Founded in 1855, The Express-Times began as The Easton Daily Express, a daily newspaper based in Easton, Pennsylvania. The newspaper provided national news and extensive local news coverage of the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The Express-Times was the longest continuously published newspaper in the Lehigh Valley and one of the longest continuously published newspapers in the nation.

The paper won awards in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In 2021, the newspaper was awarded a Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting.

The Express-Times was founded in 1855 as The Easton Daily Express.

In 1917, the newspaper's name was changed to The Easton Express and was later abbreviated to The Express in 1973.

In 1983, Thomson Newspapers bought The Express. In 1991, The Express merged with The Globe-Times, which was based in Bethlehem, PA, which formed The Express-Times. In 1994, MediaNews Group acquired The Express-Times from Thomson.

In 2000, current owner Advance Publications bought MediaNews's New Jersey and Pennsylvania-based newspapers, including The Express-Times.

In 2023, The Express-Times joined the region's other major newspaper, The Morning Call, in dropping their circulation of the Dilbert comic after Scott Adams, the comic's creator, told white people to "get the hell away from [black people]" on a YouTube live stream in response to a public opinion poll by the conservative-leaning Rasmussen Reports, which found that 26% of Black respondents disagreed with the statement that "it's okay to be white."

The Express-Times discontinued its print edition in February 2025 but is available online at lehighvalleylive.com.