Perry County, Kentucky Eviction Risk: Low

Perry County sits in the eastern Kentucky coalfields and carries a Low eviction risk score of 2.6/10, placing it 21st out of 120 Kentucky counties - meaning 20 counties in the state carry higher risk for landlords and 99 are less risky. That ranks Perry in the higher-risk third of the state, a distinction worth understanding before adding rental units here. The county's 6,008 residents spread across six incorporated places, with Hazard accounting for most of the rental housing stock at a population of 5,008. Average monthly rent across the county runs $752, which sounds affordable in absolute terms but lands hard against local incomes: renters on average spend 34.1% of gross income on housing costs, a burden level that regularly drives late payments and, eventually, eviction filings.

The renter share of Perry County households sits at 43.6%, meaning nearly half of all occupied units are rental properties - a higher concentration than many Kentucky rural counties. Poverty affects 30.8% of residents, a figure that shapes the payment reliability picture more than rent levels alone. When income volatility is this high, even a modest rent like $752 creates a thin margin between paid-on-time and 7-day-notice territory. Under KRS § 383.500 et seq., Kentucky's Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, landlords must give tenants a 7-day notice to pay or quit before filing for nonpayment - a short window that moves quickly but still requires strict procedural compliance. Lease violation cases require a 14-day cure notice, and end-of-term no-cause terminations require 30 days written notice. There is no local rent control in Perry County, and Kentucky's state preemption statute bars any municipality from enacting rent caps, so pricing flexibility is not a legal concern here.

Among the county's cities, the highest-scoring communities are Diablock and Vicco, each at 2.8/10, followed by Hazard at 2.7/10. On the lower end, Combs scores 1.7/10 and Jeff scores 1.8/10, reflecting smaller, less transient populations with lower filing activity. When an eviction does proceed in Perry County, landlords should budget for court filing fees of $150 to $250, sheriff lockout fees of $40 to $150, and attorney costs ranging from $500 to $2,500 for contested matters. An uncontested case typically resolves in 21 to 45 days; a contested proceeding can stretch 45 to 120 days. The Kentucky Commission on Human Rights enforces fair housing obligations, and the anti-retaliation statute at KRS § 383.705 prohibits adverse action against tenants who assert habitability rights under KRS § 383.595 - landlords who skip repairs before filing risk having a case dismissed on those grounds.

Perry County's Low score reflects a legal framework with no rent control and short statutory notice periods, offset by high poverty and rent burden rates that sustain above-average filing activity relative to most rural Kentucky eviction laws counties.