Pennsylvania Is a Deed State - And Every Delinquent Record We Track Sits in the Two Counties That Do Not Follow the State's Rules

Pennsylvania is a tax deed state. Its county tax sales convey the property itself, not a lien certificate you hold for interest. But the statute that governs those sales is not the same everywhere, and the split is not a footnote — it decides whether you get clear title at the sale or wait out a nine-month redemption. The 65 counties under the Real Estate Tax Sale Law work one way. Philadelphia and Allegheny work another.

Here is the part no other page answering this question publishes: we track 65,805 tax-delinquent Pennsylvania properties, and every single one of them is in Philadelphia or Allegheny. The September upset sale that every Pennsylvania guide describes applies to zero of them.

The short answer

• Pennsylvania is a deed state, not a lien state. You are buying property at these sales, not a certificate that earns interest while somebody else keeps the house.
• 65 counties run under RETSL — the Real Estate Tax Sale Law. An annual upset sale in September conveys a deed that is still subject to existing mortgages and liens of record. A later judicial "free and clear" sale discharges those liens on parcels nobody bought. Once the sale is confirmed there is no right of redemption.
• Philadelphia and Allegheny run under a different statute — the Municipal Claims and Tax Lien Act. Sheriff's tax sales run year-round rather than on one September date, and owner-occupied property carries a nine-month post-sale redemption.
• This RETSL-versus-MCTLA divide is the single most important distinction in Pennsylvania. It determines whether a buyer receives clear title immediately or must wait out a redemption window.

Where the delinquent inventory actually is

"It varies by county" is where most answers stop. It is true, and on its own it is useless, because it does not tell you which side of the divide the properties are on. We can answer that with a count.

County	Delinquent properties	Share of PA inventory	Avg. back taxes owed	Estimated total owed	Statute
Philadelphia	54,383	82.6%	$7,301.73	$397.1 million	MCTLA — sheriff's sale, 9-month redemption
Allegheny	11,422	17.4%	$8,728.41	$99.7 million	MCTLA — sheriff's sale, 9-month redemption
All 65 RETSL counties	0 in our data	0%	—	—	RETSL — September upset sale, no redemption

65,805 delinquent properties, roughly $496.8 million in unpaid property tax, at a record-weighted average of $7,549 each. That is Pennsylvania as the sixth-largest pool of tax-delinquent property in our database, behind Florida, Texas, Arizona, Ohio and Illinois, and it is about 3.95% of every delinquent record we track nationally.

Read that table the honest way. It is not a claim that the 65 RETSL counties have no delinquent property — of course they do. It is a statement about coverage: we currently track 2 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties, and those two happen to be the two exceptions to the state's general rule. If you build a Pennsylvania plan around the September upset sale calendar, none of the data on this page describes it.

Why the divide changes what you are actually buying

Under RETSL (65 counties), the upset sale is a trap for the unprepared. The upset price is taxes, municipal claims and costs — and the deed you get passes subject to mortgages and other liens of record. A cheap winning bid can sit behind a live mortgage. The judicial "free and clear" sale held later for unsold parcels is the lien-free auction, with lower minimums, which is why many investors skip the upset sale and wait for it. Under RETSL there is no post-sale redemption once the sale is confirmed.

Under MCTLA (Philadelphia and Allegheny), you are buying with a clock attached. Sheriff's tax sales run on rolling schedules year-round. Owner-occupied property carries a nine-month redemption running from acknowledgment or recording of the sheriff's deed, generally limited to homes occupied as a residence for at least 90 days before the sale. If the owner redeems, the buyer is repaid the bid plus 10% interest on the bid and costs. Non-owner-occupied property in those two counties generally does not qualify.

That 10% is the closest thing Pennsylvania has to a lien-state return, and it is worth understanding what it is: not a certificate you can go out and buy, but the consolation payment on a deed purchase that got undone. You cannot plan a portfolio around it, because you do not control whether the owner redeems.

The window before any sale is where the Pennsylvania inventory really is

All 65,805 records above are properties that are behind on taxes, not properties scheduled for sale next month. That gap is the whole opportunity, and in Philadelphia it is unusually wide: 54,383 delinquent properties in a single county, averaging $7,301.73 owed apiece.

Two signals we surface on the Philadelphia list are worth naming, because they change who you are writing to:

• 339 Philadelphia records carry heir signals — indications the person on the deed is not the person who would have to sign.
• 51 carry deceased-owner signals.

Those are small numbers against 54,383, and we would rather print them small than round them up. They are also the records where a letter to the address on the tax bill goes nowhere and the deal goes to whoever does the extra work. Allegheny's records are not enriched with those signals yet, so its zeros mean "not checked," not "none."

Getting the Pennsylvania list

Knowing Pennsylvania is a deed state does not put a single address in front of you. The list does.

• Pennsylvania market data — delinquent counts, average owed, and deal grades for the Pennsylvania counties we cover.
• Philadelphia County and Allegheny County — open either one and see what is actually in it before you pay anything.
• Pennsylvania investing guide — the state's sale process, redemption, and timelines in one place.
• Tax delinquent property in Pennsylvania — the step-by-step version of the process.
• Over-the-counter tax liens — what happens to the parcels nobody bids on.
• Property tax delinquency statistics — the national picture Pennsylvania sits inside, from the same database.
• Browse all counties — the 206 counties LienSuite covers.

Create a free account to open a Pennsylvania county and see the records for yourself.

Pennsylvania tax lien and tax deed questions

Is Pennsylvania a tax lien state or a tax deed state?

A tax deed state. Pennsylvania sells the deed at its county tax sales, not liens. The 65 counties governed by the Real Estate Tax Sale Law hold an annual upset sale that conveys a deed subject to existing liens, followed later by judicial "free and clear" sales that discharge those liens on unsold parcels. Philadelphia and Allegheny counties operate under a different statute, the Municipal Claims and Tax Lien Act, which uses sheriff's tax sales.

Can I buy a tax lien certificate in Pennsylvania?

Not the way you can in Florida or Arizona. Pennsylvania's tax sales convey property, not investor-held certificates that pay a set interest rate during a redemption period. The nearest equivalent is the 10% interest on the bid that an MCTLA buyer is repaid if an owner-occupant redeems in Philadelphia or Allegheny — a refund on a purchase that was reversed, not a product you can shop for.

What is the difference between an upset sale and a judicial sale?

A RETSL upset-sale deed passes subject to existing mortgages and liens of record. A judicial "free and clear" sale, held later for unsold parcels, discharges those liens — which is why many investors target the judicial sale.

Does Pennsylvania have a redemption period?

It depends on the county. The 65 RETSL counties have no post-sale redemption once the sale is confirmed. Philadelphia and Allegheny, which operate under the MCTLA statute, grant a nine-month redemption for owner-occupied property.

When are Pennsylvania tax sales held?

RETSL upset sales are held annually on the first Wednesday after the second Monday of September, with judicial sales following for unsold parcels. Philadelphia and Allegheny hold sheriff's tax sales on rolling schedules year-round.

How many tax delinquent properties are there in Pennsylvania?

65,805 tax-delinquent properties across 2 Pennsylvania counties in our database as of 9 August 2026, owing an average of $7,549 each — roughly $496.8 million in unpaid property tax. A property counts as delinquent when it owes back taxes or is multiple years behind; full parcel rolls are excluded. We cover 2 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties, so this is a floor, not a statewide census.

Which Pennsylvania county has the most tax delinquent property?

Philadelphia, with 54,383 tax-delinquent properties as of 9 August 2026 — 82.6% of every delinquent Pennsylvania record we track, and $397.1 million of the state's $496.8 million total. Allegheny is second with 11,422 and a higher average bill at $8,728.41.

Is Pennsylvania like Ohio or Florida?

No, and the contrast is the clearest way to see what a deed state is. Florida sells lien certificates first and tax deeds only after a redemption window — two sales, one statewide system, in every county. Ohio is a hybrid where large counties may sell certificates and everyone else forecloses. Pennsylvania sells deeds everywhere; what changes at the county line is not lien-versus-deed but which deed statute applies, and therefore whether the title you take can still be undone nine months later.

Where these numbers come from

Every property count, average, and county figure on this page was read from LienSuite's live county database on 9 August 2026, aggregated from county tax-claim bureau and treasurer sources and refreshed on an ongoing basis. "Tax delinquent" means a property owes back property taxes or is multiple years behind — we exclude full parcel rolls, so a county's delinquent count is far smaller than its parcel count. Counties with no delinquent records in our data are not counted, so this is coverage of 2 Pennsylvania counties, not all 67; Pennsylvania accounts for about 3.95% of the 1,664,761 delinquent records we track nationally. The $496.8 million figure is the measured sum across both counties, each of which publishes an average owed, and is not a national average multiplied out. Heir and deceased-owner signal counts are per-county enrichment totals; Allegheny has not been enriched, so its zeros mean not checked. The counts of 65 RETSL counties and 2 MCTLA counties reflect the statutory split in Pennsylvania tax sale law, not our data. Figures move as counties publish new rolls; the date above is the read date.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal, tax, or investment advice. Pennsylvania tax sales are governed principally by the Real Estate Tax Sale Law (72 P.S. Sections 5860.101 to 5860.803) and, in Philadelphia and Allegheny, the Municipal Claims and Tax Lien Act (53 P.S. Sections 7101 to 7505), and county practice varies. Always confirm current procedures with the county tax claim bureau or sheriff, and consult a licensed Pennsylvania attorney before bidding or taking title.