Pennsylvania

Buying Land in Monroe County, Pennsylvania

County seat Stroudsburg. Monroe County is the commercial and demographic heart of the Pocono Mountains -- a genuine second-home and vacation-rental market, not a sleepy rural county. It's also unusual among Pennsylvania counties for having drafted its own countywide short-term-rental model ordinance for townships to adopt, and its rocky, shallow-bedrock terrain makes septic siting a real, parcel-specific due-diligence step.

A Real Vacation-Home and Short-Term-Rental Market -- With a County-Drafted Model Ordinance

Case-by-case / verify locally

Monroe County itself published a Short Term Rental Model Ordinance (originally July 2019) for townships and boroughs to adopt -- an unusual step for a Pennsylvania county, since zoning and land-use regulation is otherwise a purely municipal function here. Which municipalities actually adopted it, and with what local modifications, still varies -- see our dedicated short-term-rentals page for Monroe County for the detail.

Rocky, Shallow-Bedrock Soils Make Septic Siting a Real Variable

Case-by-case / verify locally

Much of Monroe County's terrain has shallow bedrock or high seasonal water tables that rule out conventional in-ground septic systems, making raised sand-mound systems common -- a materially more expensive install than a conventional system. Many properties from the 1970s-80s Pocono building boom are also now reaching septic replacement age. Get a percolation/soil test from a certified Sewage Enforcement Officer before assuming a parcel can support the septic system you're budgeting for.

Zoning Is Municipal -- 16 Townships and 4 Boroughs, Each Its Own Ordinance

Generally favorable

Consistent with the statewide pattern, Monroe County itself has no zoning ordinance; each of its 16 second-class townships and 4 boroughs adopts and enforces its own zoning under the Municipalities Planning Code. Confirm directly with the specific municipality.

The commercial center of the Poconos, not a typical rural county

Monroe County -- seat Stroudsburg, population 168,327 at the 2020 Census -- is the most populous and commercially developed of Pennsylvania's core Pocono Mountains counties, anchoring a vacation-home, second-home, and short-term-rental economy that has drawn New York and New Jersey buyers for decades given its proximity just across the state line. That means land-buying interest here looks different from most of this project's Pennsylvania coverage: a meaningful share of buyers are evaluating a parcel or existing cabin specifically for weekend use or short-term-rental income rather than a primary residence or working farm, and pricing and zoning pressure reflect that recreational-second-home demand rather than typical rural land economics.

County government here is a standard three-member Board of Commissioners, based in Stroudsburg -- no home-rule charter was found for Monroe County in this research pass, unlike neighboring Northampton or nearby Lehigh. Land use is organized across the county's 16 second-class townships (Coolbaugh, Pocono, Tobyhanna, Middle Smithfield, Barrett, Chestnuthill, Jackson, Paradise, Polk, Price, Ross, Smithfield, Stroud, Hamilton, Eldred, and Tunkhannock) and 4 boroughs (Stroudsburg, East Stroudsburg, Delaware Water Gap, and Mount Pocono), each of which administers its own separate zoning ordinance under the state Municipalities Planning Code -- there is no countywide zoning code.

Short-term rentals: Monroe County wrote its own model ordinance -- genuinely unusual for Pennsylvania

Because zoning in Pennsylvania is a municipal function, most counties in this project's coverage play no direct role in short-term-rental regulation at all -- it's purely a township-by-township or borough-by-borough question. Monroe County is a real exception: the county itself drafted and published a "Short Term Rental Model Ordinance," dated originally to July 2019 and hosted on the county's own site, intended as a template for its townships and boroughs to adopt as their own binding local law. The American Planning Association's own knowledgebase cites Monroe County's model ordinance by name as a notable planning resource, and it has been the subject of real litigation -- a challenge over Pocono Township's 2019 ordinance addressing "Transient Dwelling Use of Single-Family Dwellings" traces directly back to this framework.

That county-level starting point does not mean short-term-rental rules are uniform across Monroe County, however -- individual municipalities have adopted the model ordinance with different local modifications, and some (like Coolbaugh Township, with close to 1,000 short-term-rental licenses issued) have built out a genuinely mature licensing regime, while others (like Pocono Township, which restricts new short-term rentals largely to Commercial and Recreational District zones rather than its R-1/R-2 residential districts) have taken a more restrictive posture. Given how much local detail sits behind this county-level starting point, this page develops the full picture -- which townships adopted what, and what to check before assuming a specific parcel is short-term-rental-eligible -- in a dedicated short-term-rentals standalone for Monroe County.

Septic: rocky terrain and shallow bedrock make sand mounds common

Monroe County's onlot sewage disposal permitting runs through the standard statewide Act 537 framework, administered locally by a DEP-certified Sewage Enforcement Officer serving each municipality (there is no county health department here) -- but the terrain itself is a genuinely distinctive local factor. Much of Monroe and neighboring Pike County sits on rocky ground with shallow bedrock or high seasonal water tables, conditions that frequently rule out a conventional in-ground septic system and make raised sand-mound systems the common alternative -- a system type that costs meaningfully more to install and requires more surface area than a conventional drain field. On top of that, Monroe County's 1970s-80s Pocono vacation-home building boom means a real share of the county's existing septic systems are now old enough to be approaching or past their functional replacement age.

The practical takeaway for a buyer: never assume a Monroe County parcel can support whatever septic system size or design you're planning around, particularly on sloped, rocky, or high-water-table ground common throughout the Poconos. A soil probe and percolation test from the municipality's certified Sewage Enforcement Officer, before you're under firm contract, is the only reliable way to know what a specific parcel can actually support -- and, for an existing improved parcel, ask directly about the age and repair history of the current system rather than assuming it's sound.

What we could and couldn't confirm

Monroe County's FIPS code (42089) is corroborated via PostcodeBase's county-FIPS listing and is consistent with the alphabetical PA FIPS sequence verified across this project's other PA county files. Its status as governed by a standard three-member Board of Commissioners (rather than a home-rule charter) reflects the absence of any home-rule charter reference found for Monroe County in this pass; this should be confirmed directly if it matters to a specific question. The county's Short Term Rental Model Ordinance is confirmed via the county's own hosted PDF and the American Planning Association's knowledgebase citation of it; which specific municipalities have adopted it, and with what local amendments, was not independently re-verified township by township in this pass and should be confirmed directly with each municipality. The characterization of shallow bedrock/high water tables driving sand-mound septic system prevalence is drawn from secondary septic-industry sources describing the general regional pattern across Monroe and Pike Counties, not a parcel-specific claim. Direct WebFetch to monroecountypa.gov was not attempted beyond the model-ordinance PDF link.

Verify directly with: the specific township or borough zoning office for zoning and short-term-rental rules on a given parcel, and a DEP-certified Sewage Enforcement Officer for septic permitting and soil suitability

Who to Call Before Buying Land in Monroe County

Direct WebFetch to monroecountypa.gov was not attempted beyond the model-ordinance PDF itself in this research pass, so several department pages, phone numbers, and hours reflect search-indexed content rather than a full verbatim read -- confirm current staff and contact details directly, and confirm both zoning and short-term-rental status with the specific township or borough before relying on this page for a specific parcel.

Planning & Zoning

Monroe County Planning Commission

Countywide planning coordination and the county's Short Term Rental Model Ordinance text -- confirm the specific municipality for actual zoning and STR jurisdiction.

Official website →

Building & Permitting