Its southern boundary areas are on Broad Mountain and the northern tier is also mountainous, so most of the people live in the valley of the Mahanoy Creek, which flows westward into the Susquehanna River.

Its unincorporated communities include Bear Run, Boston Run, Bowmans, Buck Mountain, Craigs, Ellen Gowen, Hills Terrace, Maple Hill, Morea, New Boston, Park Place, St. Nicholas, Shoemakers, and Vulcan.

339 starts in Mahanoy City on 54 and proceeds northwest through Brandonville to provide access to Columbia County.

The racial makeup of the township was 99.73% White, 0.18% Native American and 0.09% Asian.

27.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.