Crawford County, Pennsylvania

Crawford County is a county in Pennsylvania, United States, in the state’s northwestern
corner along the Ohio border. It had a population of 83,938 at the 2020 census, an estimated
81,792 by 2025, and covers 1,038 square miles (2,690 km2) centred near 41°41′N 80°07′W.

Meadville is the county seat; its postal code is 16335. The county holds 2 cities, 14
incorporated boroughs and 15 census-designated communities across 34 townships, and it runs on
Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 42039.

Towns & Villages in Crawford County

Crawford County has 31 named places on the 2020 census roll: 2 cities, 14 incorporated
boroughs and 15 census-designated places (CDPs) with no borough government of their own. CDP
stands for census designated place; Unincorp. covers additional crossroads communities with no
formal boundary.

The old settlement list on this page mixed in more than a hundred road-crossroads names —
Corners, Junctions and mill-site labels such as Buells Corners, Custards, Frenchtown and Rundell
— that never carried census recognition of their own. Those are unincorporated
neighborhoods inside a township, not separate places with population or ZIP data; they are not
repeated here because none has a verifiable population figure. Pymatuning Central’s CDP
boundary also absorbs two named villages, Espyville and Westford, so their populations are not
broken out separately.

ZIP Codes

• 16335 — Meadville (also covers Kerrtown and Fredericksburg)
• 16354 — Titusville
• 16403 — Cambridge Springs
• 16314 — Cochranton
• 16424 — Linesville
• 16433 — Saegertown (also covers Woodcock borough)
• 16406 — Conneautville (also covers Pymatuning North)
• 16316 — Conneaut Lake (also covers Geneva)
• 16328 — Hydetown
• 16334 — Blooming Valley
• 16435 — Springboro
• 16360 — Townville
• 16434 — Spartansburg
• 16440 — Venango
• 16404 — Centerville
• 16428 — Pymatuning Central (Espyville post office)
• 16429 — Pymatuning South (Jamestown-area delivery)
• 16438 — Canadohta Lake
• 16422 — Harmonsburg
• 16417 — Lincolnville
• 16327 — Guys Mills
• 16432 — Riceville

Atlantic, Adamsville and Hartstown use rural-route ZIPs shared with nearby Mercer County post
offices rather than a Crawford County town; those addresses are correct even though the ZIP
prefix does not match the county seat’s.

Geography

Crawford County sits on the glaciated Appalachian Plateau in Pennsylvania’s northwest
corner. Of its 1,038 square miles, 1,012 are land and 25 are water, about 2.4 percent, split
mainly between Pymatuning Reservoir in the southwest and Conneaut Lake, the largest natural lake
wholly within Pennsylvania, near the county’s center. French Creek, a tributary of the
Allegheny River, drains most of the county’s eastern half and runs through Meadville and
Saegertown; Oil Creek drains the northeast around Titusville and Hydetown.

Erie County lies to the north, Warren County to the east, Venango and Mercer counties to the
south, and the Ohio state line, fronting Trumbull and Ashtabula counties, to the west. Erie County, Warren County, Venango County and Mercer County all border
Crawford directly inside Pennsylvania.

Demographics

Crawford County had a population of 83,938 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts
the county near 81,792 residents, a continuing decline typical of rural northwestern
Pennsylvania. Meadville and Titusville are the two largest communities, together holding roughly
22 percent of the county’s population. Pennsylvania’s statewide median household
income was $73,824 as of the 2023 ACS; Crawford County’s rural, manufacturing-dependent
economy runs below that mark. Population density works out to 81 people per square mile, low
for the state outside its own major cities.

Economy & Local Life

Manufacturing remains Crawford County’s largest private employer sector, concentrated in
Meadville, which calls itself “Tool City” for its cluster of tool-and-die shops that grew
up around the Talon Corporation’s zipper manufacturing plant. Allegheny College, a liberal
arts school founded in 1815 with about 1,700 students, is Meadville’s largest institutional
employer and anchors the city’s downtown. The University of Pittsburgh at Titusville serves
the county’s eastern half. Titusville’s economy still trades on its 19th-century oil
boom, with the Drake Well Museum drawing visitors to the site of the first commercial oil well.
Conneaut Lake Park, an amusement resort dating to 1892, and the Pymatuning Reservoir spillway in
Linesville, where carp gather so thickly that ducks appear to walk on their backs, are the
county’s biggest seasonal tourist draws.

History

Pennsylvania organized Crawford County on March 12, 1800, from part of Allegheny County,
naming it for Colonel William Crawford, a frontier officer killed by Native American forces in
Ohio in 1782. Meadville, settled in 1788 by a party led by David Mead, became the county seat.

Abolitionist John Brown lived in the county for about 11 years before the Civil War and ran a
tannery near Guys Mills, now preserved as the John Brown House, Tannery and Museum, a documented
stop on the Underground Railroad. Titusville’s Edwin Drake struck oil on August 27, 1859,
launching the American petroleum industry and drawing the region’s population from a few
hundred to roughly 10,000 within a few years. On May 31, 1985, an F4 tornado tore through the
Atlantic community, killing 23 people, part of the broader 1985 United States–Canada tornado
outbreak.

Getting There

Interstate 79 crosses the county’s western third, running north-south past Conneautville
and Saegertown. US Routes 6, 19 and 322 cross the county along with PA Routes 8, 18, 27, 77, 86,
102, 173, 198 and 285.

• Erie — about 35 miles north
• Pittsburgh — about 95 miles south
• Franklin — about 20 miles southeast
• Youngstown, Ohio — about 45 miles southwest

Erie International Airport, roughly 35 miles north of Meadville, is the nearest major
commercial airport. Amtrak does not serve Crawford County directly; the closest station is
Erie’s, on the Lake Shore Limited line.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Crawford County located?
It sits in Pennsylvania’s northwest corner along the Ohio border, bordered by Erie, Warren,
Venango and Mercer counties.

What is the population of Crawford County?
83,938 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 81,792.

How big is Crawford County?
1,038 square miles (2,690 km2) total, of which 1,012 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Crawford County?
Meadville is the county seat and largest city, settled in 1788.

How many towns and boroughs are in Crawford County?
Two cities, Meadville and Titusville, plus 14 incorporated boroughs and 15 census-designated
communities across the county’s 34 townships.

What ZIP codes does Crawford County use?
16335 for Meadville, 16354 for Titusville, and separate codes for each borough, including 16403
for Cambridge Springs and 16424 for Linesville.

What is Crawford County known for?
Titusville, the birthplace of the American oil industry after Edwin Drake’s 1859 well, and
Meadville’s tool-and-die manufacturing cluster, nicknamed “Tool City.”

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Pennsylvania.