Seth Higgins: How northern Pennsylvania is being left behind
![Brookville, Pennsylvania. Photo by Doug Kerr via Flickr [www.flickr.comphotos7327243@N054092607476]](https://broadandliberty.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Brookville-by-Doug-Kerr-via-Flickr-www.flickr.comphotos7327243@N054092607476-1024x768.jpg)
Brookville, Pennsylvania. Photo by Doug Kerr via Flickr [www.flickr.comphotos7327243@N054092607476]
Within the last year, several institutions that the communities of northern Pennsylvania depend upon — including healthcare services, a college branch campus, and two correctional facilities — have been snuffed out or find themselves on life support. Officials in Harrisburg have proven unable or unwilling to intervene. If trends continue, this region may soon find itself in an economic and demographic death spiral from which it cannot recover.
There is still time, but it is running out.
What constitutes northern Pennsylvania first needs to be established. The Commonwealth’s official tourism region for the area is known as the PA Wilds, which is composed of Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, Lycoming, McKean, Potter, Tioga, Warren, and northern Centre Counties. This also closely matches the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Northern Pennsylvania nonmetropolitan area. So, those living in the region would agree that the area referred to as the PA Wilds is synonymous with northern Pennsylvania.
The residents of this vast rural expanse tend to be older, lower-income, and less educated than the rest of the Commonwealth. Given the distances between communities, most residents must travel greater distances to access basic services, such as healthcare, educational institutions, and economic opportunities, than people living elsewhere.
Within the last year, several pillars of northern Pennsylvania have crumbled or are under threat.
This trend began last winter when Penn Highlands Healthcare, which is the sole provider of healthcare for many communities in western Pennsylvania, closed the labor and delivery service at its Elk County facility. I’ve written about this issue before. Despite the community’s efforts, Penn Highlands’ executives refused to change course.
This decision created a maternity care desert the size of Delaware.
Now, the maternity care desert will soon be almost the size of Connecticut if UPMC goes through with its decision to close its maternity unit at UPMC Cole in Potter County this April. Thousands of new moms will have to travel an hour or more to deliver their babies. Policymakers and politicians in Harrisburg, despite making the correct gestures, have failed to end this bleak trend.
These closures point to a broader, underlining issue. Many healthcare systems in Pennsylvania are under financial pressure. Penn Highlands’ financial situation is especially bleak. Although Penn Highlands’ executives have suggested otherwise, this may make other cuts to healthcare services inevitable.
But it isn’t just healthcare access these communities may be losing.
Penn State recently announced that as many as twelve branch campuses may soon close. One of the campuses facing potential closure, Penn State DuBois, is located in Clearfield County. If this closure proceeds, people looking to receive educational opportunities in northern Pennsylvania will have one fewer option. This will make it more difficult for employers to train and recruit employees in the region.
Two correctional facilities in northern Pennsylvania may also be shuttered. SCI Rockview in Centre County and Quehanna Boot Camp in Clearfield County have been recommended for closure by the Department of Corrections. Taken together, these two facilities employ approximately 900 people, making them major economic drivers for the region. It appears the cost savings these closures would provide are needed to fund other priorities of Governor Josh Shapiro. However, Governor Shapiro’s policy aspirations should not come at the expense of the struggling communities of northern Pennsylvania.
For northern Pennsylvanians, healthcare options are disappearing, educational institutions are becoming more distant, and economic opportunities are vanishing. This new reality is driven, in part, by years of policy decisions made in Harrisburg. If politicians break northern Pennsylvania, they own it.
Seth Higgins, a native of Saint Marys, Pennsylvania, specializes in bringing conservative thought to local government. Seth is a former Tablet Magazine Fellow and a former Krauthammer Fellow with The Tikvah Fund.
Delaware County is rapidly becoming a medical desert too.
I live in Delaware county. you can get to Paoli Memorial, Lankenau Hospital, and Bryn Mawr Hospital. In addition to satellite offices from Main Line Health and Penn Medicine. You must live in Delaware County…….Ohio.
DCMH closed, Springfield Hospital closed, Taylor and CCMC are closing soon.
ER waits at Riddle and Fitz are commonly 8 hours or more.
Maybe you ought to read some newspapers, Judah.
Democrat governors, mayors in major PA cities do not now, or have they ever cared about outlying, lower populated areas.
You say that as Republican ones do. They only pander to get the votes, but then later take 0 action after election to get them to help modernize & revitalize those areas. They just do enough to let them maintain status quo which doesn’t get them out of the situation they are in. It just makes people THINK they are getting help. Really the failure is just being delayed. Till the next guy.
The cities i n North West, PA have their own Mayors. Any problems in their cities is their responsibility.
You mean…white…rural areas. It’s like using the euphemism “working class” for white male voters. There’s nothing diverse in the construct of a political demographic called “working class” when 85% of Blacks vote Democratic. The white male, the most reliable voting demographic, has been ideologically segregated from politics for years. It is this rural white male demographic who gave Trump his victory because Trump brought them back into the mainstream. He said it was OK to be a man and OK to be white. How about them cowboys? The rugged, individualistic Marlboro man won over the ultra-sensitive, magical Old Spice Man. Now Blacks are ideologically separated from the mainstream falling somewhere in the 20% of the 80-20 mainstream.
I live in northeast pa the closest city is Scranton, about 50 miles away, but we are thriving thanks to local businesses being so prominent in the area, along with the natural gas industry constantly stimulating our local economy. One gas company even funded the construction of an Endless Mountain Health Systems hospital, fully staffed and completely modernized. I’m sad to hear my fellow Pennsylvanians just over the hill are not doing as well as us. Thank you for this well-written and informative article. I pray it helps get them the support they need to thrive as well.
Oh look, another conservative pointing the finger. Funny how all of this counties you’ve mentioned, that have been on the decline for decades, also seem to vote conservative. Sounds like these “less educated” as you put it, always seem to vote against their best interest. Maybe they need to take a long hard look at the people they vote in to represent them? Causer, the conservative Rep from McKean county all but handed over Bradford Regional Hospital to a healthcare network from NY that has been essentially selling it off for parts.
Seth, nice work. This particular subject has been exposed to many of the folks in control for years. But where you have fallen short is the volunteers. I have been a volunteer firefighter for years. I would guess a number at 60 to 70% of the volunteer firefighter are gone, not just quit but gone with no way to get them back. Their jobs have dried up and they moved. To your point the hospitals have moved On which stretches out EMS to it’s breaking point. It will soon be a reality where you call for help and no one will be there!
So when Medicaid gets cut and more hospitals close, will the uneducated voters who put a wannabe king in office recognize their mistake? Not likely. This area by and large voted for further destruction. Thank you uneducated voters for dismantling this country. Bravo Zulu!
Well, as you mention, theirs is made up of uneducated people. We all know who owned the uneducated vote. And we see who is dismantling this country. Thank you all for your uneducated votes to destroy this country. When you poor people lose your benefits, remember who you voted for. You all wanted this and you will take us all down with you.
And the decline only started 1 month ago?who was in charge prior to that? Demoncrats!
Don’t you have a cross to be burning?
The first thing that needs to be done is to vote for the right people to represent you in Harrisburg. Your PA representatives are supposed to help your immediate communities. They are obviously not voting in your best interest. Stop worrying about party & listen to what the people you are voting for are saying they will do. Ask questions, go to town halls. Change starts at the local level.
Well we all know where the uneducated vote went. Look in the mirror when it gets worse.
It is amazing how quickly serious public policy, social issues and economic realities become politicized which then quickly degenerates into name calling and ideological buffoonery. With the exception of a few comments, most comments are the equivalent of toddler tantrums, no real solutions to the demographic realities of the area are offered, just rants indicating that if you just elect the right political party. spend boatloads of taxpayer dollars and subsidize every activity, the problems will be magically solved. I hunted the Eastern Poconos in the days before the Interstates came and chopped up the wilderness into areas that then became little enclaves for people trying to escape other states with much higher taxes. For good or ill, an area that was self-sufficient is now dependent on government money. As population declines in the Northern Tier, there is less and less economic activity to support expensive enterprises, like hospitals. It also means a continuation of roads with signs: “No Winter Maintenance.”
The challenge in Northern PA is decades long term population loss. Example, Venango County 1960: 65,000+; 2024 (est): 49000+ — nearly 25%. While small counties, most have lost in the 20% range over a similar period, which accerated over the last 3 decades – causing less patients for healthcare. As many of know, the good folks in northern, rural PA are fiercely independent and prefer not to rely on government (federal or state) support. Like the author, I am a proud, former resident of NW/NC PA who likewise is concerned with the state of the region and it’s future.
The Commonwealth spent many years ignoring means of utilizing the Northern Tier’s natural resources. Sadly, in today’s world, as the voting base declines, so does the attention of politicians to their needs.