Bradford County, Pennsylvania Eviction Risk: Moderate

Bradford County carries an average eviction-risk score of 4/10, placing it in the Moderate tier and squarely in the middle third of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. Thirty-five counties in the state score higher (riskier), and 31 score lower (more landlord-friendly), so operators here face conditions that are neither a red flag nor a clear green light. Across the county's 18 tracked cities, an average rent of $893 and a rent-burden rate of 26.8% suggest tenants are managing housing costs within normal bounds for rural Pennsylvania eviction laws, though a poverty rate of 14.2% keeps default risk real.

The intra-county range tells the more important story: scores run from 3.7 to 5/10, a spread of 1.3 points across a county with a total tracked population of roughly 20,232. That gap is wide enough to push a deal from acceptable to genuinely elevated risk depending on which borough or township the property sits in. Investors underwriting here should evaluate individual cities, not rely on the county average alone.

The cities inside Bradford County

Several communities sit at the ceiling of the county's risk range. Athens (population 3,243), Canton (population 1,531), Troy (population 1,408), Wyalusing (population 653), and North Towanda each score 5/10, meaning these are the highest-risk markets in Bradford County by this model's measure. Sayre (population 5,431) and Towanda (population 2,791) are close behind at 4.9/10. These are the county's largest population centers, so concentration of rental inventory here comes with concentration of risk.

Landlords looking for relative breathing room within the county should look toward South Waverly (4.6/10) and Monroe (4.7/10). The variation between a 5/10 market like Athens and a 4.6/10 market like South Waverly may not look large in absolute terms, but at the margin those differences reflect meaningfully different tenant demographics, rent-burden levels, and local economic conditions. Risk here is genuinely hyper-local.

State-level laws that apply here

Every landlord in Bradford County operates under Pennsylvania eviction laws state law, specifically the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 (68 P.S. § 250.101 et seq.). Notice requirements vary by situation: nonpayment of rent triggers a 10-day notice under 68 P.S. § 250.501(b); a material breach on a tenancy under one year requires 15 days, while a tenancy of one year or more requires 30 days, both under 68 P.S. § 250.501(a). End-of-lease-term notices require no advance notice period under 68 P.S. § 250.501(c). Pennsylvania eviction laws does not require just cause to terminate a tenancy, and state law preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so Bradford County municipalities cannot layer on additional rent caps. Reviewing the full Pennsylvania eviction laws eviction process before serving any notice is strongly recommended, as uncontested cases still take 30 to 60 days and contested matters can run 60 to 150 days.

On costs, the Pennsylvania eviction costs for a single case include court filing fees of $130 to $250, sheriff lockout fees of $50 to $150, and attorney fees that typically range $500 to $3,000 depending on complexity. A contested eviction in Bradford County can therefore cost well over $3,000 in combined fees alone, making tenant screening and lease quality the most cost-effective risk controls available to any landlord operating here.

With 43.9% of Bradford County residents renting and a poverty rate of 14.2%, the landlord-tenant relationship here carries meaningful financial stakes on both sides; the city-by-city grid above breaks down how that risk distributes across the county's 18 tracked communities.