Potter County, Pennsylvania

Potter County is a county in Pennsylvania, United States, in the north-central part of the state, about 90 miles east of Erie. It had a population of 16,396 at the 2020 census, an estimated 15,897 by 2025, and covers 1,082 square miles (2,800 km2) centred near 41°44′N 77°54′W.

Coudersport is the county seat; its postal code is 16915. The county holds 6 boroughs and 25 townships, with several small unincorporated communities scattered among them, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 42105.

Towns & Villages in Potter County

Potter County has no cities. Six boroughs are incorporated municipalities with their own local government; the rest of the county is divided into 25 townships, inside which sit unincorporated communities with no borough or city status of their own. CDP stands for census designated place, a Census Bureau statistical area with no local government; Unincorp. covers hamlets and crossroads.

Oswayo shares its postal code with Coudersport — the borough is small enough that the U.S. Postal Service never gave it a separate delivery ZIP of its own. Roulette and Sweden Valley are both census-designated places, unofficial boundaries the Census Bureau draws around a cluster of homes inside a township; neither has its own mayor or council. Cross Fork was once the county’s largest logging town, with thousands of residents in the early 1900s, before the timber ran out; today it is a small crossroads with a fire department and a post office.

Townships

Potter County has 25 townships. The seven listed below cover most of the county’s population outside the boroughs; the rest are sparsely populated forestland with only scattered homes.

ZIP Codes

• 16915 — Coudersport (also serves Oswayo)
• 16748 — Shinglehouse
• 16922 — Galeton
• 16948 — Ulysses
• 16720 — Austin
• 16746 — Roulette
• 16923 — Genesee
• 16927 — Harrison Valley
• 16937 — Mills
• 17729 — Cross Fork

Sweden Valley has no ZIP code of its own; mail there is delivered under Coudersport’s code. The county’s small size and low population mean a single post office often serves several surrounding hamlets by rural route.

Geography

Potter County sits on the Allegheny Plateau, a highland of steep, forested ridges and narrow valleys near the headwaters of three major watersheds: the Allegheny River, the Genesee River and the West Branch Susquehanna River. Locals call it “God’s Country” for its remoteness and unbroken tree cover. Of its 1,082 square miles, all but 0.2 square miles (0.52 km2) is land — the county has no large natural lake, and its water is almost entirely creeks and small reservoirs. Ulysses Township, in the county’s north, contains one of North America’s few triple continental divides, where three watersheds split from a single high point.

Allegany and Steuben counties in New York lie to the north, Tioga County to the east, Lycoming County to the southeast, Clinton County to the south, Cameron County to the southwest, and McKean County to the west. Tioga County, Lycoming County, Clinton County and McKean County all border Potter directly; Cameron County has no live page on this site yet.

Demographics

Potter County had a population of 16,396 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the county near 15,897 residents, continuing a decades-long decline as young people leave for larger job markets. Coudersport and Shinglehouse are the two largest communities. Median household income runs $59,020 (2024 estimate), well below Pennsylvania’s statewide figure of $73,824 (2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly 15 people per square mile of land, among the lowest in Pennsylvania outside the far northern tier. Census figures show the county is 95.2 percent white, with small Hispanic, Black and multiracial populations.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 1,051 people, followed by manufacturing at 1,028 and retail trade at 799. UPMC Cole, the region’s hospital system, runs a campus in Coudersport and is among the county’s largest employers. Timber and wood products remain a significant local industry, a legacy of the logging boom that once made Cross Fork one of Pennsylvania’s biggest lumber towns. Cherry Springs State Park, an International Dark Sky Park in West Branch Township since 2008, draws astronomers from across the country for its Cherry Springs Star Party each June and the Black Forest Star Party each fall; the park’s Woodsmen’s Show has run every August since 1952. Austin holds its own cluster of summer festivals at Austin Dam Memorial Park, including the Austin Dam Pow Wow each September.

History

Pennsylvania created Potter County on 26 March 1804, though it was not formally organized with its own government until 1836; Eulalia Township, formed in 1810, was the county’s first township and once covered the whole county. The county is named for James Potter, a Continental Army general from Pennsylvania during the American Revolution. John Keating, a land agent, led many of the county’s earliest settlers into the region in the early 1800s.

The county’s worst disaster struck Austin on 30 September 1911, when the Bayless Dam upstream of the borough failed, sending a wall of water through the town and killing 78 people. Austin rebuilt under the motto “the town too tough to die,” later softened to “the best town by a dam site,” and the dam ruins are now preserved at Austin Dam Memorial Park.

Getting There

No interstate highway crosses Potter County. US Route 6 runs east-west through Coudersport, Galeton and Austin, and Pennsylvania Routes 44, 49, 144, 155, 244, 449, 607 and 872 connect the smaller boroughs.

• Wellsville, New York — about 25 miles northwest
• Williamsport — about 65 miles southeast
• Bradford — about 45 miles northwest
• Mansfield — about 35 miles east

There is no commercial airport in the county; Elmira Corning Regional Airport in New York, about 60 miles northeast, is the nearest with scheduled airline service. Potter County has no Amtrak station; the closest is in Erie, roughly 100 miles northwest.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Potter County located?
It sits on Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Plateau in the state’s north-central tier, bordering New York to the north, and about 90 miles east of Erie.

What is the population of Potter County?
16,396 at the 2020 census, with an estimate near 15,897 by 2025.

How big is Potter County?
1,082 square miles (2,800 km2), nearly all of it land.

What is the county seat of Potter County?
Coudersport, incorporated in 1848, is the county seat.

How many towns are in Potter County?
Six boroughs — Coudersport, Shinglehouse, Galeton, Ulysses, Austin and Oswayo — plus 25 townships and a scatter of small unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes does Potter County use?
16915 for Coudersport and Oswayo; 16720, 16746, 16748, 16922, 16923, 16927, 16937, 16948 and 17729 for the rest.

What is Potter County known for?
Cherry Springs State Park, one of the darkest night skies on the East Coast, and the 1911 Austin dam disaster.

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