Union County, Iowa Eviction Risk: Low

Union County, Iowa eviction laws carries an average eviction-risk score of 3.3/10 (Low) across its 8 cities, yet that headline number conceals real variation on the ground. Individual city scores range from 2.1 to 3.6, meaning a landlord's experience in the county's largest market can differ substantially from conditions in its smallest villages. With an average rent of $697 and an average rent burden of 25.6%, tenants are not severely stretched by housing costs, which generally supports consistent rent collection.

At rank 20 of 99 Iowa counties, Union County sits in the higher-risk third of the state: 19 counties are riskier, while 79 are more landlord-friendly. For investors already familiar with Iowa eviction laws, that positioning signals a market that rewards careful tenant screening but is far from the state's most turbulent rental environments.

The cities inside Union County

The highest-risk city in the county is Afton, which scores 3.6/10 with a population of 817. Creston, the county seat and by far the largest market at 7,435 residents, scores 3.3/10, matching the county average exactly. Together these two cities account for the vast majority of the county's rental housing stock, so their scores largely define operating conditions countywide.

Risk drops sharply in the rural villages. Cromwell scores 2.4/10, Shannon City 2.3/10, and Arispe records the county's lowest mark at 2.1/10. Macksburg, Thayer, and Kent each score 2.2/10. This spread confirms that eviction risk in Union County is hyper-local: a landlord holding units in Creston eviction risk faces meaningfully different conditions than one with properties in the county's smaller communities, even though they operate under the same state statutes.

State-level laws that apply here

Iowa eviction laws state law under Iowa eviction laws Code § 562A (Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Law) sets the procedural framework for every landlord in Union County. For non-payment of rent, the required notice period is 3 days. Lease violations that may be cured require 7 days notice, while a no-cause end-of-term termination requires 30 days. Understanding the Iowa eviction laws eviction process from notice through judgment is essential here, because an uncontested case still takes 21 to 40 days and a contested one can stretch from 45 to 100 days.

On Iowa eviction costs, landlords should budget for a court filing fee of $95 to $200, a sheriff lockout fee of $50 to $150, and attorney fees that typically range from $500 to $2,500 depending on complexity. Iowa eviction laws does not require just cause for non-renewal, and state law preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so there is no rent cap in Union County. Landlords must provide 24 hours notice before entering an occupied unit under Iowa eviction laws Code § 562A.

With an average poverty rate of 15.5% and 34.4% of households renting, Union County has a meaningful renter base but a compact one; the city-by-city grid above breaks down where that population and risk are actually concentrated.