Two percent, split into two halves that go to different places
Every deed recorded in Bucks County carries a 2% realty transfer tax. One percent goes to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The other percent is split between the municipality the house sits in and its school district.
The rate is the same everywhere in the county. Bucks County’s transfer tax page lists no municipal deviations, so a settlement in Bristol Borough and a settlement in Springfield Township pay identical rates. That is worth knowing because it is not true one county over — Delaware County has municipalities at 2.5% and 3%, and so does Chester.
The tax is calculated on the actual consideration, which for a normal arm’s-length sale is simply the price you agreed to.
Custom says half each. The law says you both owe all of it
The habit in Bucks County is a clean 50/50 split, buyer 1% and seller 1%. Nothing in the statute requires that. Both parties are jointly liable for the entire 2%, which means the Commonwealth can look to either side for the whole amount if it goes unpaid.
Because it is custom, it is negotiable, and it lives in the agreement of sale alongside the closing date and whether the shed stays. A seller whose house has sat since spring will sometimes take more of it. A buyer competing on a Warminster split-level in a weekend will sometimes offer to take more of it. Either way, get it in writing. A contract that says nothing about the split is a contract you will argue about a week before settlement.
Picked up day and night, calls recorded. No credit pull, no application.
Say the price and the town, and a licensed Pennsylvania lender calls you back with your half of the 2% already inside the cash-to-close figure. Call before you write the offer.
The form takes about a minute and lands in the same place as the call.
What it costs on real Bucks prices
These are July 2026 median sold prices from Movoto for each area, with the tax rounded to the dollar. Movoto’s town pages cover the postal area, so the Bristol figure spans borough and township addresses and the Morrisville figure reaches into Yardley.
| Area (median sold, July 2026) | Price | 2% total | Customary half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Croydon | $359,900 | $7,198 | $3,599 |
| Bristol area (19007) | $408,807 | $8,176 | $4,088 |
| Morrisville area | $425,000 | $8,500 | $4,250 |
| Warminster | $500,000 | $10,000 | $5,000 |
| Warrington | $635,000 | $12,700 | $6,350 |
| Langhorne area | $667,500 | $13,350 | $6,675 |
Here is how that lands. You buy at $408,807 with 3.5% down on an FHA loan, so your down payment is about $14,300. Your half of the transfer tax is $4,088 on top of it, before title insurance, before the appraisal, before a single prepaid tax dollar. Run your own number on the transfer tax calculator.
One aside for anyone shopping both sides of the county line: cross into Philadelphia and the rate is 4.578%, which is 3.578% to the city plus the same 1% state share, and has been since July 1, 2025. A buyer’s customary half there is 2.289% of the price. That gap is one of the plainer reasons people end up looking at Bensalem.
The exemptions that exist
The list of exempt transfers is short and it is about family, not about price or hardship:
- Between spouses.
- Between a parent and a child.
- Between a grandparent and a grandchild.
- Between siblings.
- One transfer between former spouses.
Anything outside that list gets decided case by case, and the county takes those questions at 215-348-6209. The trap worth naming: inheriting a house is one thing, but buying a house from an estate is an ordinary sale and the full 2% applies. There is no low-price exemption and no first-time buyer exemption in Pennsylvania today.
How it actually gets paid
You do not write a check to Harrisburg. The title company collects the tax at settlement and remits it when the deed is recorded at the Recorder of Deeds in Doylestown. It shows up as a line on your settlement statement and it comes out of the funds you wire in, which is why it belongs in your cash-to-close math from the first conversation, not the last.
Refinancing owes nothing. A mortgage is not a taxable document in Pennsylvania, and the tax attaches to deeds that convey title, so a refinance that leaves the same name on the deed pays no transfer tax to the state, the township or the school district. Pennsylvania has no mortgage tax, so the only government charge on a new loan is the county’s recording fee.
Your 1% is a closing cost, and closing-cost help can go at it. A seller assist written into the agreement of sale is the usual tool here; the cap depends on the loan type and your lender applies it, subject to lender approval. The county’s $10,000 first-time buyer loan covers title insurance, the appraisal, recording fees and points, though its eligible-cost list does not include transfer tax.
The closing costs guide puts this line next to everything else on the settlement sheet, which is the only way to see the real number.