Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Eviction Risk: Low

Westmoreland County scores 3.9/10 on the eviction risk index, landing it a Moderate designation and placing it 26th of 67 counties in Pennsylvania eviction laws, which means 25 counties carry higher risk while 41 are more landlord-friendly. At an average rent of $936 and a rent burden of 27.6%, the county sits in a workable middle ground: tenants are not dramatically cost-stressed by statewide standards, but the market is not as low-pressure as the rural western counties that rank in the 40s and 50s. For landlords comparing deployment zones across the region, Westmoreland is a mid-tier market that rewards careful city selection more than a blanket county-level read.

The county's renter share stands at 28.2%, meaning roughly one in four housing units is occupied by a renter. That base is spread across 59 incorporated places, which keeps total portfolio concentration risk manageable. The real question, though, is not the county average but where inside those 59 cities you operate, because scores swing from 3.9 to 5.7 within the same county boundaries.

The cities inside Westmoreland County

The highest-risk locations are clustered along the Allegheny River corridor and older mill towns. Arnold leads the county at 5.7/10. New Kensington, the county's third-largest city at roughly 12,011 residents, follows at 5.6/10, and Monessen (population 6,780) sits at 5.5/10. Irwin also registers 5.5/10, and a tight band of cities including Greensburg, Jeannette, Trafford, and Delmont each score 5.4/10. These communities share characteristics common to post-industrial markets: elevated poverty rates relative to the county average and renter populations that are disproportionately cost-burdened.

The lower-risk end of the county tells a very different story. Murrysville, the county's largest city at 20,817 residents, scores just 5/10, reflecting a more suburban, owner-occupied housing mix and lower eviction pressure. The spread between Murrysville and Arnold is 0.8 points on a 10-point scale, which may sound narrow but corresponds to meaningfully different operating conditions at street level. Risk in Westmoreland County is genuinely hyper-local: two cities 10 miles apart can face fundamentally different tenant-payment dynamics.

State-level laws that apply here

All landlords in Westmoreland County operate under the Pennsylvania eviction laws Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951, codified at 68 P.S. § 250.101 et seq. Notice requirements vary by circumstance: nonpayment of rent requires a 10-day notice, a material breach on a tenancy under one year requires 15 days, and a material breach on a tenancy of one year or more requires 30 days. End-of-lease-term terminations carry no statutory notice requirement. Understanding the full Pennsylvania eviction laws eviction process before a problem arises is essential, because timeline errors reset the clock. An uncontested case resolves in roughly 30 to 60 days; a contested matter extends to 60 to 150 days, which at $936 average monthly rent represents meaningful lost income.

Court filing fees in Pennsylvania eviction laws run $130 to $250, sheriff lockout fees add another $50 to $150, and attorney fees typically range from $500 to $3,000 depending on case complexity. Pennsylvania eviction laws does not require just cause to terminate a tenancy, and the state preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so there is no patchwork of municipal caps to navigate within Westmoreland County. Pennsylvania security deposit limits and Pennsylvania eviction costs are both governed at the state level, giving investors a consistent regulatory baseline across all 59 cities in the county.

With a poverty rate of 12.3% and a renter share of 28.2%, Westmoreland County's aggregate risk is moderate but uneven; the city grid above breaks down the full range from 3.9 to 5.7 across all 59 tracked communities so you can evaluate individual markets rather than relying on the county average alone.