3rd Class Counties vs.

2nd and 4th Class Counties

Name Population Difference Budget Size Difference

Montgomery County*** 846,298 528,781 567,000,000 72,000,000

Buck County*** 642,949 325,432 487,000,000 -8,000,000
Delaware County*(***) 573,592 256,075 358,000,000 -137,000,000
Lancaster County*** 560,252 242,735 306,000,000 -189,000,000
Chester County 550,782 119,496 683,000,000 188,000,000
Berks County 431,286 113,769 652,000,000 157,000,000
Lehigh County* 376,874 59,357 520,000,000 25,000,000
Westmoreland County 350,349 32,832 415,000,000 -80,000,000
Luzerne County * 326,062 8,545 423,000,000 -72,000,000
Northampton County * 317,517 0 495,000,000 0
Dauphin County 289,413 -28,104 283,000,000 -212,000,000
Cumberland County 266,687 -50,830 308,000,000 -187,000,000
Erie County * 266,078 -51,439 580,000,000 85,000,000
Lackawana County * 215,273 -102,244 318,000,000 -177,000,000
Washington County ** 210,754 -106,763 299,000,000 -196,000,000
Butler County** 197,811 -119,706 262,000,000 -233,000,000
Monroe County** 167,871 -149,646 210,000,000 -285,000,000
Bever County** 167,519 -149,998 255,000,000 -240,000,000
Centre County** 158,860 -158,657 142,000,000 -353,000,000
Franklin County** 157,215 -160,302 171,000,000 -324,000,000
Fayette County** 124,397 -193,120 87,000,000 -408,000,000

Populations based on the 2023 Census Measurements of Population

Chester is a 3rd Class County with a population of a 2nd class county
Yellow means county in the study
* Home Rule County
** 4th Class County
*** 2nd Class County

Adding in the County's 3.5% Peer Group Class 3

Step Structure 98.70% 95.10%
Step Structure 104.40% 100.80%

Class 3 Basepay is .1% higher than Northampton County as compared to 3.6% from 2023
Putting Northampton County Virtually Equal to all its 3rd class piers while having a budget $188,000000
smaller than the largest 3rd class county Chester.