Living in Hazleton, PA — The Mountain City

At roughly 1,886 feet, Hazleton is the highest incorporated city in Pennsylvania — a mountain city of about 30,000 built on anthracite, reborn as one of the state’s fastest-growing small cities, with one of its most exciting food scenes. Dominican, Peruvian and Mexican kitchens now share downtown blocks with white-linen Italian rooms that have anchored the city for generations.

The location works as hard as the city does: Hazleton sits just south of the I-80/I-81 interchange, with I-476 nearby — Wilkes-Barre in about 35 minutes, the Lehigh Valley in under an hour, and both New York and Philadelphia within practical reach.

Food & Drink

• Ovalon Bar & Grill — Hazleton’s longest-standing fine-dining room: white-linen Italian, steaks and seafood.
• Top of the 80’s — fine dining since 1976 in the former Hazleton Country Club clubhouse, with four-mile patio views over Conyngham Valley.
• Senape’s Tavern Pizza — the family-run institution famous for square “tavern pizza” and house-baked bread.
• Frankie’s — the local favorite known for chicken pastine soup and pizza.
• Café Lima — specialty coffee and traditional Peruvian flavors, emblematic of the city’s Latin food scene.
• El Cafecito — the Latin cafe on North Cedar Street, open daily.
• Vesuvio Restaurant & Pizzeria — Italian, pizza and subs downtown.

Things to Do

Hazleton Funfest takes over the city every September — parade, car show, live music. The holidays bring the Night Market and Wassailfest at Can Do Community Park. The Hazleton Art League, with more than 75 years of exhibitions and classes, anchors the arts at the Hayden Family Center. The 10-screen Regal Hazleton cinema sits at Laurel Mall, Penn State Hazleton brings college athletics and lectures to its Highacres campus, and Eckley Miners’ Village — a preserved anthracite “patch town” museum — is a short drive east. Two public golf courses are 15 minutes north in Butler Valley.

Outdoors & Parks

The Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails runs 6.5 miles of crushed limestone through wetlands, past a reservoir and into rare pine barrens — with an extension planned toward Eckley. Nescopeck State Park’s 3,550 acres and 19 miles of trails are 15 minutes north, and community parks including Can Do Community Park and Hazle Township Community Park host events and youth sports.

Gyms & Fitness

Planet Fitness at Laurel Mall Drive, open 24 hours on weekdays, plus the Hazleton YMCA and YWCA on South Church Street and Iron House Gym.

Schools

The Hazleton Area School District serves the city — one of the largest districts in Pennsylvania at more than 14,000 students across roughly 255 square miles and three counties — and its Academy of Sciences STEM magnet school is a genuine draw. Penn State Hazleton offers four-year degrees and 2+2 Penn State pathways right in town.

School Performance

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

• Hazleton Area High School — Keystone Literature 46.9% proficient or advanced (statewide 49.9%) · Keystone Algebra I 24.9% (statewide 41.7%) · four-year graduation rate 76.1% (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

Laurel Mall and the Route 93 corridor cover retail; Weis, ALDI, Walmart, Boyer’s and Gould’s cover groceries; and Lehigh Valley Hospital–Hazleton on East Broad Street provides emergency and specialty care as part of Lehigh Valley Health Network.

The Homes

Hazleton is one of the region’s most affordable markets — classic coal-region housing stock heavy on sturdy single-families, rowhomes and duplexes, much of it built before 1960 with the bones to prove it. For first-time buyers and investors priced out two hours east, the math here still works.