Pennsylvania
Buying Land in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
Seat Allentown, a genuinely mixed county pairing an urbanized core with real agricultural and rural township land to its north and west. Zoning here is entirely municipal, and land anywhere near an industrially zoned corridor should be evaluated against the Lehigh Valley's well-documented, still-active warehouse and logistics development boom.
Not one Lehigh County -- an urbanized core and real rural township land
It's easy to think of Lehigh County as simply "Allentown," but the county's 24 municipalities span a genuine range: Allentown itself is a dense, fully urbanized city (Pennsylvania's third-largest), while townships like Lowhill, Weisenberg, and parts of Upper Macungie and Heidelberg retain real agricultural character and lower-density rural land use, particularly in the county's north and west. Zoning is administered entirely at the municipal level here -- Lehigh County itself has no county-wide zoning ordinance -- so a parcel's actual permitted uses depend entirely on which of the 24 municipalities it sits in and that municipality's own zoning map and ordinance text.
This matters more than it might elsewhere in Pennsylvania because Lehigh County's development pressure is genuinely uneven: land close to Allentown, Bethlehem (across the county line in Northampton), or the major I-78/Route 22 corridor faces a very different growth trajectory than land in the county's more rural northwest. Before assuming a Lehigh County parcel's zoning behaves like a typical rural township elsewhere in the state, confirm directly with the specific municipality -- agricultural zoning districts here can be genuinely protective of open space, or, in the wrong location, sit adjacent to intensifying industrial and logistics development.
The Lehigh Valley warehouse boom has real, documented scale
The Lehigh Valley -- Lehigh and Northampton Counties together -- has become one of the most active logistics and warehouse development regions in the northeastern United States, driven by its position at the crossroads of I-78 and Route 22 and its proximity to the New York and Philadelphia metro markets. Since 2015 alone, roughly 44 million square feet of industrial and warehouse space has been approved across the two counties -- the equivalent of more than 1,000 acres of new industrial building footprint -- and the logistics sector now rivals healthcare as the region's second-largest employer. Much of this was made possible by industrial zoning districts written years before the boom began, which simply permitted warehouses as an allowed use without anticipating the current scale of development.
Because Pennsylvania's zoning law generally restricts what a municipality can do to reject a use that's already allowed in its own zoning code, some Lehigh Valley townships have found it genuinely difficult to say no to new warehouse proposals on already industrially zoned land, even amid vocal local opposition -- while others have moved to amend their zoning to explicitly restrict or ban future warehouse construction in specific districts. See our dedicated zoning page for Lehigh County for how this dynamic plays out and what it means for land near an industrial corridor here.
Government structure, septic, and other departments to know
Lehigh County is one of Pennsylvania's seven home-rule counties, having adopted its own charter in 1976. That charter replaced the standard three-commissioner County Code model with an elected County Executive (who submits the budget and oversees county departments) and a nine-member Board of Commissioners -- four elected countywide, five elected by district -- serving as the legislative branch. This structure doesn't change zoning authority (still entirely municipal), but it does mean county-level decisions, including planning and economic-development initiatives, run through a different process than in most of the state's counties.
Lehigh County does not operate its own county health department, so septic permitting for a new onlot sewage disposal system runs through the standard statewide Act 537 process via a DEP-certified Sewage Enforcement Officer retained by the specific municipality. The Lehigh County Recorder of Deeds (455 West Hamilton Street, Room 122, Allentown; 610-782-3162) holds deeds, easements, and plats, and the county Assessment office (17 South 7th Street, Room 517, Allentown; 610-782-3038) handles property records and valuation.
Who to Call Before Buying Land in Lehigh County
Direct WebFetch to lehighcounty.org was not attempted in this research pass, so current staff, fees, and office hours should be confirmed directly before relying on this page for a specific parcel.
Planning & Zoning
Individual Lehigh County municipalities
Zoning verification for a specific parcel -- each of the 24 municipalities administers its own zoning ordinance.
Other
Lehigh Valley Planning Commission
Regional multi-municipal planning context, including warehouse/logistics development trends across Lehigh and Northampton Counties.
Septic / Onsite Wastewater
Local Municipality Sewage Enforcement Officer
Percolation testing and onlot sewage disposal system permits for a specific parcel.
Assessor / Property Tax
Lehigh County Assessment Office
Property assessment and tax records.
Recorder / Clerk / Land Records
Lehigh County Recorder of Deeds
Recorded deeds, easements, plats, and title history for a specific parcel.
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Get local guidanceTopics Specific to Lehigh County
Sources
- Lehigh County Home Rule Charter — Lehigh County, Pennsylvania (accessed 2026-09)
- FAQ Lehigh County Government — Lehigh County Democratic Committee (accessed 2026-09)
- Boroughs/Townships — Lehigh County, Pennsylvania (accessed 2026-09)
- Managing the Lehigh Valley's warehouse boom: The search for solutions — LehighValleyNews.com (accessed 2026-09)
- Managing the Lehigh Valley's warehouse boom: The search for solutions (public media) — Lehigh Valley Public Media (accessed 2026-09)
- Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Codes Current by County — PA Open Data Portal (accessed 2026-09)
Last reviewed 2026-09