Page County, Iowa Eviction Risk: Low
10 incorporated cities and unincorporated areas. The county Eviction Risk Score is held aloft by the city of Clarinda (3.1) and a small number of dense urban cores. Rent-control coverage varies by city.
Ranked #5 of 99 IA counties
12k residents · 10 cities · 6 tracts
Page County eviction risk score history
Key metrics
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Tenant beats landlord18.4%/ 100 outcomesIn court-decided eviction outcomes for Page County, IA, tenants prevail in roughly 18.4% of contested cases. A higher number means landlords face stronger tenant defenses and longer calendars.
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Timeline44dfiling → judgmentFrom the moment an unlawful-detainer notice is filed in Page County, IA until a money judgment is entered, a contested eviction takes about 44 days on average. Longer timelines mean more lost rent for landlords.
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Cost range$1.6–3.8klegal + lost rentA typical eviction in Page County, IA costs landlords $1,625 to $3,777 all-in, covering court filing fees, process-server costs, attorney time, and lost rent.
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Average rent$71527% stretched on rentAverage gross rent in Page County, IA is $715 per month per the U.S. Census American Community Survey. 27% of renter households here spend more than 30% of pre-tax income on rent.
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Renters33.4%of households33.4% of occupied housing units in Page County, IA are renter-occupied. A higher renter share usually correlates with more eviction filings and a more active rental market.
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Poverty15.6%7.5% unemp.15.6% of Page County, IA residents live below the federal poverty line, and unemployment runs at 7.5%. Both feed the economic-stress sub-score in our Eviction Risk Score model.
Scrub 50 years
How Page County ranks in Iowa
Landlord guides for Iowa
| City↕ | Population↕ | Risk↕ | % income on rent↕ | Average rent↕ | Lean↕ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | Clarinda | 5,353 | 2.9 | 25.8% | $660 | Rep |
| 002 | Shenandoah | 4,892 | 2.8 | 28.8% | $774 | Rep |
| 003 | Essex | 854 | 2.5 | 24.5% | $598 | Rep |
| 004 | Coin | 277 | 3.1 | 32.5% | $725 | Rep |
| 005 | Braddyville | 173 | 2.1 | 13.9% | $1,014 | Rep |
| 006 | College Springs | 171 | 2.6 | 35.3% | $822 | Rep |
| 007 | Shambaugh | 113 | 2.3 | 37.5% | $1,063 | Rep |
| 008 | Northboro | 90 | 2.3 | 25.8% | $671 | Rep |
| 009 | Yorktown | 57 | 3.1 | 25.8% | $671 | Rep |
| 010 | Blanchard | 33 | 2.2 | 25.8% | $671 | Rep |
County heatmap
One county, multiple regulatory regimes.
Page County, Iowa eviction laws carries an average eviction-risk score of 2.7/10 (Low), placing it in the middle third of all 99 Iowa counties. With 43 counties scoring higher and 55 scoring lower, landlords here operate in conditions that are measurably more stable than much of the state, though not the most insulated market Iowa offers. Across the county's 10 cities, scores range from 2 to 3, a narrow band that reflects broadly consistent tenant-payment patterns and low overall eviction pressure throughout the area.
The fundamentals reinforce that picture. The average rent runs $715 per month, and the average rent-burden rate sits at 27.2%, meaning renters here are generally keeping housing costs in a manageable share of income. A renter share of 33.4% means roughly one in three households is a tenant, giving landlords a steady pool of prospective residents without the concentration of renters that can amplify default risk in denser markets.
The cities inside Page County
The county's highest-risk city is Shenandoah, which scores 3/10 and is home to roughly 4,892 residents, making it one of the two largest communities in the county. Clarinda, the largest city at approximately 5,353 people, scores 2.6/10, sitting in the moderate-low range. Coin and Braddyville each score 2.4/10, while College Springs and Northboro sit at the county floor of 2/10. Even at the top, a score of 3 is still firmly in Low territory, which tells investors that Shenandoah's relative elevation within the county reflects a local nuance, not a meaningful increase in operating difficulty.
That said, risk in Page County is genuinely hyper-local. A landlord with units in College Springs or Northboro faces conditions measurably different from one concentrated in Shenandoah, even though both sit within the same county boundary and the absolute spread is only one point.
State-level laws that apply here
All Page County landlords operate under Iowa Code § 562A (Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Law). For non-payment of rent, Iowa law requires a 3-day notice before filing; lease violations that can be cured require a 7-day notice; and terminations at the end of a term with no stated cause require 30 days. An uncontested case typically resolves in 21 to 40 days, while a contested matter can extend to 45 to 100 days. Understanding the full Iowa eviction process before the first lease is signed helps landlords avoid procedural missteps that extend timelines. Court filing fees under state schedules run $95 to $200, sheriff lockout fees add $50 to $150, and attorney fees typically range from $500 to $2,500 depending on case complexity. Landlords budgeting for a contested matter should use those ranges rather than a single round number, since Iowa eviction costs vary substantially with case difficulty.
Iowa does not impose rent control and does not require just cause for non-renewal, and the state preempts local jurisdictions from enacting their own rent caps. That regulatory posture is a meaningful advantage for portfolio investors evaluating Iowa markets. Iowa tenant protections do apply, however: landlords must give 24 hours notice before entry under Iowa Code § 562A, and habitability standards are codified at Iowa Code § 562A.15.
With a poverty rate of 15.6% and a renter share of 33.4%, Page County's tenant base carries some financial vulnerability worth monitoring, but the city-level scores in the grid above show that conditions remain broadly Low-risk across virtually every community in the county.
Historical eviction filings in Page County
From 2000 to 2015, eviction filings in Page County declined 47%. The peak was 45 filings in 2000.1
- 452000
- 45Peak (2000)
- 242015
Data covers 2000–2018, the full span of the Princeton Eviction Lab's national county court-records dataset.