Decatur County, Indiana Eviction Risk: Low

Decatur County, Indiana scores 3.4/10 (Low risk) across its 13 cities, placing it at rank 59 of 92 Indiana eviction laws counties, meaning 58 counties carry higher eviction risk and only 33 are more landlord-friendly. For investors and rental operators, that middle-third positioning reflects a stable, low-friction market: average rent of $855, a rent burden of just 23.6% of renter income, and a renter share of 32.9% of households. The county's total population sits at roughly 16,862, keeping the rental pool tight but demand reasonably consistent.

Risk within the county spans a narrow band, from a low of 2 to a high of 3.1 out of 10, which is encouraging: even the riskiest corner of Decatur County remains in low-risk territory. That said, the gap between the county floor and ceiling is wide enough to reward landlords who pick their submarket carefully, since a city-level score can shift expected vacancy rates, payment reliability, and collection difficulty meaningfully.

The cities inside Decatur County

Greensburg anchors the county as both its largest city (12,229 residents) and its highest-risk market at 3.4/10. That score still qualifies as Low, but Greensburg accounts for the overwhelming majority of the county's rental housing, so landlords concentrating portfolios there are effectively underwriting the county average single-handedly. Westport, the second-largest city at 1,651 residents, follows at 3.4/10, just below Greensburg, with a similarly modest risk profile.

Farther down the risk ladder, St. Paul scores 3.2/10, Lake Santee scores 3.1/10, and Lake Santee sits at the county floor of 3.1/10. These smaller communities offer the most favorable operating conditions, though their limited rental demand and thin tenant pools mean vacancy can be a more pressing concern than eviction risk itself. The spread from Greensburg's 3.1 to Sandusky's 2 illustrates how hyper-local risk is even within a county this compact: a landlord in Greensburg and one in Sandusky are working in meaningfully different environments despite sharing the same county lines.

State-level laws that apply here

All landlords in Decatur County operate under Indiana eviction process rules set by Ind. Code § 32-31 (Landlord-Tenant Relations). For nonpayment of rent, Indiana eviction laws requires a 10-day notice to quit (IC 32-31-1-6) before filing. Material lease violations require a 30-day cure-or-quit notice (IC 32-31-1-8), and ending a month-to-month tenancy requires a separate 30-day notice (IC 32-31-1-1). Once filed, an uncontested eviction typically resolves in 21 to 45 days; a contested case can stretch from 45 to 100 days. Indiana eviction laws does not require just cause to terminate a tenancy, and the state preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so no municipality in Decatur County can impose a rent cap.

On Indiana eviction costs, landlords should budget court filing fees of $150 to $200, sheriff lockout fees of $50 to $200, and attorney fees ranging from $500 to $2,500 depending on whether the case is contested. Source-of-income is not a protected class under Indiana eviction laws state law, though the Indiana eviction laws Civil Rights Commission enforces standard fair-housing requirements. Landlords who want a fuller picture of allowable charges and tenant rights should also review Indiana security deposit limits and Indiana tenant protections, which layer additional obligations on top of the eviction statutes.

With a poverty rate of 12.7% and roughly one in three households renting, Decatur County presents modest tenant-side financial pressure relative to higher-risk Indiana eviction laws markets; compare city-level scores in the grid above to identify where that pressure is most concentrated.