 20 years.

“We in southwest Butler and Cranberry are a center of activity,” he said. “We’ve created thousands of jobs in the community. When you create jobs, you create people who want to live here, so this is no surprise.”

Even before census figures became public, Cranberry officials had a sense of the community's current-day population figures. Using the number of building permits issued in the community, Andree put the 2010 population for the community at 28,000 to 29,000 people. That’s a big jump from 1990, when the population was 14,816.

Andree listed job opportunities, the growth of corporate offices and high-quality amenities as just some of the reasons for the township’s growth.

“It’s a great place to live,” he said.

Census data put the total population for residents residing within the Seneca Valley School District at 46,966. There are 19,178 housing units in the district. Occupied homes number 18, 170, and there are 1,008 vacant homes in the area.

Seneca Valley School District encompasses 100 square miles and includes Cranberry, Forward, Jackson and Lancaster townships and Callery, Evans City, Harmony, Seven Fields and Zelienople boroughs.