Union County, Kentucky Eviction Risk: Very Low
5 incorporated cities and unincorporated areas. The county Eviction Risk Score is held aloft by the city of Morganfield (2.5) and a small number of dense urban cores. Rent-control coverage varies by city.
Ranked #99 of 120 KY counties
8k residents · 5 cities · 4 tracts
Union County eviction risk score history
Key metrics
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Tenant beats landlord16.4%/ 100 outcomesIn court-decided eviction outcomes for Union County, KY, tenants prevail in roughly 16.4% 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 Union 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 Union County, KY costs landlords $1,255 to $2,877 all-in, covering court filing fees, process-server costs, attorney time, and lost rent.
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Average rent$81124% stretched on rentAverage gross rent in Union County, KY is $811 per month per the U.S. Census American Community Survey. 24% of renter households here spend more than 30% of pre-tax income on rent.
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Renters40.2%of households40.2% of occupied housing units in Union 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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Poverty22.3%4.0% unemp.22.3% of Union County, KY residents live below the federal poverty line, and unemployment runs at 4.0%. Both feed the economic-stress sub-score in our Eviction Risk Score model.
Scrub 50 years
Union County averages 2.2/10 across its 5 tracked cities, ranging from 1.8/10 in Waverly to 2.5/10 in Breckinridge Center. Ranked 99th of 120 Kentucky counties - in the lower-risk third of the state.
How Union County ranks in Kentucky
Landlord guides for Kentucky
| City↕ | Population↕ | Risk↕ | % income on rent↕ | Average rent↕ | Lean↕ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | Morganfield | 3,185 | 2.0 | 22.5% | $852 | Rep |
| 002 | Sturgis | 1,864 | 2.4 | 33.4% | $678 | Rep |
| 003 | Breckinridge Center | 1,467 | 2.5 | 20.4% | $1,013 | Rep |
| 004 | Uniontown | 874 | 2.4 | 21.6% | $598 | Rep |
| 005 | Waverly | 403 | 1.8 | 14.5% | $831 | Rep |
County heatmap
One county, multiple regulatory regimes.
Union eviction risk County, Kentucky eviction laws sits near the western tip of the state along the Ohio eviction laws River and carries one of the lower eviction risk profiles in the commonwealth. With a county-wide average score of 2.2/10 (Low), Union County ranks 99th out of 120 Kentucky counties - meaning 98 counties carry higher risk and only 21 are rated lower. For landlords operating here, that standing reflects a legal environment shaped by the statewide KRS § 383.500 et seq. (Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act), which sets predictable, enforceable timelines and grants no local rent-control authority to municipalities anywhere in Kentucky eviction laws.
The county's roughly 7,793 residents are spread across five tracked cities. Morganfield is the largest at 3,185 residents and holds an eviction risk score of 2/10. Sturgis (1,864 residents) and Uniontown (874 residents) each score 2.4/10, while Breckinridge Center is the highest-risk city in the county at 2.5/10. Waverly, the smallest tracked city at 403 residents, scores 1.8/10 - the lowest in the county. Average monthly rent across Union County runs $811, well below state and national benchmarks. Renters here allocate an average of 24.2% of income to housing costs, which falls below the standard 30% cost-burden threshold - a meaningful indicator of relative affordability. That said, the county's 22.3% poverty rate is a factor landlords should weigh: higher poverty shares tend to correlate with tighter tenant liquidity and elevated late-payment patterns even when aggregate rent burden looks moderate. The 40.2% renter share of households also indicates a rental market that is fairly active for a rural county of this size.
On the cost side, Kentucky eviction laws law sets court filing fees between $150 and $250 for eviction actions. Sheriff lockout fees run $40 to $150, and attorney fees for contested matters typically range from $500 to $2,500. An uncontested case resolves in roughly 21 to 45 days; contested proceedings extend to 45 to 120 days. Landlords must issue a 7-day notice for non-payment, 14 days for a curable lease violation, and 30 days for end-of-term no-cause termination, all under KRS § 383.500 et seq. Source-of-income protections do not apply under state law, and there is no just-cause-for-eviction requirement. The Kentucky eviction laws Commission on Human Rights handles fair-housing complaints at the state level. Taken together, Union County's low risk score, affordable rent base, and landlord-favorable state statute make it a relatively low-friction operating environment compared to most of Kentucky eviction laws.
Union eviction risk County's eviction risk score of 2.2/10 reflects conditions measured across its 5 tracked cities, a total population of 7,793, and the legal framework of the Kentucky eviction laws Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.
Eviction filings in Union County
In September 2025, 5 eviction filings were recorded in Union County, 83.3% of the historical average (near average).1
- 5Sep 2025
- 83.3%of historical avg
- 1,449Renter households
- 17.4%Poverty rate
Historical eviction filings in Union County
From 2000 to 2016, eviction filings in Union County increased 146%. The peak was 65 filings in 2005.2
- 262000
- 65Peak (2005)
- 642016
Data covers 2000–2018, the full span of the Princeton Eviction Lab's national county court-records dataset.
How Union County compares
Union eviction risk County's 2.2/10 score tracks closely with nearby peers - Webster County (2.23/10), Ohio County (2.26/10), Meade County (2.22/10), Caldwell County (2.18/10), and Grant County (2.21/10) - all clustered in the same low-risk band, consistent with Kentucky eviction laws's broadly landlord-favorable statewide legal framework.