Clinton County, Pennsylvania Eviction Risk: Moderate
25 incorporated cities and unincorporated areas. The county Eviction Risk Score is held aloft by the city of Lock Haven (4.5) and a small number of dense urban cores. Rent-control coverage varies by city.
Ranked #12 of 67 PA counties
24k residents · 25 cities · 10 tracts
Clinton County eviction risk score history
Key metrics
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Tenant beats landlord28.3%/ 100 outcomesIn court-decided eviction outcomes for Clinton County, PA, tenants prevail in roughly 28.3% of contested cases. A higher number means landlords face stronger tenant defenses and longer calendars.
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Timeline70dfiling → judgmentFrom the moment an unlawful-detainer notice is filed in Clinton County, PA until a money judgment is entered, a contested eviction takes about 70 days on average. Longer timelines mean more lost rent for landlords.
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Cost range$3.0–7.5klegal + lost rentA typical eviction in Clinton County, PA costs landlords $3,018 to $7,498 all-in, covering court filing fees, process-server costs, attorney time, and lost rent.
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Average rent$90527% stretched on rentAverage gross rent in Clinton County, PA is $905 per month per the U.S. Census American Community Survey. 27% of renter households here spend more than 30% of pre-tax income on rent.
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Renters37.2%of households37.2% of occupied housing units in Clinton County, PA are renter-occupied. A higher renter share usually correlates with more eviction filings and a more active rental market.
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Poverty17.2%7.2% unemp.17.2% of Clinton County, PA residents live below the federal poverty line, and unemployment runs at 7.2%. Both feed the economic-stress sub-score in our Eviction Risk Score model.
Scrub 50 years
Clinton County averages 4.8/10 across 25 cities, ranging from a low of 3.5/10 to a high of 5.9/10 in Mill Hall, the county's highest-risk community. Ranks 35 of 67 Pennsylvania counties by eviction risk (rank 1 = highest risk), placing it in the middle third of the state.
How Clinton County ranks in Pennsylvania
Landlord guides for Pennsylvania
| City↕ | Population↕ | Risk↕ | % income on rent↕ | Average rent↕ | Lean↕ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | Lock Haven | 8,447 | 4.4 | 28.7% | $792 | Rep |
| 002 | Mill Hall | 1,364 | 4.2 | 31.8% | $947 | Rep |
| 003 | Dunnstown | 1,331 | 3.9 | 14.2% | $1,084 | Rep |
| 004 | Flemington | 1,322 | 4.1 | 31.0% | $755 | Rep |
| 005 | Avis | 1,171 | 3.9 | 31.0% | $825 | Rep |
| 006 | Castanea | 1,138 | 3.7 | 23.6% | $969 | Rep |
| 007 | Nittany | 1,096 | 3.5 | 26.0% | $920 | Rep |
| 008 | Renovo | 1,045 | 4.5 | 28.9% | $682 | Rep |
| 009 | McElhattan | 1,036 | 3.8 | 13.5% | $861 | Rep |
| 010 | Woolrich | 815 | 3.8 | 12.8% | $2,163 | Rep |
| 011 | Beech Creek | 678 | 4.0 | 25.9% | $525 | Rep |
| 012 | Blanchard | 593 | 3.6 | 25.0% | $1,060 | Rep |
| 013 | Lamar | 570 | 3.7 | 18.6% | $920 | Rep |
| 014 | Rote | 501 | 3.7 | 18.8% | $925 | Rep |
| 015 | Farwell | 429 | 4.1 | 51.0% | $983 | Rep |
| 016 | South Renovo | 409 | 4.4 | 40.7% | $988 | Rep |
| 017 | Loganton | 391 | 3.4 | 18.5% | $713 | Rep |
| 018 | Salona | 357 | 3.8 | 43.1% | $911 | Rep |
| 019 | North Bend | 313 | 4.2 | 34.4% | $888 | Rep |
| 020 | Mackeyville | 279 | 4.0 | 18.8% | $1,825 | Rep |
| 021 | Tylersville | 171 | 3.9 | 26.0% | $920 | Rep |
| 022 | Hyner | 127 | 3.7 | 26.0% | $920 | Rep |
| 023 | Clintondale | 127 | 3.4 | 26.0% | $920 | Rep |
| 024 | Monument | 89 | 4.3 | 26.0% | $920 | Rep |
| 025 | Orviston | 69 | 4.2 | 26.0% | $920 | Rep |
County heatmap
One county, multiple regulatory regimes.
Clinton County, Pennsylvania eviction laws carries an average eviction-risk score of 4.8/10, placing it in the Moderate tier across its 25 tracked cities. At the state level, the county sits at rank 35 of 67 Pennsylvania counties, meaning 34 counties are riskier and 32 are more landlord-friendly, a genuine middle-of-the-road position. For landlords and investors, that average masks a meaningful spread: individual city scores run from 3.5 at the low end to 5.9 at the high end, a 2.4-point gap that translates to real differences in tenant-screening pressure, rent-burden exposure, and eviction frequency depending on exactly where a property sits. With an average rent of $905 and an average rent burden of 26.7%, the county's renter base is paying a meaningful share of income toward housing, which contributes to the moderate risk picture.
The county's average renter share stands at 37.2% of households, a sizable tenant pool relative to its total population of roughly 23,868. Operators comfortable with moderate fundamentals will find viable opportunities here, but the wide intra-county range makes city-level due diligence essential before committing capital to any specific location.
The cities inside Clinton County
The highest-risk corner of the county is Mill Hall, which scores 5.9/10, the county's peak figure. With a population of 1,364, it is a small community where a concentrated renter base and elevated poverty exposure drive the elevated reading. Flemington (population 1,322) is close behind at 5.4/10, and Lock Haven, the county's largest city at 8,447 residents, comes in at 5.3/10. Renovo also scores 5.3/10 with a population of 1,045. Taken together, these four cities account for a disproportionate share of the county's risk concentration.
The lower-risk end of the county tells a different story. Nittany scores 3.9/10, Avis lands at 4/10, and Dunnstown sits at 4.2/10. The contrast between Mill Hall at 5.9 and Nittany at 3.9 makes clear that risk in Clinton County is hyper-local. An investor holding two properties in different parts of the county can face meaningfully different operating environments even though both fall under the same county average.
State-level laws that apply here
All landlords in Clinton County operate under 68 P.S. § 250.101 et seq. (Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951). For nonpayment of rent, Pennsylvania eviction laws law requires a 10-day notice before filing. Material-breach notices run 15 days for tenancies under one year and 30 days for tenancies of one year or more. No notice period is required to terminate at the end of a fixed lease term. Understanding the Pennsylvania eviction laws eviction process matters here because uncontested cases typically resolve in 30 to 60 days, while contested matters can stretch to 60 to 150 days. Pennsylvania eviction costs are a tangible line item: court filing fees range from $130 to $250, sheriff lockout fees from $50 to $150, and attorney fees from $500 to $3,000, so even an uncontested case carries real out-of-pocket exposure.
Pennsylvania eviction laws does not require just cause for eviction and, by statute, preempts any local rent control ordinance, which keeps the regulatory environment consistent across the state's counties. Pennsylvania security deposit limits and Pennsylvania tenant protections against retaliation are governed by 68 P.S. § 250.205 and 68 P.S. § 250.206, respectively. Source-of-income is not a protected class under state law, though landlords should verify any applicable local ordinances. These statutes apply uniformly to every property in Clinton County regardless of municipality.
With a 17.2% average poverty rate and 37.2% of households renting, Clinton County's risk profile is uneven enough that the city-by-city grid above is the most reliable starting point for any specific acquisition or portfolio decision.
Eviction filings in Pennsylvania
The Princeton Eviction Lab Tracking System covers Pennsylvania statewide (no county-level tracker available for Clinton County). In the past month, 8,054 statewide filings were recorded, 0.94× the historical baseline (below baseline).
- 8,054Past month (state)
- 108,576Past 12 months
- 0.95×vs baseline (12 mo)
Eviction filings in Clinton County
In September 2025, 22 eviction filings were recorded in Clinton County, 90.7% of the historical average (near average).2
- 22Sep 2025
- 90.7%of historical avg
- 4,327Renter households
- 14.2%Poverty rate
Historical eviction filings in Clinton County
From 2000 to 2018, eviction filings in Clinton County increased 88%. The peak was 243 filings in 2017.3
- 1222000
- 243Peak (2017)
- 2292018
Data covers 2000–2018, the full span of the Princeton Eviction Lab's national county court-records dataset.
How Clinton County compares
Clinton County's average eviction-risk score of 4.8/10 is nearly identical to its Pennsylvania peer group: Bradford County (4.8/10), Adams County (4.8/10), Pike County (4.6/10), Crawford County (4.9/10), and Fayette County (4.9/10) all cluster within 0.3 points, confirming a consistent mid-tier risk band across Pennsylvania's rural and small-metro counties.
Within the state, Clinton County ranks 35 of 67 counties, where rank 1 is the highest-risk county. That position means 34 Pennsylvania counties carry greater eviction risk and 32 are more landlord-friendly, placing Clinton County precisely in the middle third of the state rather than at either extreme.