Johnson County, Arkansas Eviction Risk: Very Low

Johnson County, Arkansas eviction laws carries a county-wide average eviction-risk score of 2.4/10 (Low), measured across 10 incorporated places. That headline number is encouraging at first glance, but the county ranks 17th of 75 in Arkansas eviction laws, meaning 16 counties statewide are riskier and 58 are more landlord-friendly. Landlords accustomed to reading low scores as a green light should note that this county sits in the higher-risk third of the state, not the middle or bottom. Intra-county scores range from 1.8 to 2.7, so the city you choose inside Johnson County matters more than the county average suggests.

The underlying market reflects a challenging tenant pool. The average rent is $728, rent burden averages 30.2% of income, and 41.5% of households are renters. A poverty rate of 25.4% means a meaningful share of that renter base is financially stretched, a direct driver of the non-payment risk captured in the scores. Investors considering Johnson County should underwrite for occasional vacancies and build cash reserves accordingly.

The cities inside Johnson County

The highest-risk cities in the county all score 2.3/10: Lamar (population 1,783), Coal Hill (population 892), and Morrison Bluff (population 91). Clarksville, the county seat and by far the largest city at 9,526 residents, scores 2.4/10, right at the county average. Hartman also scores 2.1/10. These five cities cluster within two-tenths of a point of one another, indicating broadly similar operating conditions across the more populated parts of the county.

The lowest-risk cities are New Blaine and Ozone, both scoring 2/10, and Knoxville at 2.3/10. The spread from 1.6 to 2.3 is a meaningful difference at this scale. A landlord owning in New Blaine faces a materially different risk profile than one owning in Lamar, even though both are within the same county lines. Risk in Johnson County is genuinely hyper-local, and unit-level due diligence matters more than relying on a county average.

State-level laws that apply here

All residential landlords in Johnson County operate under Ark. Code § 18-17 (Residential Landlord-Tenant Act). Arkansas law gives landlords relatively fast statutory tools: a 3-day notice for non-payment of rent, a 14-day notice for lease violations with opportunity to cure, and a 30-day notice for end-of-term or no-cause terminations. An uncontested eviction typically resolves in 30 to 60 days; a contested case can stretch to 90 to 150 days. For a full walkthrough of the filing sequence, see the Arkansas eviction laws eviction process guide.

Cost exposure is manageable but not trivial. Court filing fees run $165 to $250, sheriff lockout fees add $40 to $120, and if you retain counsel the attorney fees range from $500 to $2,500. Arkansas eviction laws does not require just cause for non-renewal, and state law preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so there is no local cap risk in any Johnson County city. Source of income is not a protected class under Arkansas eviction laws fair housing rules administered by the Arkansas eviction laws Fair Housing Commission. For a current breakdown of what an eviction costs from filing through lockout, the Arkansas eviction costs guide covers each fee tier in detail. Arkansas security deposit limits are also set at the state level with no local variation.

With a poverty rate of 25.4% and 41.5% of residents renting, Johnson County's low average score reflects genuine economic stress rather than a historically stable market, and the city grid above shows clearly which specific locations carry the most and least of that risk.