Pennsylvania/Cities and towns/Main

City names on segments are used for two things:

• to generate the city names you see on the map
• to find a destination when you enter an address into the waze app.

Every segment in Pennsylvania is located within a city, borough, or township, so every segment of every Minor Highway, Primary Street, Street, Private Road, Parking Lot Road, and Dirt Road/4x4 Trail should have a city name applied to it.  Major Highways  should have a city name applied to all segments that also have street addresses. City names are not required on Freeways and Ramps. Railroads should have the "none" box checked for city.

If you think you have found a place that needs an exception to the rules below, please contact a Pennsylvania state manager.

City, borough, or township?

1. If the segment is within a city or borough, use the name of the city or borough
2. If the segment is not within a city or borough, but within a Census Designated Place (CDP) that is used as though it were a town name by the businesses and residents then use the CDP name. This means that the CDP name does not appear only in mailing addresses (many CDP names are identical to post office names), but is used in the names of businesses, schools, religious centers, as in "Exton Square Mall"
3. If the segment does not satisfy the rules above, then use the township name.
4. If the segment runs along the border of two different city names, then use one in the primary city name and one as the alternate. Example: Street Rd, Willistown, with alternate name Street Rd, Thornbury.
5. Where a segment crosses a city boundary, make sure there is a junction at the border, and that each segment gets the correct city name or names.
6. Do NOT use Post Office names that don't match an official township, boro, or CDP in the segment primary address. Do not use names of villages, neighborhoods, or other unincorporated places in the primary address.
7. If the above rules do not resolve address search issues, talk to a state manager about use of alternate name(s).
8. The above rules should take care of all segments in the state.

Names and duplicate names

1. 

   When a borough and a township have the same name, append "Twp" to the township name.

   

   A road that forms the border of two cities

   Whenever possible, just use the name of the city, borough, or township, with nothing added. Example: "East Goshen" for East Goshen Township
2. If there are a borough and township of the same name in the same county, then append "Twp" to the township name and "Boro" to the borough name For example: Tionesta township surrounds Tionesta borough. In this case, use "Tionesta Boro" for the borough and "Tionesta Twp" for the township.
   • If there is a city of the same name as a township or borough in the same county, use "Twp" or "Boro" for the township or borough, and no designation of City (Examples: "Bethlehem", "Bethlehem Twp" both in Northampton county; "Chester" and "Chester Twp", both in Delaware County)
3. If the same name is used in several different counties for the same type of municipal subdivision, add a comma followed by the county name in every county.
4. If there are a township and a borough of the same name in the same county, use "Twp" and "Boro" (see above) in addition to the county name
   • If the county name is identical to the city name, leave off the county name (Example: The city of "Washington", in Washington County. The 22 Washington townships in the other counties get the county name appended)
   • If the county name is "Delaware", leave off the county name
5. If there is a township in one county and a borough in another county, the county names are enough to distinguish them (Example: "Hanover, Northampton", "Hanover, Lehigh", "Hanover, York")
6. If the city name itself includes the word "City" or "Boro", this is not considered a duplicate of a city without this string in the name. (Examples: "Broad Top City" - borough, Huntingdon and "Broad Top" - township, Bedford; "Washington Boro", a CDP in Lancaster County, not a duplicate name of the other 23 Washingtons in PA)

More Information

You can learn more about what a CDP is, see a list of Census Designated Place names, and read more about Duplicate cities. See Mapping Resources for more information about municipal and CDP maps.