Pulaski County, Kentucky Eviction Risk: Low

Pulaski County carries an average eviction risk score of 2.7/10 (Low) across its 4 tracked cities, which places it at rank 36 of 120 Kentucky counties, where rank 1 is the highest-risk. That position means 35 counties in Kentucky eviction laws are riskier and 84 are more landlord-friendly, putting Pulaski in the higher-risk third of the state despite its Low label. For landlords, the practical read is a county where eviction pressure is present but not extreme, average rent sits at $781, and renter share runs at 47.4%, meaning close to half of occupied units are rentals.

The numbers behind that average deserve attention. The intra-county score range is 2.5 to 2.7, a spread that matters when you are choosing between two neighborhoods in the same county. A rent burden rate of 30.7% and a poverty rate of 28.5% both indicate that a meaningful share of tenants are financially stretched, which is the upstream condition that converts missed rent into formal eviction filings.

The cities inside Pulaski County

Somerset eviction risk carries the highest eviction risk in the county at 2.7/10, with a population of 755. Somerset, the county seat and by far the largest city at 12,216 residents, scores 2.7/10, matching the county average. These two cities hold the bulk of the county's rental stock and set the tone for what landlords operating here should expect.

On the lower end, Ferguson scores 2.6/10 (pop. 849) and Burnside comes in lowest at 2.5/10 (pop. 647). That range from 2.4 in Science Hill to 3.2 in Burnside is a reminder that risk is hyper-local. Two properties separated by a few miles can represent meaningfully different operating environments, so underwriting at the city level rather than relying on the county average will produce more accurate expectations.

State-level laws that apply here

Under Kentucky state law, specifically KRS § 383.500 et seq. (the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act), landlords must serve a 7-day notice for non-payment of rent, a 14-day notice for a lease violation with opportunity to cure, and a 30-day notice for end-of-term or no-cause terminations. Understanding the Kentucky eviction process from notice through lockout is essential before taking on tenants in this market. An uncontested case typically resolves in 21 to 45 days, while a contested matter can run 45 to 120 days.

Kentucky eviction costs in Pulaski County involve a court filing fee of $150 to $250, a sheriff lockout fee of $40 to $150, and attorney fees ranging from $500 to $2,500 when counsel is retained. There is no just-cause requirement for terminations and no rent control, and Kentucky state law preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so landlords here operate under a single, uniform statutory framework.

With a poverty rate of 28.5% and nearly half of households renting, the financial margin for many Pulaski County tenants is thin. The city-level grid above shows where within the county that pressure is most concentrated, from Burnside at 2.5/10 down to Science Hill at 2.5/10.