Which Pennsylvania counties score best for off-grid living?

Of the 66 Pennsylvania counties we have scored, Cumberland County scores highest at 95 and Cameron County lowest at 73. Pennsylvania ranks 26th of 50 overall, at 87 out of 100 (Good with caveats). Buildability separates its counties most: 0 to 10 out of 10.

Updated 2026-09-27 · 66 counties · 326 spots of private rural land scored

Good with caveatsPennsylvania ranks 26th of 50, 87 out of 100, in the Best States ranking: the typical parcel on the state's private rural land, with each scored spot weighted by the land it stands for. On a fresh draw of counties it would rank between #21 and #26. City counties with little private rural land have no page, and any parcel can be scored, free, below.

Every scored county in Pennsylvania, best score first

Find a county66 counties


Cumberland → 496 people / sq mi	95	25	19	13	15	14	9
Lancaster → 592 people / sq mi	95	25	18	13	15	15	9
Centre → 143 people / sq mi	94	25	19	12	15	13	10
Blair → 229 people / sq mi	93	25	19	12	14	13	10
Franklin → 204 people / sq mi	93	25	19	12	14	13	10
York → 514 people / sq mi	93	24	17	14	15	14	9
Adams → 206 people / sq mi	92	24	19	14	15	13	7
Cambria → 190 people / sq mi	92	25	19	11	15	12	10
Clearfield → 67 people / sq mi	92	25	19	11	15	12	10
Delaware → 3138 people / sq mi	92	25	16	13	14	15	9
Lehigh → 1094 people / sq mi	92	25	19	12	15	12	9
Northampton → 863 people / sq mi	92	25	19	13	14	13	8
Northumberland → 197 people / sq mi	92	25	19	12	14	12	10
Snyder → 121 people / sq mi	92	25	19	12	15	12	9
Berks → 505 people / sq mi	91	25	18	13	14	13	8
Montgomery → 1799 people / sq mi	91	25	17	13	14	13	9
Wyoming → 65 people / sq mi	91	25	19	12	15	13	7
Bucks → 1069 people / sq mi	90	24	18	13	14	12	9
Chester → 733 people / sq mi	90	24	17	12	14	14	9
Erie → 335 people / sq mi	90	24	19	10	14	13	10
Huntingdon → 50 people / sq mi	90	25	19	12	15	12	7
Indiana → 100 people / sq mi	90	25	19	11	15	11	9
Jefferson → 67 people / sq mi	90	25	18	11	15	11	10
Juniata → 59 people / sq mi	90	25	19	12	15	12	7
Lawrence → 236 people / sq mi	90	25	19	11	15	11	9
Lebanon → 399 people / sq mi	90	25	19	12	14	14	6
Luzerne → 368 people / sq mi	90	25	19	12	14	13	7
Bedford → 47 people / sq mi	89	25	19	12	14	11	8
Carbon → 172 people / sq mi	89	25	19	12	14	12	7
Dauphin → 551 people / sq mi	89	25	17	12	14	12	9
Mifflin → 112 people / sq mi	89	25	18	11	14	12	9
Montour → 137 people / sq mi	89	25	19	12	14	12	7
Sullivan → 13 people / sq mi	89	25	19	11	15	12	7
Union → 133 people / sq mi	89	25	19	12	14	12	7
Armstrong → 98 people / sq mi	88	25	17	11	15	11	9
Fayette → 157 people / sq mi	88	25	19	11	14	11	8
Lackawanna → 471 people / sq mi	88	25	19	12	15	10	7
Lycoming → 92 people / sq mi	88	25	19	10	15	12	7
Perry → 84 people / sq mi	88	25	19	12	14	11	7
Somerset → 67 people / sq mi	88	24	19	12	14	10	9
Venango → 73 people / sq mi	88	25	19	11	15	11	7
Wayne → 71 people / sq mi	88	25	19	12	15	10	7
Westmoreland → 342 people / sq mi	88	25	18	8	15	13	9
Bradford → 52 people / sq mi	87	25	19	12	14	10	7
Butler → 251 people / sq mi	87	25	19	9	15	11	8
Columbia → 135 people / sq mi	87	25	19	12	14	11	6
Mercer → 161 people / sq mi	87	25	19	10	15	11	7
Monroe → 273 people / sq mi	87	25	18	12	14	11	7
Pike → 112 people / sq mi	87	25	17	13	14	11	7
Washington → 245 people / sq mi	87	23	19	11	15	11	8
Allegheny → 1678 people / sq mi	86	25	17	11	14	11	8
Crawford → 81 people / sq mi	86	23	19	10	15	12	7
Forest → 15 people / sq mi	86	25	19	10	15	10	7
Potter → 15 people / sq mi	86	23	19	11	15	10	8
Susquehanna → 46 people / sq mi	86	25	19	10	15	10	7
Tioga → 36 people / sq mi	86	25	19	12	14	9	7
Fulton → 33 people / sq mi	85	25	19	12	13	10	6
McKean → 40 people / sq mi	85	25	19	11	14	10	6
Clarion → 62 people / sq mi	84	24	19	11	12	11	7
Elk → 37 people / sq mi	84	25	19	11	15	10	4
Greene → 60 people / sq mi	84	23	18	11	15	10	7
Warren → 43 people / sq mi	84	23	19	10	14	11	7
Clinton → 42 people / sq mi	82	25	18	11	11	11	6
Schuylkill → 185 people / sq mi	80	25	19	10	10	11	5
Beaver → 381 people / sq mi	75	24	18	8	11	10	4
Cameron → 11 people / sq mi	73	25	19	8	11	10	0

Score is out of 100: Water 25, Legal 20, Solar 15, Hazard 15, Food 15, Buildability 10. Green cells score 80% or better of their maximum; amber cells under 70%.

Where the good land is

86% of Pennsylvania's private rural land scores Good with caveats or better (80 or more). The strongest counties are Cumberland, Lancaster and Centre. The weakest are Cameron, Beaver and Schuylkill. Where the land falls short, it is most often on building (slope, septic and land price) and energy (sun, and heating and cooling needs).

What separates them

Buildability: Centre County scores 10 of 10, Cameron County 0. Slope, the septic the ground needs, footings, and the county's land price. A steep or soggy lot that fails a septic test is the dealbreaker photos hide.
Solar: York County scores 14 of 15, Cameron County 8. Year-round solar potential, including the darkest month, and how much energy it takes to heat and cool a house there. Matters most if you're fully off-grid.
Food: Lancaster County scores 15 of 15, Tioga County 9. Soil quality, frost-free growing days, and rainfall: what decides whether you can actually feed yourself and your animals.
Hazard: Cumberland County scores 15 of 15, Schuylkill County 10. Flood, wildfire, seismic, and severe-weather exposure: the risks that raise insurance and build cost or strand a parcel.
Legal: Cumberland County scores 19 of 20, Delaware County 16. Whether you can reach the land and live on it: road access, distance to emergency care, internet and cell, and how built up the area is, which decides how many lot-size, livestock, and zoning rules you will meet.

Water barely moves across the sample: the counties score within two points of each other there, so those are state-level facts, not county choices.

The state's soft spot

Solar is Pennsylvania's weakest dimension, at 11 of 15 for the state as a whole. Year-round solar potential, including the darkest month, and how much energy it takes to heat and cool a house there. Matters most if you're fully off-grid. Getting a parcel here off-grid runs $33k to $92k by our estimates across these counties, before the house. The full Pennsylvania row in the Best States ranking has the state-wide spread and how the popular off-grid guides rank it.

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Before you buy in Pennsylvania

The scores read the physical land. Whether you may legally live on it is a separate question, and it changes at the county line: Is it legal to live off-grid in Pennsylvania? covers zoning, building code, septic, and wells for the state, with the counties that opt out. For the reason water carries a quarter of the score, how you get water on off-grid land is the read. And the five-point check is the order to do it in.

Good with caveatsPennsylvania: 87 of 100, 26th of 50. A good state is not a good parcel. Score the one you are looking at, free, in about a minute.

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