Sell Your Commercial Property In Bethlehem, PA

Who rents in Bethlehem

Bethlehem has 77,956 residents and 31,052 occupied homes, and 15,543 of those are rented, a 50.1% renter share in the ACS 2020–2024 estimates. The median household income is $68,879, well above Allentown's. Even so, half of renters are stretched: 7,969 renter households, or 51.3%, spend 30% or more of income on rent, and 3,226 (20.8%) spend at least half.

Renter demand is tied to the city's institutions. Lehigh University sits on the South Side, Moravian University is north of downtown, and St. Luke's University Health Network has its main campus in the city. Wind Creek Bethlehem, the casino on the former Bethlehem Steel site, and Lehigh Valley warehouse and logistics employers add service and shift workers who rent near work.

Rents and affordability

The Census median gross rent of $1,382 includes utilities and averages leases from 2020 through 2024. HUD's Fair Market Rents for the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton metro, which set voucher payment standards in both Lehigh and Northampton counties, rose at every unit size in FY2026:

HUD's worksheet shows recent movers in the metro paying about 15% more than the five-year ACS rent at the same percentile ($1,405 against $1,223). For a Bethlehem building with long-term tenants, that gap is the clearest measure of how far in-place rents trail the market.

The apartment stock

Bethlehem's median home was built in 1957, newer than Allentown's 1952 median but still old. Of 32,348 housing units, 11,660 are detached single-family homes and 9,023 (27.9%) are attached rowhouses and twins. Small multifamily buildings of two to four units hold 4,045 units (12.5%). Buildings with five or more units hold 7,519 units, 23.2% of the stock, including 2,424 in five- to nine-unit buildings and 2,161 in complexes of 50 or more.

The four areas named on our Bethlehem page differ. Historic Downtown Bethlehem, north of the Lehigh River, has older mixed-use buildings and apartments above storefronts. The South Side holds Lehigh's campus and the former steel site, with blocks of rowhouses around them. West Bethlehem is largely residential, and Hanover Township is a separate municipality north of the city with its own taxes.

Property taxes on apartment buildings

Bethlehem is unusual in that it straddles Lehigh and Northampton counties, and the two counties assess property on very different bases. According to a 2026 Morning Call analysis, Lehigh last reassessed in 2013 and Northampton in 1995. Using state common-level ratios, the paper estimated that a property worth $100,000 would be assessed at about $49,505 in Lehigh but about $17,007 in Northampton. Millage rates on the two sides cannot be compared directly for that reason.

The bigger near-term issue is a proposed county increase. On October 2, 2026, Northampton County Executive Tara Zrinski proposed a 2027 budget that would raise county millage from 10.8 to 15.5 mills, a 43.5% increase and the first county tax hike in eight years. For the average residential property assessed at $62,000, the county bill would rise from $669 to $961. The $566 million plan would raise about $44.5 million in new revenue, and the executive cited county population growth from 297,735 in 2010 to 324,411 in 2025 among the cost pressures. County Council still has to vote on the final budget. City and school district millage are added to the county rate.

At sale, the Commonwealth charges 1% of value in realty transfer tax plus a local tax collected by the recorder, with buyer and seller jointly liable.

Landlord rules and local compliance

• Licensing: under Article 1738, every residential rental unit in Bethlehem must be licensed, and housing inspectors check interiors and exteriors on a rotating basis, every three years. Costs include a business license, licensing fee, inspection and re-checks.
• Sale inspections: owners listing a property for sale can schedule a housing inspection with the city's housing inspection office.
• State rules: the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 caps deposits at two months' rent in the first year and one month afterward, and requires an itemized damage list within 30 days of move-out.
• Rent control: Pennsylvania has none, and no Pennsylvania city caps rent increases on market-rate apartments.

What this means if you own a building here

Rents across the metro rose quickly this year, which helps any seller. But a buyer of a building on the Northampton side will now underwrite the proposed county increase, and a buyer anywhere in the city will check license status and the last three-year inspection. Skyline buys 5+ unit buildings in Bethlehem and across the Lehigh Valley, stabilized or in need of work. Use the cap rate calculator to see how a higher tax bill changes value, the 1031 exchange calculator if you plan to reinvest, or start at sell my apartment building.