West Mifflin, Pennsylvania

West Mifflin is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, located southeast of downtown Pittsburgh. The population was 22,464 at the 2000 census.

Although the borough is heavily residential, it is home to one of America's oldest traditional amusement parks, Kennywood Park; the fourth largest shopping mall in the region, Century III; advanced naval nuclear propulsion technology research and development facility, Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory; monorail manufacturer Bombardier; US Steel's Irvin Plant; Community College of Allegheny County's South Campus; the Allegheny County Airport, and various other businesses and industries.

Geography
West Mifflin is located at °N, °W (40.368089, -79.897633).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 14.4 square miles (37.3 km²), of which, 14.2 square miles (36.7 km²) of it is land and 0.3 square miles (0.7 km²) of it (1.80%) is water. The landscape is largely hilly and wooded, and the borough's eastern boundary is contiguous with the Monongahela River three separate times. Much of the original landscape has been altered as a result of the historic dumping of steel mill byproducts such as slag and fly ash. Coal mining has also affected the flow and water quality of small streams. Land developers have produced more level ground by clean-filling ravines and other small parcels of land to improve the land usage. Toxic waste dump areas are meticulously monitored with water quality improvement with bioremediation successfully implemented. West Mifflin operates its own sewage treatment facility.

Surrounding communities
The borough shares borders with the City of Pittsburgh neighborhoods Lincoln Place and Hays as well as the boroughs of Munhall, Whitaker, Baldwin, Pleasant Hills, Jefferson Hills, Dravosburg, Braddock, and the cities of Duquesne, McKeesport, and Clairton.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 22,464 people, 9,509 households, and 6,475 families residing in the borough. The population density was 1,586.2 people per square mile (612.5/km²). There were 9,966 housing units at an average density of 703.7 per square mile (271.7/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 89.64% White, 8.85% African American, 0.12% Native American, 0.25% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.25% from other races, and 0.84% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.57% of the population.

There were 9,509 households out of which 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.6% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.9% were non-families. 29.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.89.

In the borough the population was spread out with 21.5% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 26.2% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 21.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 89.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.3 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $36,130, and the median income for a family was $46,192. Males had a median income of $36,984 versus $26,529 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $18,140. About 8.8% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.6% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.

Schools
The West Mifflin Area School District is the public education provider for the borough. The district operates the following seven schools: the Early Childhood Education Center, Clara Barton Elementary, Homeville Elementary, New England Elementary, New Emerson Elementary, West Mifflin Area Middle School, and West Mifflin Area High School. Although the district bears the borough's name, it also provides PreSchool-12 education to the residents of Whitaker and high school education to a number of students residing in the City of Duquesne.