| Arnold, Pennsylvania | |
| Settlement Type: | City |
| Motto: | Proud City of Proud People |
| Pushpin Map: | Pennsylvania#USA |
| Pushpin Label: | Arnold |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location within the U.S. state of Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates: | 40.5775°N -79.7644°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name1: | Pennsylvania |
| Subdivision Name2: | Westmoreland |
| Established Title: | Settled |
| Established Date: | 1781 |
| Established Title2: | Incorporated (borough) |
| Established Date2: | 1896 |
| Established Title3: | Incorporated (city) |
| Established Date3: | 1939 |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Shannon Santucci (D) |
| Unit Pref: | Imperial |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Area Total Km2: | 2.21 |
| Area Total Sq Mi: | 0.85 |
| Area Land Km2: | 1.90 |
| Area Land Sq Mi: | 0.73 |
| Area Water Km2: | 0.31 |
| Area Water Sq Mi: | 0.12 |
| Population Total: | 4772 |
| Population As Of: | 2020 |
| Population Density Km2: | 2516.92 |
| Population Density Sq Mi: | 6519.13 |
| Timezone: | Eastern (EST) |
| Utc Offset: | -5 |
| Timezone Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -4 |
| Blank Name: | FIPS code |
| Blank Info: | 42-03088 |
Arnold is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 5,157 at the 2010 census.
Present-day Westmoreland County was part of the hunting reserves of the Iroquois Indians. White colonists began to penetrate the area in the 1750s, and circa 1781 Robert McCrea purchased the land on which Arnold is situated. William Jack acquired the property and later passed it on to Wilson Jack. The area around Arnold was first settled in 1852 by Major Andrew Arnold, who grew up in Kittanning.
With the creation of Westmoreland County in 1773, the area that became Arnold was originally part of Burrell, and later Lower Burrell, townships. Arnold was then part of the newly created city of New Kensington from 1891 until it was separately incorporated as a borough in January 1896, and as a third-class city in 1939. Arnold is governed under Pennsylvania's third-class city code, with a mayor, treasurer, controller, and four council members elected at-large. Past mayors of Arnold have been M. Frank Horne (1939-1960), Alfred Colaianni (1960-1963), Willie DeMao (1963-2004), John Campbell (2004–2012), and Larry Milito (2012-2016).
Karen Peconi-Biriccochi, a Democrat, took office in 2016. In 2018, during protests over the shooting of an unarmed African American teen by a white police officer in East Pittsburgh, Peconi authored a social media post that urged law enforcement to "bring the hoses" against the protesters. Calls for her resignation resulted in city council formally requesting the state legislature to remove her from office.[2] On May 21, 2019 Peconi-Biriccochi was defeated by Councilman Joseph Bia II in the Democratic primary, effectively ending her bid for re-election in the heavily Democratic city. Bia was subsequently elected to a full term as mayor in November 2019 and took office in 2020. Bia was defeated in the 2023 primary by former police chief Shannon Santucci, who took office in 2024.
Arnold is located on the eastern shore of the Allegheny River, northeast of Pittsburgh. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.8sqmi, of which 0.7sqmi is land and 0.1sqmi (6.41%) is water.
Arnold's only land border is with New Kensington to the north, east and south. Across the Allegheny River, Arnold runs adjacent with East Deer Township in Allegheny County
As of the census[3] of 2000, there were 5,667 people, 2,589 households, and 1,439 families residing in the city. The population density was 7706.6sp=usNaNsp=us. There were 2,976 housing units at an average density of 4047.1sp=usNaNsp=us. The racial makeup of the city was 84.84% White, 12.76% African American, 0.18% Native American, 0.14% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.26% from other races, and 1.80% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.13% of the population.
There were 2,589 households, of which 23.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.5% were married couples living together, 14.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.4% were non-families. 39.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.15 and the average family size was 2.90.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 21.6% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 22.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $26,190, and the median income for a family was $32,569. Males had a median income of $31,164 versus $23,953 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,631. About 14.0% of families and 17.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 30.8% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over.
Notable landmarks in Arnold have included:
Arnold is served by the New Kensington–Arnold School District, which includes four schools in New Kensington and Arnold: Valley Jr/Sr High School, three elementary schools. Roy A. Hunt Elementary (Arnold), H.D. Berkey School (Arnold), and Martin Elementary School (New Kensington).
The current Roy A. Hunt Elementary once served as Arnold's high school prior to the merger of the two districts. After the merge was completed it was used as Valley Middle School until the restructuring of the school district at the end of 2012, and now stands as an elementary school holding grades 3-6