Beltrami County, Minnesota Eviction Risk: Moderate

Beltrami County, Minnesota eviction laws earns an average eviction-risk score of 5/10 (Moderate) across its 12 tracked cities, placing it at rank 38 of 87 Minnesota counties, squarely in the middle third of the state. That ranking means 37 counties carry more risk for landlords, while 49 are more landlord-friendly, so Beltrami sits in genuinely mixed territory rather than at either extreme. With average rent at $931 per month and an average rent-burden rate of 28%, tenant finances are stretched but not yet at crisis levels, which keeps the operating environment workable for prepared investors.

The intra-county spread, from a low of 4.1/10 to a high of 5.3/10, tells a more pointed story: where you own property within Beltrami County matters considerably. A landlord in the county's safest pocket faces meaningfully different conditions than one operating in its riskiest corridor, and those differences compound over time through vacancy rates, collections pressure, and eviction frequency. The roughly 49.2% renter share across the county is high by rural Minnesota eviction laws standards, which means supply of rentable units is consequential to local pricing and tenant quality.

The cities inside Beltrami County

Little Rock carries the county's highest risk score at 5.4/10, the only city in Beltrami that clears 5.3, and its population of 699 means the rental pool is thin and tenant turnover can hit cash flow hard. Redby (4.9/10, pop. 1,495), Red Lake (5.3/10, pop. 1,481), and Wilton (5.4/10, pop. 327) each share the next tier. Little Rock comes in at 5.4/10 and Kelliher at 5/10, both elevated enough to warrant careful tenant screening.

At the other end of the county's range, Ponemah scores 5.4/10, the lowest risk recorded across all tracked cities here. Bemidji, by far the county's largest city at 15,569 residents, scores 4.5/10, which makes it the most balanced location for landlords who want scale alongside manageable risk. That hyper-local variation is the defining feature of operating in Beltrami County: city-level data, not the county average, should drive any acquisition or rent-setting decision.

State-level laws that apply here

All landlords in Beltrami County operate under Minnesota state law, specifically Minn. Stat. § 504B (Landlord and Tenant). For nonpayment of rent, landlords must serve a 14-day notice under Minn. Stat. § 504B.291 before filing. Material lease violations and month-to-month terminations each require a 30-day notice under Minn. Stat. § 504B.135. Court filing fees run $310 to $410, sheriff lockout fees add $55 to $150, and attorney fees typically range from $750 to $3,000, so a contested matter can cost several thousand dollars before it resolves. The Minnesota eviction process, once filed, runs 30 to 60 days for uncontested cases and 60 to 150 days if contested, a timeline landlords should build into vacancy assumptions. Understanding Minnesota eviction costs before acquiring rental property here is essential to accurate underwriting.

On the regulatory side, Minnesota does not require just cause for most evictions statewide, and the state does not currently preempt local rent control ordinances under the statute data reviewed as of May 2026. Source-of-income protections do apply under Minnesota law, enforced through the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, which expands the protected-class landscape landlords must navigate during tenant selection.

With a 22.3% average poverty rate across the county, tenant financial fragility is a real underwriting variable; review the city-level scores in the grid above to identify which Beltrami County markets present the most manageable risk profile for your portfolio.