Who Actually Pays Transfer Tax in Pennsylvania?

Short answer: in most of Pennsylvania, the buyer and seller split a 2% transfer tax right down the middle. But "most of Pennsylvania" is doing a lot of work in that sentence — and in a handful of cities and townships, that number more than doubles.

Pennsylvania's realty transfer tax has two layers. The state charges a flat 1% on the sale price, everywhere, no exceptions. Then the local layer — your municipality plus its school district — adds its own slice on top. In the vast majority of PA towns that local slice is 1% (usually half to the municipality, half to the school district), for a tidy 2% total.

Who pays it — buyer or seller?

By custom, buyer and seller split the transfer tax 50/50. On a 2% total, that's 1% from each side. But "custom" is not "law." The split is a negotiable term of the agreement of sale, and in a hot market it's one of the first things a motivated party gives up. Seller-paid transfer tax is a common concession; buyer-paid-all shows up too. Whoever's writing the offer should know it's on the table.

Then there are the outliers

This is where closing tables get awkward. A seller who sold a house in Bucks County last year walks into a Pittsburgh or Philadelphia closing expecting 2% and gets a very different number. Here's the real spread:

The surprise: everyone assumes Philadelphia is the most expensive place to transfer a deed in PA. It isn't. Pittsburgh ties Reading at 5.0% — edging out Philly's 4.578%.

Philadelphia: 4.578%, and it recently went up

Philly stacks a 3.578% city transfer tax on the 1% state tax for a combined 4.578%. Note that city figure: Philadelphia raised its rate from 3.278% to 3.578% effective July 1, 2025, with the new revenue backing Mayor Parker's H.O.M.E. housing plan — the same initiative behind the One Philly Mortgage program we wrote about from the room. If you're quoting from a chart that says 4.278%, you're quoting an old number. On a $400,000 rowhome, the difference is $1,200 of newly-found transfer tax.

Pittsburgh: the quiet champion at 5%

Pittsburgh's 5% is three parts: 1% state, 3% city, and a 1% Pittsburgh School District tax. The nuance to know — a small slice of the city sits in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District instead, where the total lands at 4.5%. Same city, different school district, half a point of difference. It pays to confirm which one a property falls in.

The Main Line's half-point premium

Out on the Main Line, several affluent townships — Radnor, Tredyffrin, and neighbors — levy 1.5% local instead of the standard 1%, pushing the total to 2.5%. It's only half a point, but on a $1.2M Main Line home that's an extra $6,000 split across the table. Not the kind of thing you want to discover at signing.

And the list keeps moving

Coatesville's jump to 3.5% and Allentown's to 2.5% both took effect January 1, 2026 — proof that these rates are set locally and change on local schedules. The chart your title company printed two years ago is a museum piece.

What it means in real dollars

On a $400,000 sale, the total transfer tax runs:

• Standard 2% PA town: $8,000 ($4,000 each side)
• Philadelphia at 4.578%: $18,312
• Pittsburgh at 5.0%: $20,000

That's a $12,000 swing on the same sale price, purely based on the pin on the map. Which is exactly why guessing is dangerous — and why we built a calculator that knows all 47 of Pennsylvania's local rate variations by municipality.

Rates current as of October 2026 and reflect Philadelphia's July 1, 2025 increase and the Coatesville and Allentown increases effective January 1, 2026. Transfer tax rates are set locally and can change; the 50/50 split is customary, not statutory. Always confirm the figure with the title company, county recorder, or the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue before relying on it for a transaction.