Menominee County, Michigan Eviction Risk: Low

Menominee County sits at the western tip of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, pressed against the Wisconsin border along Green Bay. With a total population of 10,605 and just 6 tracked municipalities, it is one of Michigan's smaller and more rural counties. The county's overall eviction risk score of 3.1/10 falls in the Low range, placing it 36th out of 83 Michigan counties - meaning 35 counties carry higher risk and 47 are less risky. That puts Menominee squarely in the middle third of the state, landlord-friendly by most measures but not without financial stress that landlords should watch closely.

The city of Menominee is the county seat and by far the largest community, with 8,326 residents and a score of 3.1/10. Carney, the smallest tracked city at 177 residents, posts the county's highest individual risk score at 3.5/10, followed by Powers at 3.3/10. Stephenson (population 902) and Hermansville (population 666) anchor the lower end at 3.0/10. This narrow spread - scores running from 3.0 to 3.5 across all six cities - reflects a fairly uniform risk environment: conditions that drive eviction risk do not shift dramatically from one community to the next. Landlords active across multiple county locations will not encounter the wide swings sometimes seen in larger urban-to-rural counties.

The financial backdrop warrants attention despite the Low headline rating. Average rent runs $700/month, which is affordable in absolute terms, but average rent burden sits at 30.7% of income - right at the threshold that housing economists use to define cost-stressed households. With 16.2% of residents living below the poverty line and only 29.3% of residents renting (meaning the renter pool is smaller and more financially concentrated), payment disruptions can hit landlords quickly when local economic conditions soften. Michigan law gives landlords a 7-day notice to quit for nonpayment of rent under MCL 600.5714, and a 30-day notice for material lease violations under MCL 554.134. Uncontested evictions typically run 21-45 days from filing to resolution; contested matters can extend to 45-120 days. Court filing fees range from $45 to $150, sheriff lockout fees from $50 to $150, and attorney fees commonly run $500 to $2,500 depending on complexity. Michigan does not require just cause for eviction and state law preempts any local rent control ordinance, so Menominee County landlords operate entirely under the statewide framework with no additional local restrictions to track.

Scores are computed from rental market stress, poverty exposure, rent-burden trends, and landlord-tenant law; a Low score means eviction risk is below the state average but does not mean zero risk - the 30.7% average rent burden here reflects real payment pressure in the renter population.