Ouachita County, Arkansas Eviction Risk: Very Low
6 incorporated cities and unincorporated areas. The county Eviction Risk Score is held aloft by the city of Camden (2.9) and a small number of dense urban cores. Rent-control coverage varies by city.
Ranked #44 of 75 AR counties
14k residents · 6 cities · 8 tracts
Ouachita County eviction risk score history
Key metrics
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Tenant beats landlord14.1%/ 100 outcomesIn court-decided eviction outcomes for Ouachita County, AR, tenants prevail in roughly 14.1% of contested cases. A higher number means landlords face stronger tenant defenses and longer calendars.
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Timeline29dfiling → judgmentFrom the moment an unlawful-detainer notice is filed in Ouachita County, AR until a money judgment is entered, a contested eviction takes about 29 days on average. Longer timelines mean more lost rent for landlords.
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Cost range$0.9–2.6klegal + lost rentA typical eviction in Ouachita County, AR costs landlords $906 to $2,626 all-in, covering court filing fees, process-server costs, attorney time, and lost rent.
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Average rent$72931% stretched on rentAverage gross rent in Ouachita County, AR is $729 per month per the U.S. Census American Community Survey. 31% of renter households here spend more than 30% of pre-tax income on rent.
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Renters40.2%of households40.2% of occupied housing units in Ouachita County, AR are renter-occupied. A higher renter share usually correlates with more eviction filings and a more active rental market.
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Poverty20.5%6.1% unemp.20.5% of Ouachita County, AR residents live below the federal poverty line, and unemployment runs at 6.1%. Both feed the economic-stress sub-score in our Eviction Risk Score model.
Scrub 50 years
Ouachita County's eviction-risk scores range from 2.2/10 to 2.5/10 across its 6 cities, with Louann posting the county high at 2.9/10. Ranked 9th riskiest of 75 Arkansas counties, placing Ouachita County in the higher-risk third of the state.
How Ouachita County ranks in Arkansas
Landlord guides for Arkansas
| City↕ | Population↕ | Risk↕ | % income on rent↕ | Average rent↕ | Lean↕ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | Camden | 10,307 | 2.4 | 29.7% | $768 | Rep |
| 002 | Stephens | 1,099 | 2.6 | 33.8% | $446 | Rep |
| 003 | East Camden | 1,026 | 2.4 | 36.8% | $851 | Rep |
| 004 | Bearden | 826 | 2.2 | 28.9% | $567 | Rep |
| 005 | Chidester | 305 | 2.1 | 37.5% | $439 | Rep |
| 006 | Louann | 119 | 2.9 | 34.0% | $813 | Rep |
County heatmap
One county, multiple regulatory regimes.
Ouachita County, Arkansas eviction laws carries an average eviction-risk score of 2.4/10, placing it in the Low risk tier across its 6 incorporated cities. That score puts the county at rank 9 of 75 Arkansas eviction laws counties, meaning 8 counties statewide are riskier and 66 are more landlord-friendly, so while conditions here are broadly stable, the county sits in the higher-risk third of Arkansas eviction laws. For landlords sizing up the market, the average rent of $729 and a rent-burden rate of 30.7% suggest tenants are stretching to cover housing costs, which is worth factoring into underwriting.
The intra-county spread is narrow, running from 2.1 to 2.9 out of 10, so no single community stands dramatically apart. Still, a tight range does not mean a flat landscape. Vacancy dynamics, household income, and local employment all shift block by block, and investors who treat the county as a monolith may be surprised by the variation they encounter when they dig into individual markets.
The cities inside Ouachita County
The two highest-risk cities are Louann and Louann, each scoring 2.9/10. East Camden carries a population of 1,026, giving it enough rental inventory to matter to investors; Louann, at 119 residents, is a smaller footprint where a handful of troubled tenancies can move the needle quickly. By contrast, Stephens (population 1,099) and Bearden (population 826) both score 2.2/10, the lowest in the county, representing slightly steadier operating conditions.
Camden, the county seat with a population of 10,307, scores 2.4/10, right at the county average. It holds the largest share of the county's 13,682 total residents and therefore the deepest rental pool, but its score reflects the same moderate pressures seen countywide. Risk is hyper-local: a street-level due-diligence review of individual submarkets inside each city will matter far more than the county headline figure.
State-level laws that apply here
Every rental in Ouachita County falls under Ark. Code S 18-17 (Residential Landlord-Tenant Act). Under Arkansas eviction laws law, a non-payment-of-rent notice requires only 3 days, a lease-violation cure notice requires 14 days, and an end-of-term no-cause notice requires 30 days. Arkansas eviction laws state law does not require just cause for eviction and, critically, it preempts local rent-control ordinances, so no city in the county can impose a rent cap. Understanding the full Arkansas eviction laws eviction process is essential before acquiring here: an uncontested case typically resolves in 30 to 60 days, while a contested matter can run 90 to 150 days.
Landlords should budget for the full Arkansas eviction costs before assuming a smooth exit from a bad tenancy. Court filing fees run $165 to $250, sheriff lockout fees add $40 to $120, and attorney fees range from $500 to $2,500 depending on complexity. There is no rent-control ceiling here and no source-of-income protection under state law, which preserves screening flexibility, but the poverty rate of 20.5% and a renter share of 40.2% underscore the importance of consistent tenant screening and lease enforcement from day one.
With 40.2% of residents renting and a poverty rate of 20.5%, Ouachita County's risk profile is shaped more by household financial fragility than by landlord-hostile statutes; review the individual city scores in the grid above to find the pockets that align with your risk tolerance.
Eviction filings in Ouachita County
In September 2025, 1 eviction filings were recorded in Ouachita County, 100.0% of the historical average (near average).1
- 1Sep 2025
- 100.0%of historical avg
- 2,473Renter households
- 17.9%Poverty rate
How Ouachita County compares
Ouachita County's average eviction-risk score of 2.4/10 ranks it 9th riskiest of 75 Arkansas counties, meaning only 8 counties in the state carry higher risk for landlords. Among its closest peers, Mississippi County scores 2.4/10 and Desha County scores 2.4/10, while Columbia County (2.2/10), Johnson County (2.2/10), and Carroll County (2.1/10) are measurably friendlier markets.
The county's intra-market spread is narrow, just 0.3 points from the lowest-scoring cities (Chidester and Bearden at 2.1/10) to the highest (Louann and Louann at 2.9/10), suggesting relatively consistent risk across the county rather than a single outlier dragging the average.