Wayne County, Pennsylvania Eviction Risk: Moderate

Wayne County carries an average eviction-risk score of 4.1/10, landing it in the Moderate tier and in the middle third of Pennsylvania counties, with 22 counties scoring higher and 44 scoring lower. For landlords, that middle position is not cause for complacency: average rents sit at $1,052 per month while the average rent burden reaches 35.6% of renter income, a combination that pressures household budgets and elevates the baseline probability of payment problems.

Across the county's 14 cities, scores range from 4.2 to 5.7, a gap of 1.5 full points that matters operationally. An investor placing capital at the low end of that range faces meaningfully different tenant-stress dynamics than one buying in a community at the ceiling. Understanding where each municipality falls, rather than relying on the county average, is the essential first step before committing to a Wayne County rental property.

The cities inside Wayne County

Three communities tie for the highest risk reading in the county: Honesdale (5.7/10, population 4,467), Waymart (5.7/10, population 1,114), and Hawley (5.7/10, population 925). Honesdale is the largest of the three by a wide margin, meaning it also concentrates the most absolute rental exposure at the county's peak risk level. Pocono Springs follows at 5.5/10, with Vandling and White Mills each at 5.4/10.

At the other end of the spectrum, The Hideout scores 4.3/10 with a population of 2,432, making it both the least-risky and the second-most-populated community in the county's data set. Wallenpaupack Lake Estates comes in at 5.2/10. The contrast between The Hideout at 4.3 and Honesdale at 5.7 underscores how hyper-local risk is inside Wayne County: two communities fewer than 15 miles apart can sit more than a full point apart on the risk scale.

State-level laws that apply here

Every landlord operating in Wayne County is governed by the Pennsylvania eviction laws Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951, 68 P.S. § 250.101 et seq. Notice requirements vary by the reason for eviction: nonpayment of rent requires a 10-day notice under 68 P.S. § 250.501(b); a material breach in a tenancy under one year requires 15 days; a breach in a tenancy of one year or more requires 30 days; and lease-end terminations require no statutory 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, so no municipality in the county can impose a rent cap. A full walkthrough of timing and paperwork is available in the Pennsylvania eviction laws eviction process guide.

On the cost side, the Pennsylvania eviction costs for a single case add up quickly: court filing fees run $130 to $250, sheriff lockout fees add $50 to $150, and attorney fees, if retained, range from $500 to $3,000. Even an uncontested eviction can take 30 to 60 days; a contested case stretches to 60 to 150 days. Those timelines and fee ranges are statewide floors, not local exceptions, so every landlord in the county should price them into their underwriting assumptions.

With an average poverty rate of 19.2% and roughly 29.9% of residents renting, the financial fragility underlying Wayne County's Moderate score is real; the city-level grid above shows which specific communities carry the most concentration of that stress.