Mercer County, Pennsylvania Eviction Risk: Moderate

Mercer County, Pennsylvania scores 5.2/10 (Moderate) on the eviction-risk index, an average drawn from 22 tracked cities across the county. That middle-of-the-road figure places it 25th of 67 Pennsylvania eviction laws counties, meaning 24 counties carry higher risk and 42 are more landlord-friendly. For investors sizing up western Pennsylvania, the county is workable but not frictionless: an average rent of $826, a rent-burden rate of 28.3%, and a poverty rate of 14.3% create a tenant pool under real financial pressure, and that stress surfaces in elevated eviction exposure in certain pockets.

The intra-county spread tells the more important story. Scores range from 3 to 6.2, a gap wide enough that two properties a few miles apart can represent fundamentally different operating environments. A landlord buying in the lowest-risk corner of Mercer County faces conditions far closer to a stable suburb than to the higher-risk urban cores in the county's northeast. Location discipline matters here more than the county average suggests.

The cities inside Mercer County

The highest-risk address in the county is Farrell, scoring 6.2/10 with a population of 4,199. Sharon, the county's second-largest city at 12,936 residents, is close behind at 6.1/10. Sandy Lake, Reynolds Heights, and Stoneboro each score 5.7 to 5.8, rounding out the upper-risk tier. These cities share characteristics common to higher-risk markets: smaller renter pools under above-average financial strain, which translates to longer vacancy gaps and a higher probability of nonpayment situations reaching the courthouse.

On the lower end, Grove City scores just 3/10, the most landlord-favorable result in the county, with a population of 7,830. Hermitage, the county's largest city at 16,041 residents, comes in at a moderate 5.1/10. Greenville sits at the county average of 5.2/10. The spread makes clear that risk in Mercer County is hyper-local: sub-market selection, not county-level screening, drives outcomes for landlords here.

State-level laws that apply here

Every landlord operating in Mercer County works under the Pennsylvania Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 (68 P.S. § 250.101 et seq.). Notice requirements vary by situation: a nonpayment-of-rent case requires a 10-day notice; a material-breach eviction requires 15 days for tenancies under one year and 30 days for tenancies of one year or more; end-of-lease terminations require no additional notice period beyond the lease terms. Once a case is filed, an uncontested hearing typically resolves in 30 to 60 days, but a contested matter can run 60 to 150 days. Cost to get through the process ranges from a court filing fee of $130 to $250, a sheriff lockout fee of $50 to $150, and attorney fees of $500 to $3,000 depending on complexity. The full Pennsylvania eviction process and a breakdown of Pennsylvania eviction costs are covered in the statewide guides. Pennsylvania does not require just cause for eviction, carries no statewide rent cap, and expressly preempts local rent-control ordinances, meaning no municipality in Mercer County can impose its own cap. Source-of-income is not a protected class under state law, though landlords should confirm any local fair-housing ordinances with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.

With 36.9% of residents renting and a poverty rate of 14.3%, Mercer County's tenant base is meaningfully cost-burdened, and conditions vary sharply across the 22 cities in the grid above.