Gilberton is a borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, four miles west by south of Mahanoy City. Its population was 769 at the 2010 census, a decline from 867 in 2000. Extensive deposits of anthracite coal are in the region, and coal-mining had been practiced by many of the 4,373 people who lived there in 1900. The coal-mining industry was thriving in 1910, and 5,401 people lived in Gilberton.