The original townships at the date of the erection of Beaver County (1800) were North Beaver, east and west of the Big Beaver Creek; South Beaver, west of the Big Beaver; and Sewickley, east of the Big Beaver—all north of the Ohio River; and Hanover, First Moon, and Second Moon, south of the Ohio.[7]
The Ohio River flows north through Beaver County from a point near Ambridge, then turns west near Beaver and on to the Ohio and West Virginia borders. It divides the southern third of the county from the northern two-thirds.
The Beaver River flows south from Lawrence County entering Beaver County near Koppel and continuing south to its confluence with the Ohio near Beaver.
As of the census[13] of 2000, there were 181,412 people, 72,576 households, and 50,512 families residing in the county. The population density was 418 inhabitants per square mile (161/km2). There were 77,765 housing units at an average density of 179 units per square mile (69/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 92.55% White, 5.96% Black or African American, 0.10% Native American, 0.25% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.20% from other races, and 0.92% from two or more races. 0.72% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 23.0% were of German, 17.4% Italian, 9.9% Irish, 6.5% English, 6.4% Polish and 5.8% American ancestry.
There were 72,576 households, out of which 28.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.50% were married couples living together, 11.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.40% were non-families. Of all households 26.90% were made up of individuals, and 13.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.96.
In the county, the age distribution of the population shows 22.60% under the age of 18, 7.40% from 18 to 24, 27.30% from 25 to 44, 24.20% from 45 to 64, and 18.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.20 males.
As of January 8, 2024, there were 111,767 registered voters in Beaver county. Republicans hold a plurality of voters by a margin of just 190 voters (less than 1% of the total registered), after overtaking Dems at the end of December 2023. There were 48,229 registered Republicans, 48,039 registered Democrats, 10,390 registered non-affiliated voters and 5,109 voters registered to other parties.[18]
Beaver County used to be a Democratic stronghold, and had a slight Democratic edge in registration until 2023. [19] In 2015, the GOP took majority status in the Commissioners' Office for the first time since 1955. In 2004, Democrat John Kerry won Beaver County over Republican George W. Bush 51% to 48%. In 2008, Republican John McCain defeated Democrat Barack Obama 50% to 47%, becoming the first Republican to win there since 1972 and only the third since 1928. Mitt Romney and Donald Trump (twice) carried the county in the next three elections. In 2010, Republican Governor Tom Corbett and Republican Senator Pat Toomey both carried Beaver in their successful statewide bids, and Toomey won the county again in 2016. However, Democrats have still seen recent success in Beaver County in non-presidential races, with Democrats often being competitive in the county in Senate and gubernatorial elections. Beaver County voted for Bob Casey Jr. in his reelection bid in 2012 50% to 47%, and again voted to re-elect Casey in 2018, as well as Democrat Tom Wolf.
In 2022, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro defeated Republican Doug Mastriano in the county, but was the only Democrat that cycle to do so.
Near Koppel there is Buttermilk Falls, a naturally occurring waterfall.[30] In Brighton Township there is Brady's Run Park.[31] Racoon Creek State Park is one of Pennsylvania's largest and most visited state parks.[citation needed] The park encompasses 7,572 acres (3,064 ha) and features the 101 acres (41 ha) Raccoon Lake. Additionally, there are many riverfront parks throughout the county. The North Country National Scenic Trail (NCT) passes through the county's northern end. The NCT has an 11-mile point-to-point off-road section near Darlington to the Ohio state line and a 2.5 mile off-road section near New Galilee and Enon Valley, Pennsylvania.[32]
Map of Beaver County, Pennsylvania public school districts. Note that two districts on this map, Monaca School District and Center Area School District, merged in 2009 to form the Central Valley School District.
Map of Beaver County, Pennsylvania with municipal labels showing cities and boroughs (red), townships (white), and census-designated places (blue)
Under Pennsylvania law, there are four types of incorporated municipalities: cities, boroughs, townships, and, in at most two cases, towns. The following cities, boroughs and townships are in Beaver County:
^"PHMC Historical Markers Search". Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Archived from the original(Searchable database) on March 21, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
^"Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
^Laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 4 vols. (Philadelphia: John Bioren, 1810), vol. 3, pages 421–422, Chapter MMCXIX, Section 1, "An Act to erect certain parts of Allegheny, Westmoreland, Washington and Lycoming counties, into separate counties," March 12, 1800, creation of Beaver County, digital images, Google Books (https://books.google.com : July 22, 2018).
^Joseph Henderson Bausman, History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania: And Its Centennial Celebration, 2 volumes (New York: Knickerbocker Press, 1904), vol. 2, pp. 863–864; digital images, Google Books (https://books.google.com : accessed November 2, 2018).
