Living in Bloomsburg, PA — Pennsylvania’s Only Town

Start with the fact that makes Bloomsburg genuinely one of a kind: it is the only incorporated town in Pennsylvania. Every other municipality in the Commonwealth is a city, a borough or a township. The State General Assembly incorporated Bloomsburg as a town in 1870, merging it with Bloom Township, and the designation has never been repeated.

It is a small practical difference — in a borough the mayor chairs council meetings but does not vote, while Bloomsburg’s mayor chairs and votes — but it is a genuine piece of civic trivia that residents are rightly proud of. The settlement was founded by Ludwig Eyer in 1802 and was known as Eyersburg and Eyertown before it took the Bloomsburg name.

Today it is the county seat of Columbia County with roughly 12,700 residents (2020 Census), sitting on the Susquehanna about 40 miles southwest of Wilkes-Barre.

Things to Do

⭐ The Bloomsburg Fair is the largest fair in Pennsylvania, and it has run here since 1855 — started by Caleb Barton the year before to show off Columbia County’s fruit and grain. It has been an eight-day event since 1989. In 168 years it has been canceled exactly twice: for COVID in 2020, and for flooding in 2011. For one week every autumn this town of 12,700 becomes one of the busiest places in the state.

Beyond fair week, downtown Bloomsburg carries the restaurants, shops and nightlife of a university town, and the Susquehanna riverfront frames it.

Schools & The University

Bloomsburg is served by the Bloomsburg Area School District.

The town’s defining institution is the university, and its name changed recently enough that it is worth being precise about: the school founded as Bloomsburg Academy in 1839 became Bloomsburg University, and in 2022 it merged with Lock Haven and Mansfield to form Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania. The campus here is now Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg, part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. If you see “Bloomsburg University” on an older listing or website, that is the same campus under its former name.

School Performance

State assessment results for the high school serving Bloomsburg, from the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Future Ready PA Index, 2024–25 school year:

• Bloomsburg Area High School — Keystone Literature 72.4% proficient or advanced (statewide 49.9%) · Keystone Algebra I 57.5% (statewide 41.7%) · four-year graduation rate 84.8% (statewide 88.0%)

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Education, Future Ready PA Index, 2024–25. We publish these same three measures, from this same source, on every community page in this guide.

Everyday Essentials

⭐ Geisinger Bloomsburg Hospital is here — a nonprofit acute-care hospital with 76 beds and a full emergency department. That matters well beyond the town line: since Berwick lost its emergency room in 2022, Geisinger Bloomsburg is the nearest ER for a large part of Columbia County.

Downtown and the surrounding commercial corridors carry groceries, retail and services, with county offices in town.

Outdoors & Parks

The Susquehanna defines the town’s southern edge, with river access for fishing and paddling, and the ridges of Columbia and Montour counties rise on either side. Town parks and the university’s facilities round out day-to-day recreation.

The Homes

Bloomsburg’s housing splits along lines you should understand before you shop. There is the historic town stock — substantial older homes on the streets around downtown and the campus — and there is a large student rental market attached to the university, which shapes both prices and neighborhood character block by block. For an investor that student demand is the opportunity; for an owner-occupier it is worth knowing which streets are which before you commit.

One honest note on flooding: the Susquehanna reaches this town. The 2011 flood was severe enough to cancel a fair that had run through two world wars. Low-lying parcels here are floodplain, and you should have the flood zone, base flood elevation and an insurance quote in hand before you write an offer.