Lincoln County, Colorado Eviction Risk: Low

Lincoln County sits on Colorado eviction laws's Eastern Plains roughly 80 miles southeast of Denver eviction risk, and its eviction-risk picture reflects that rural profile. The county scores 3.7/10 on the Eviction Risk Map scale - a Low rating - placing it 60th out of 64 Colorado counties, meaning 59 counties in the state carry higher risk for landlords. With a total population of roughly 3,145 spread across four tracked communities, the market is small and the tenant pool is thin, but statewide law still governs every lease here exactly as it does in Denver eviction risk.

The four cities tracked in Lincoln County cluster tightly in score. Limon, the county seat and largest community at 1,678 residents, scores 3.6/10. Hugo (population 970) and the smaller community of Arriba (population 307) each reach the county high of 3.8/10. Genoa, the smallest tracked city at 190 residents, matches Limon at 3.6/10. That 0.2-point spread across all four cities signals a uniform regulatory environment rather than hot-spot pockets of elevated risk - which is what you would expect in a county governed entirely by state law with no local ordinances layering additional tenant protections on top. Average rent across the county runs $856 per month, and the average rent burden sits at 21.9% of household income - below the national stress threshold of 30%. About 28.8% of residents rent rather than own, and the average poverty rate lands at 10.9%. Those figures point to a stable, if modest, rental base with limited ability to absorb large rent increases.

Where landlords in Lincoln County do face real procedural obligation is at the state level. Colorado's C.R.S. § 38-12 (Tenants and Landlords) framework is not light: just cause is required to end a tenancy, meaning you cannot simply decline to renew a lease without meeting a statutory ground. No-fault terminations - for owner move-in, renovation, or similar reasons - require a 90-day written notice under C.R.S. 13-40-104 (HB24-1098), one of the longer no-fault windows in the Mountain West. Nonpayment and material lease violations each require a 10-day notice to cure or quit under C.R.S. 13-40-104(1)(d) and (e), while a substantial lease violation compresses that to a 3-day notice under C.R.S. 13-40-107.5. Entry requires at least 48 hours' advance notice. The habitability standard is spelled out in C.R.S. § 38-12-503, and anti-retaliation protections sit in C.R.S. § 38-12-509. Source-of-income discrimination is prohibited statewide, administered through the Colorado Civil Rights Division. Court filing fees range from $105 to $200, and sheriff lockout fees add another $50 to $200. Attorney costs for an eviction typically run $750 to $3,500. If uncontested, a case typically closes in 21 to 45 days; contested matters stretch to 60 to 120 days. For a rural county with a Low aggregate score, the statewide procedural floor still demands careful compliance.

Lincoln County's Low risk score reflects its rural, low-density rental market and the absence of local tenant ordinances, though Colorado eviction laws's statewide just-cause and 90-day no-fault notice requirements apply to every lease in the county.