Montgomery County, Kansas Eviction Risk: Very Low

Montgomery County, Kansas eviction laws carries an average eviction-risk score of 2.3/10 (Low) across its 11 cities, but that headline number conceals a meaningful spread. Individual city scores range from 1.7 to 2.6, which means landlords operating in different corners of the county face noticeably different tenant-risk profiles. The county ranks 30th of 105 Kansas counties, placing it in the higher-risk third of the state: 29 counties are riskier and 75 are less risky. For a market with an average rent of just $746 and a rent-burden rate of 30.3%, operating conditions are workable but require diligence, particularly in screening and lease enforcement.

At the county level, roughly 31.6% of residents are renters, and the poverty rate sits at 19.6%. Those two figures together tell a practical story: there is a real rental market here, but a meaningful share of tenants operate on thin financial margins. Landlords who price units close to market and screen carefully tend to fare better than those chasing vacancy fill at any cost. Kansas law provides a usable legal framework, and Montgomery County's Low composite score reflects that, on balance, the environment is manageable rather than hostile.

The cities inside Montgomery County

The highest-risk city in the county is Cherryvale, which scores 2.6/10 and has a population of 2,096. Caney follows at 2.5/10 with a population of 1,431. Both are smaller markets where a single high-delinquency rental can distort a landlord's annual returns, so due diligence on individual properties matters more than county averages alone would suggest.

The two largest cities, Coffeyville (population 8,662) and Independence (population 8,422), both score 2.3/10, exactly at the county average. They represent the most liquid rental markets in the county and the broadest applicant pools. At the other end of the spectrum, Elk City scores just 1.7/10, the lowest in the county, and Liberty and Havana each score 1.9/10. Risk is genuinely hyper-local here: a landlord in Elk City is operating in a substantially different risk environment than one in Cherryvale, even though both properties fall inside Montgomery County.

State-level laws that apply here

Under the Kansas Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (K.S.A. § 58-2540 et seq.), landlords must give 3 days written notice for non-payment of rent, 14 days for a lease violation with opportunity to cure, and 30 days for end-of-term or no-cause terminations. Kansas does not require just cause for non-renewal, and the state preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so no city in Montgomery County can impose a rent cap. Reviewing the full Kansas eviction process before filing is worthwhile, because procedural errors reset the clock. An uncontested case typically resolves in 21 to 45 days; a contested matter can run 45 to 100 days.

Total out-of-pocket costs for a Kansas eviction can be significant even in a Low-risk county. Court filing fees run $120 to $200, sheriff lockout fees add $40 to $150, and attorney fees, if you retain counsel, range from $500 to $2,500. Understanding Kansas eviction costs in advance helps landlords weigh whether a formal filing or a negotiated move-out makes more economic sense on a $746-average-rent unit. Kansas does not protect source of income as a fair-housing class, and retaliation protections for tenants are governed by K.S.A. § 58-2572.

With a poverty rate of 19.6% and a renter share of 31.6%, Montgomery County is a market where tenant financial stability varies sharply by city; use the city grid above to compare scores across all 11 tracked localities before committing to a specific submarket.