Crittenden County, Kentucky Eviction Risk: Very Low
3 incorporated cities and unincorporated areas. The county Eviction Risk Score is held aloft by the city of Marion (2) and a small number of dense urban cores. Rent-control coverage varies by city.
Ranked #119 of 120 KY counties
3k residents · 3 cities · 4 tracts
Crittenden County eviction risk score history
Key metrics
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Tenant beats landlord19.2%/ 100 outcomesIn court-decided eviction outcomes for Crittenden County, KY, tenants prevail in roughly 19.2% of contested cases. A higher number means landlords face stronger tenant defenses and longer calendars.
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Timeline34dfiling → judgmentFrom the moment an unlawful-detainer notice is filed in Crittenden County, KY until a money judgment is entered, a contested eviction takes about 34 days on average. Longer timelines mean more lost rent for landlords.
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Cost range$1.3–2.9klegal + lost rentA typical eviction in Crittenden County, KY costs landlords $1,343 to $2,915 all-in, covering court filing fees, process-server costs, attorney time, and lost rent.
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Average rent$69020% stretched on rentAverage gross rent in Crittenden County, KY is $690 per month per the U.S. Census American Community Survey. 20% of renter households here spend more than 30% of pre-tax income on rent.
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Renters28.1%of households28.1% of occupied housing units in Crittenden County, KY are renter-occupied. A higher renter share usually correlates with more eviction filings and a more active rental market.
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Poverty19.8%0.7% unemp.19.8% of Crittenden County, KY residents live below the federal poverty line, and unemployment runs at 0.7%. Both feed the economic-stress sub-score in our Eviction Risk Score model.
Scrub 50 years
A score of 2/10 reflects a low-friction rental environment: below-average rents at $690/month, a 19.6% rent burden, and a state eviction framework with no local overlays. 119th of 120 Kentucky counties - only 1 county ranks lower risk for landlords.
How Crittenden County ranks in Kentucky
Landlord guides for Kentucky
| City↕ | Population↕ | Risk↕ | % income on rent↕ | Average rent↕ | Lean↕ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | Marion | 2,886 | 2.0 | 19.8% | $688 | Rep |
| 002 | Crayne | 71 | 1.7 | 13.3% | $835 | Rep |
| 003 | Tolu | 36 | 2.0 | 15.4% | $543 | Rep |
County heatmap
One county, multiple regulatory regimes.
Crittenden County sits near the bottom of Kentucky eviction laws's eviction risk rankings in the best possible sense for landlords: it ranks 119th out of 120 counties, meaning only one county in the entire state offers a more favorable operating environment. The county's eviction risk score of 2/10 reflects a combination of affordable rents, modest tenant-protection statutes, and a small but stable rental market. For landlords evaluating western Kentucky, this is one of the quieter, lower-friction markets in the region.
The county's rental population is modest - roughly 28.1% of residents rent across a total population of about 2,993. The biggest city is Marion, which accounts for the vast majority of the county's renters with a population of 2,886 and a risk score of 2/10, putting it in line with the county average. The smaller communities of Tolu and Crayne round out the county's three incorporated places; Crayne comes in at the county's low end with a score of 1.7/10. Average rent across the county is $690/month - well below Kentucky eviction laws's urban centers - and the average rent burden rate of 19.6% suggests renters here are not generally stretched thin relative to income, which tends to correlate with lower eviction filing rates.
Kentucky eviction laws governs landlord-tenant relationships primarily through KRS § 383.500 et seq. (Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act), and Crittenden County operates squarely within that state framework - there is no local rent control, and Kentucky eviction laws's preemption statute blocks any municipality from enacting it. Landlords must issue a 7-day notice for non-payment of rent before filing, a 14-day notice for lease violations, and a 30-day notice for no-cause terminations at end of term. Court filing fees run $150 to $250, with sheriff lockout fees between $40 and $150. An uncontested eviction typically resolves in 21 to 45 days in Kentucky district courts; contested cases can run 45 to 120 days. Attorney fees, if retained, generally range from $500 to $2,500 depending on complexity. The poverty rate of 19.8% is worth keeping in mind when screening - it is elevated relative to national norms - but the low rent burden figure suggests most renters who are housed here are managing their obligations without systemic stress. Fair housing complaints are handled through the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights; source-of-income is not a protected class under Kentucky law, giving landlords more flexibility in screening criteria than they would have in states that protect it.
Crittenden County's eviction risk profile is shaped by its small rental market, below-average rents, and a state legal framework that moves through evictions on relatively predictable timelines without local-law complications.
Eviction filings in Crittenden County
In September 2025, 1 eviction filings were recorded in Crittenden County, 27.3% of the historical average (below average).1
- 1Sep 2025
- 27.3%of historical avg
- 797Renter households
- 18.1%Poverty rate
Historical eviction filings in Crittenden County
From 2000 to 2016, eviction filings in Crittenden County increased 100%. The peak was 17 filings in 2015.2
- 62000
- 17Peak (2015)
- 122016
Data covers 2000–2018, the full span of the Princeton Eviction Lab's national county court-records dataset.
How Crittenden County compares
Crittenden County's 2/10 score places it at the far low-risk end of the Kentucky distribution - comparable to Cumberland County (2/10) and below peer counties Lyon (2.12/10), Clinton (2.1/10), McCreary (2.18/10), and Ballard (2.18/10); only one Kentucky county scores lower.