Back Mountain, Pennsylvania

Back Mountain
Census-designated place
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Luzerne
Coordinates	41°19′13″N 75°58′22″W
Area	109.2 sq mi (283 km2)
- land	107 sq mi (277 km2)
- water	2.2 sq mi (6 km2)
Population	26,690 (2000)
Density	249.5 / sq mi (96 / km2)
Timezone	EST (UTC-4)
- summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-5)
Area code	570
Location of Back Mountain in Pennsylvania
Location of Pennsylvania in the United States

Back Mountain is a census-designated place (CDP) in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is near the cities of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. The population was 26,690 at the 2000 census. The name, "Back Mountain" refers to the CDP's location directly behind the Endless Mountains and it is also a general term for the area covered by the towns of Lehman, Harveys Lake, Dallas, a part of Wyoming, West Wyoming, Trucksville and Shavertown (Trucksville and Shavertown both belong to Kingston Township). Each township or borough in the CDP is independently governed.

Geography

Back Mountain is located at 41°19′13″N 75°58′22″W (41.320230, -75.972645).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 109.2 square miles (283 km²), of which, 107.0 square miles (277 km²) of it is land and 2.2 square miles (5.7 km²) of it (2.05%) is water.

It is located directly behind the Endless Mountains of Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 26,690 people, 9,267 households, and 6,894 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 249.5 people per square mile (96.3/km²). There were 9,997 housing units at an average density of 93.5/sq mi (36.1/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 94.45% White, 4.30% African American, 0.10% Native American, 0.52% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.18% from other races, and 0.43% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.05% of the population.

There were 9,267 households out of which 32.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.1% were married couples living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.6% were non-families. 21.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.01.

In the CDP the population was spread out with 21.5% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 29.1% from 25 to 44, 26.5% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 107.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.7 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $49,298, and the median income for a family was $57,342. Males had a median income of $39,566 versus $27,202 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $23,105. About 4.8% of families and 6.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.6% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

• Guthrie Cunyngham, Former owner of Hillside Farms, who resided in the Back Mountain until his untimely death in 2009.
• Mitchell Jenkins, Former U.S. Republican Congressman of Pennsylvania who lived in Shavertown toward the end of life.
• Jay McCarroll, winning designer of Season 1 of Project Runway, grew up in Lehman and attended Lake Lehman High School.
• Greg Skrepenak, former NFL player, Luzerne County Commissioner and a convicted felon. He was convicted after admitting he received kickbacks for public contracts. On August 6, 2010, Greg Skrepenak was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison.

Colleges & Universities

• Misericordia University in Dallas
• Penn State Wilkes-Barre in Lehman