Pennsylvania

Buying Land in Mercer County, Pennsylvania

Seat Mercer, a western Pennsylvania county bordering Ohio's Trumbull County directly -- and a different county entirely from Ohio's own Mercer County near Celina, more than 200 miles away. Pennsylvania's Mercer County has no county-level zoning authority: every one of its 48 municipalities decides independently whether to zone, and roughly 63% currently have.

No County Zoning -- 30 of 48 Municipalities Have Adopted Their Own

Case-by-case / verify locally

Mercer County, Pennsylvania has no county-level zoning authority; municipalities retain exclusive zoning authority under the MPC. As of this research pass, 30 of the county's 48 municipalities (roughly 63%) have adopted a zoning ordinance, leaving 18 that may have none. Confirm directly with the specific township or borough.

Regional Planning Assistance Is Voluntary, Not Zoning Authority

Generally favorable

The Mercer County Regional Planning Commission (MCRPC), with 38 member municipalities and Mercer County itself, provides planning technical assistance but does not zone on behalf of any municipality -- each retains its own authority regardless of MCRPC membership.

Do Not Confuse This County With Ohio's Mercer County

Generally favorable

This page covers Mercer County, Pennsylvania (seat Mercer, on the Ohio border via Trumbull County). Ohio's own Mercer County (seat Celina, near Grand Lake St. Marys) is a separate jurisdiction more than 200 miles away with its own, independently documented zoning and farmland rules -- don't apply facts from one to the other.

No county zoning: 48 municipalities, most but not all zoned

Mercer County, Pennsylvania has no county-level zoning authority of its own. Under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, the county's 48 municipalities -- boroughs like Grove City and Greenville, and townships like Shenango and Coolspring -- each retain independent, exclusive zoning authority, and Mercer County government does not zone on their behalf. As of this research pass, roughly 30 of the 48 municipalities (about 63%) have adopted their own zoning ordinance, meaning the remaining 18 or so may have none at all -- a pattern broadly consistent with Pennsylvania's statewide rural/urban zoning-adoption split, though Mercer County's 63% adoption rate sits meaningfully above the roughly one-third figure typical of Pennsylvania's more rural counties, likely reflecting the county's mix of small industrial towns (the Shenango Valley area around Sharon and Farrell) alongside its more rural townships.

For a land buyer, this means there is no default answer for a Mercer County, Pennsylvania parcel -- roughly two in three municipalities have zoning, but that still leaves a real share that don't. Confirm directly with the specific township or borough's own government, using its Board of Supervisors or Council office, whether a zoning ordinance is currently in effect and, if so, what district applies and what it permits.

The Regional Planning Commission helps, but doesn't zone

The Mercer County Regional Planning Commission (MCRPC), which traces back to 1952 with seven original municipal members, today counts 38 member municipalities with 87 individual board seats, including Mercer County itself as a member. MCRPC provides planning and zoning-technical assistance to member municipalities -- helping draft or update zoning ordinances, comprehensive plans, and subdivision regulations -- but it is explicitly a voluntary, advisory regional body, not a zoning authority in its own right. A municipality's membership in MCRPC says nothing by itself about whether that municipality has adopted zoning; some members have their own zoning ordinance (occasionally drafted with MCRPC's help), and others may not.

For a buyer trying to understand a specific Mercer County, Pennsylvania parcel, MCRPC (and its published list of municipal zoning ordinances) can be a genuinely useful starting point for figuring out which municipalities currently have zoning on the books, but the applicable ordinance itself -- and any recent amendments -- should be confirmed with the specific municipality directly, since that's where zoning authority and current records actually sit.

Septic, records, and the Ohio border

Mercer County, Pennsylvania 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 Mercer County Recorder of Deeds (125 South Diamond Street, Suite 6, Mercer; 724-662-3800) holds deeds, easements, and plats, and the county Assessment office (724-662-7551) handles property records.

Because Mercer County, Pennsylvania directly borders Ohio's Trumbull County, a buyer cross-shopping land on both sides of the state line should treat this page's facts as specific to Pennsylvania's Mercer County and not assume they carry over to Ohio's side of the border, or to Ohio's own separate, similarly named Mercer County near Celina -- Ohio's zoning, septic, and health-department structures are administered under an entirely different state framework (Ohio Revised Code township/county zoning and county health districts) than Pennsylvania's MPC-and-SEO system described here.

What we could and couldn't confirm

Mercer County, Pennsylvania's FIPS code (42085) was independently confirmed and cross-checked against Ohio's Mercer County FIPS code (39107) specifically to guard against cross-state contamination given the shared county name; no facts were imported from this project's existing Ohio Mercer County page, and this page's zoning, government, and demographic claims were independently researched from Pennsylvania-specific sources. The 48-municipality count and the 30-of-48 (63%) zoning-adoption figure are drawn from WebSearch-indexed references to Mercer County Regional Planning Commission and municipal-zoning-ordinance data; this pass did not obtain the specific, current, named list of which municipalities have and have not adopted zoning, so that should be confirmed directly for a specific parcel. A description of Mercer County as a "third-class county" appeared in one lower-confidence aggregator-style source and was not cross-verified against a second independent source, so it is not repeated here as a confirmed fact -- the standard three-commissioner County Code governance structure is stated instead, which holds true regardless of county class. Direct WebFetch to mcrpc.com and mercercountypa.gov was not attempted.

Verify directly with: the specific township or borough for current zoning-adoption status, and a DEP-certified Sewage Enforcement Officer for septic permitting on a specific parcel

Who to Call Before Buying Land in Mercer County

Direct WebFetch to mcrpc.com and mercercountypa.gov 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

Mercer County Regional Planning Commission (MCRPC)

General zoning-adoption status across member municipalities and regional planning context; not a zoning authority itself.

Official website →

Septic / Onsite Wastewater

Local Municipality Sewage Enforcement Officer

Percolation testing and onlot sewage disposal system permits for a specific parcel.

Official website →

Assessor / Property Tax

Mercer County Assessment Office

Property assessment and tax records.

Phone: (724) 662-7551Official website →

Recorder / Clerk / Land Records

Mercer County Recorder of Deeds

Recorded deeds, easements, plats, and title history for a specific parcel.

Phone: (724) 662-3800Official website →

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Sources

Municipal Zoning Ordinances — Mercer County Regional Planning Commission (accessed 2026-09)
Mercer County Regional Planning — Mercer County Regional Planning Commission (accessed 2026-09)
Mercer Region Multi-Municipal Comprehensive Plan — Mercer County Regional Planning Commission (accessed 2026-09)
Shenango Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania Zoning Ordinance — Shenango Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania (accessed 2026-09)
Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Codes Current by County — PA Open Data Portal (accessed 2026-09)

Last reviewed 2026-09