Magoffin County, Kentucky Eviction Risk: Low

Magoffin County sits in the eastern Kentucky coalfields, a rural stretch where the only incorporated place is Salyersville - a town of roughly 1,708 residents that carries a 2.6/10 eviction risk score. That Low rating reflects Kentucky eviction laws's comparatively landlord-friendly statute framework, not an absence of economic stress. With a 43% poverty rate and nearly half of all households renting (47.6%), the financial margin between a tenant staying current and a landlord filing for eviction is thin.

Average rent in the county runs $693 per month, and the average renter spends 34.5% of income on housing costs - a burden level that routinely triggers payment shortfalls when any unexpected expense hits. Under KRS § 383.500 et seq. (Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act), a landlord can serve a 7-day notice the moment rent goes unpaid, then proceed to court without further delay. An uncontested case closes in 21 to 45 days; contested matters run 45 to 120 days. Court filing fees range from $150 to $250, sheriff lockout fees from $40 to $150, and attorney costs from $500 to $2,500 - totals that can exceed $3,000 in a disputed case, a significant outlay in a county where those sums represent a large share of monthly household income.

Magoffin ranks 27th out of 120 Kentucky counties for eviction risk, placing it in the higher-risk third of the state despite the Low overall label. Twenty-six counties carry a higher score; 93 are less risky. Kentucky state law preempts any local rent control ordinance, so no city or county government can cap rents below the market rate - a constraint that matters less in a depressed rural market like Magoffin but that firmly blocks any future local policy response. There is no just-cause eviction requirement, and source-of-income is not a protected class under Kentucky fair housing law, leaving tenants with fewer procedural protections than peers in many other states. The Kentucky Commission on Human Rights handles discrimination complaints, but the statutory framework overall tilts toward landlord authority - which is precisely why the county's score stays low even against a backdrop of concentrated poverty.

With only one city in the county and a total measured population of 1,708, Magoffin County's rental market is among the smallest in Kentucky eviction laws - making individual economic shocks (plant closures, benefit cuts, natural disasters) outsized drivers of local eviction pressure relative to statewide averages.