Perry County, Pennsylvania Eviction Risk: Moderate

Perry County, Pennsylvania eviction laws carries an average eviction-risk score of 4/10 (Moderate), placing it 24th out of 67 Pennsylvania counties, where rank 1 is the highest-risk. That means 23 counties are riskier for landlords, and 43 are calmer markets. For investors sizing up this rural corridor along the Susquehanna, the county sits squarely in the middle third of the state, presenting neither an extreme red flag nor a clear green light. Average rent across the 10 tracked cities runs $844 per month, rent burden averages 28.5% of household income, and roughly 35.1% of residents rent rather than own, giving the local market a meaningful tenant base while signaling that household finances are reasonably stretched.

Within the county, scores span 4.4 to 5.6, a 1.2-point swing that matters when choosing between specific communities. Two cities at the top of that range carry materially different operating conditions than the quieter end, so portfolio decisions made at the county level alone can obscure real exposure differences at the street level.

The cities inside Perry County

The highest-risk cities in the county are Marysville (population 2,681, score 3.7/10) and Duncannon (population 1,391, score 4.2/10), tied at the top of the risk range. Both are the county's most active rental communities by population, which concentrates landlord exposure there. Loysville scores 4/10 and Blain scores 3.6/10, keeping the upper cluster tightly grouped. Newport, the second-largest community at 1,621 residents, comes in at 4.4/10, matching the county average.

On the lower end, Bloomfield posts the most landlord-friendly score in the county at 3.8/10, with Millerstown at 4/10 and Liverpool at 4.2/10 also offering comparatively calmer conditions. Landlords with flexibility on location should weight these city-level scores heavily, because a single county average of 5.2 masks the full spread across the 10 cities mapped here.

State-level laws that apply here

Every landlord operating in Perry County works under the Pennsylvania eviction process defined by the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 (68 P.S. § 250.101 et seq.). For nonpayment of rent, a landlord must provide a 10-day written notice to quit before filing. Breach-of-lease notices run 15 days for tenancies under one year and 30 days for tenancies of one year or more. No notice is required at the end of a fixed lease term. Uncontested evictions typically resolve in 30 to 60 days; contested cases can stretch to 60 to 150 days from filing to possession.

Pennsylvania eviction costs add up quickly: court filing fees range from $130 to $250, sheriff lockout fees from $50 to $150, and attorney fees from $500 to $3,000, depending on case complexity. Pennsylvania eviction laws state law does not require just cause for eviction, and the state preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so Perry County landlords face no rent caps. For a full breakdown of deposit rules, see Pennsylvania security deposit limits, and for tenant-rights disclosures applicable statewide, review Pennsylvania tenant protections before leasing.

With an average poverty rate of 18.2% across the county's tracked cities, landlords should underwrite tenant quality carefully. The city-level risk grid above breaks down scores for all 10 Perry County communities, giving a more precise view of where conditions tighten or ease.