THE NORTHAMPTON COUNTY LAND BRIEF
Land in the
Northern Shale Valleys setting.
Northampton County has 369.8 square miles of land in Pennsylvania. 7 mapped landscape regions meet across Northampton County: Northern Shale Valleys, Northern Limestone/Dolomite Valleys, Northern Glaciated Shale and Slate Valleys, among others.
Long, roughly parallel ridges and valleys follow folded and faulted rock layers. Limestone valleys, sandstone ridges and other geologic contrasts produce varied terrain and numerous regional springs and caves.
Regional context: Ridge and Valley ↗ · Regional mapping across the county footprint
Where the landscape changes
Northampton County intersects 7 mapped regional units. The largest mapped shares are:
- Northern Shale Valleys36.6%
- Northern Limestone/Dolomite Valleys30.4%
- Northern Glaciated Shale and Slate Valleys16.1%
- Reading Prong10.4%
- Northern Sandstone Ridges4.9%
Northeastern Highlands in Northampton County
Forested hills and mountains span northern New England, the Adirondacks and higher Catskills. Glacial lakes and steep streams accompany a transition between northern hardwood and spruce-fir forests.
Read the regional source ↗Finding your parcel within Northampton County
The atlas lists 50 cities, towns, townships, and Census communities associated with Northampton County, including Upper Mount Bethel, Moore, Lehigh. The list includes overlapping geography types and does not divide the county into exclusive service areas.
Northampton County by land and water
The Census records 7.36 square miles of water within Northampton County, or 2% of its total area. That share is close to Northampton County’s 2%. This is geographic context; waterfront status and usable land must be checked at the parcel.
For scale, Northampton County has 233.3 times the land area of nearby Nazareth borough (1.59 square miles). These areas describe boundaries, not comparable property prices.
The Census boundary meets Bucks County, Carbon County, Lehigh County, Monroe County within Pennsylvania. A tract near one of these lines should be matched to the county identifier on its own records.

