McHenry County, Illinois Eviction Risk: Moderate

McHenry County carries an average eviction-risk score of 4.9/10, placing it in the Moderate tier, but that figure alone understates the range landlords and investors will actually encounter. Across the county's 42 cities, individual scores run from 4.2 to 5.7, a spread of 1.5 points that is wide enough to move a property from cautiously manageable to noticeably elevated risk. Sitting at rank 15 of 102 Illinois counties, McHenry County falls in the higher-risk third of the state: only 14 counties carry more risk, while 87 are comparatively friendlier to landlords and investors.

The broader operating environment reflects a suburban county where renters account for just 18.9% of households and average rent sits at $1,527 per month. Average rent burden among renters is 29% of income, a figure that sits below the threshold most housing economists flag as severe stress, but still close enough to keep collection risk real, particularly in the higher-scoring corridors of the county.

The cities inside McHenry County

The sharpest risk concentration is in Algonquin, which scores 5.7/10, the highest in the county, against a population of 30,067. That score puts Algonquin notably above the county average and makes it the single location where landlords should most carefully stress-test rent-to-income assumptions before acquiring. Richmond follows at 5.1/10, and Harvard at 5/10 with a population of 9,598. Lakemoor also scores 5/10. These four cities cluster in the upper band and drive the county's standing in the higher-risk tier.

On the other end, several large communities score well below the county average. Lake in the Hills, Huntley, and Cary each score 4.7/10, and Crystal Lake, the county's largest city at 40,579 residents, comes in at 4.8/10. The takeaway for investors is that risk in McHenry County is genuinely hyper-local: two adjacent municipalities can differ by a full point or more, which means portfolio decisions made at the county level will miss meaningful variation.

State-level laws that apply here

Illinois eviction laws state law governs the eviction process for every property in McHenry County regardless of local jurisdiction. Under the Illinois eviction process, a nonpayment case requires a 5-day notice before filing (735 ILCS 5/9-209), a material lease-violation case requires 10 days (735 ILCS 5/9-210), and a month-to-month holdover requires 30 days (735 ILCS 5/9-207). End of a fixed-term lease requires no notice period. Once filed, an uncontested case typically resolves in 30 to 60 days; a contested case can run 60 to 150 days.

Illinois eviction costs add up quickly. Court filing fees range from $200 to $400, sheriff lockout fees from $60 to $200, and attorney fees from $750 to $3,500, meaning a single contested removal can reach several thousand dollars before appeals or lost rent are counted. Illinois does not require just cause to end a tenancy, and state law preempts local rent-control ordinances, so no McHenry County municipality can impose a rent cap. Source of income is a protected class under Illinois law, administered by the Illinois Department of Human Rights, a point that shapes tenant-screening decisions across the state.

With an average poverty rate of 6% and renters making up 18.9% of households, McHenry County's tenant pool is relatively stable, but risk is not distributed evenly; the city grid above breaks down every scored municipality so you can evaluate individual markets before committing capital.