Tuscola County, Michigan Eviction Risk: Low
13 incorporated cities and unincorporated areas. The county Eviction Risk Score is held aloft by the city of Caro (3.4) and a small number of dense urban cores. Rent-control coverage varies by city.
Ranked #28 of 83 MI counties
15k residents · 13 cities · 13 tracts
Tuscola County eviction risk score history
Key metrics
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Tenant beats landlord26.2%/ 100 outcomesIn court-decided eviction outcomes for Tuscola County, MI, tenants prevail in roughly 26.2% of contested cases. A higher number means landlords face stronger tenant defenses and longer calendars.
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Timeline60dfiling → judgmentFrom the moment an unlawful-detainer notice is filed in Tuscola County, MI until a money judgment is entered, a contested eviction takes about 60 days on average. Longer timelines mean more lost rent for landlords.
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Cost range$2.6–6.7klegal + lost rentA typical eviction in Tuscola County, MI costs landlords $2,612 to $6,657 all-in, covering court filing fees, process-server costs, attorney time, and lost rent.
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Average rent$78630% stretched on rentAverage gross rent in Tuscola County, MI is $786 per month per the U.S. Census American Community Survey. 30% of renter households here spend more than 30% of pre-tax income on rent.
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Renters25.3%of households25.3% of occupied housing units in Tuscola County, MI are renter-occupied. A higher renter share usually correlates with more eviction filings and a more active rental market.
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Poverty17.3%8.8% unemp.17.3% of Tuscola County, MI residents live below the federal poverty line, and unemployment runs at 8.8%. Both feed the economic-stress sub-score in our Eviction Risk Score model.
Scrub 50 years
Tuscola County's average eviction-risk score of 3.1/10 sits at the top of the county's 2.5 to 3.4 range, driven by Caro at the county's highest score of 3.4/10. Ranked 36 of 83 Michigan counties by eviction risk (rank 1 = highest risk).
How Tuscola County ranks in Michigan
Landlord guides for Michigan
| City↕ | Population↕ | Risk↕ | % income on rent↕ | Average rent↕ | Lean↕ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | Caro | 4,290 | 3.4 | 30.0% | $753 | Rep |
| 002 | Vassar | 2,707 | 3.2 | 27.6% | $744 | Rep |
| 003 | Cass City | 2,210 | 3.0 | 24.6% | $642 | Rep |
| 004 | Millington | 1,122 | 2.8 | 51.0% | $894 | Rep |
| 005 | Fostoria | 1,050 | 3.3 | 34.6% | $1,007 | Rep |
| 006 | Mayville | 1,045 | 3.2 | 27.3% | $669 | Rep |
| 007 | Unionville | 569 | 2.9 | 42.2% | $1,278 | Rep |
| 008 | Fairgrove | 547 | 2.8 | 23.8% | $842 | Rep |
| 009 | Bay Port | 474 | 2.8 | 27.5% | $675 | Rep |
| 010 | Kingston | 398 | 3.3 | 30.0% | $843 | Rep |
| 011 | Akron | 336 | 2.8 | 37.5% | $938 | Rep |
| 012 | Gagetown | 311 | 2.8 | 17.2% | $725 | Rep |
| 013 | Owendale | 193 | 2.5 | 21.4% | $967 | Rep |
County heatmap
One county, multiple regulatory regimes.
Tuscola County lands at 3.1/10 (Low) on the eviction-risk scale, placing it 36th of 83 counties in Michigan eviction laws, where 35 counties carry more risk and 47 are considered more landlord-friendly. For landlords and investors, that middle-of-the-pack position means operating conditions here are workable but not without friction: average rent sits at $786, rent burden runs at 30.4%, and a poverty rate of 17.3% means tenant financial stress is a real underwriting variable across the county's 13 incorporated cities.
The intra-county spread, from 2.5 to 3.4, is narrow in absolute terms but meaningful for portfolio selection. A landlord picking up rentals in the county seat faces materially different conditions than one buying in a quieter village on the county's edge, so city-level diligence matters even within a single county footprint.
The cities inside Tuscola County
Caro, the largest city in the county with a population of 4,290, carries the highest local score at 5.4/10, making it the most elevated-risk market in Tuscola County for landlords. Mayville follows at 3.2/10 (population 1,045), with Vassar at 3.2/10 (population 2,707) and Millington at 2.8/10 (population 1,122) rounding out the higher-risk tier. These communities share an average rent environment around $786 and carry the poverty-rate pressure that elevates late-payment and eviction frequency.
At the other end of the county, Fostoria and Fairgrove both score 2.8/10, and Unionville comes in at 2.9/10. These smaller villages tend to have thinner rental markets, but their lower scores suggest a modestly more stable tenant base relative to Caro and Mayville. Risk is genuinely hyper-local across the county's 13 cities, and averaging across the whole county can mask the gap between a Caro rental and a Fairgrove one.
State-level laws that apply here
Every landlord operating in Tuscola County works under Michigan eviction laws state law, specifically MCL 554.601 et seq. (Landlord-Tenant Relationships). For nonpayment of rent, the notice period is 7 days (MCL 600.5714). A material lease violation or a no-cause termination of a month-to-month tenancy each require 30 days notice (MCL 554.134). A serious or repeat health/safety hazard also triggers a 7-day notice period (MCL 600.5714(c)). Michigan eviction laws does not require just cause for eviction and state law preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so neither just-cause protections nor rent caps apply in Tuscola County.
On cost, the Michigan eviction laws eviction process involves court filing fees of $45 to $150, sheriff lockout fees of $50 to $150, and attorney fees typically ranging from $500 to $2,500. Uncontested cases resolve in roughly 21 to 45 days; contested matters can stretch to 45 to 120 days. Understanding Michigan eviction costs upfront is essential for any investor underwriting deals in this county, and a review of Michigan security deposit limits is equally important given the county's average rent and tenant demographics.
With 25.3% of households renting and a poverty rate of 17.3%, Tuscola County's rental market is smaller and financially stretched relative to many Michigan eviction laws urban counties; review the city grid above to pinpoint where within those 13 cities your specific risk exposure actually falls.
Historical eviction filings in Tuscola County
From 2010 to 2018, eviction filings in Tuscola County increased 5%. The peak was 474 filings in 2012.1
- 3332010
- 474Peak (2012)
- 3512018
Data covers 2000–2018, the full span of the Princeton Eviction Lab's national county court-records dataset.
How Tuscola County compares
Tuscola County's average eviction-risk score of 3.1/10 places it at rank 36 of 83 Michigan eviction laws counties, meaning 35 counties carry higher risk and 47 are more landlord-friendly. Among its closest peer counties, Tuscola County scores on par with Delta County (5.03) and Roscommon County (5.02), and slightly above Hillsdale County (4.97), Branch County (4.97), and Barry County (4.89), confirming that the county sits firmly in Michigan's middle-risk tier.
The intra-county spread of 2.5 to 3.4 across 13 cities is notable: investors willing to focus on lower-scoring communities like Fostoria or Fairgrove can operate with meaningfully less tenant-side economic stress than in the county seat of Caro at 3.4/10.