St. Louis County, Minnesota Eviction Risk: Moderate

St. Louis County carries an average eviction-risk score of 5.4/10, placing it in the Elevated tier and ranking it 11th of 87 counties in Minnesota. That ranking means only 10 counties in the state score higher risk, putting St. Louis County firmly in the higher-risk third of Minnesota. For landlords, the headline number signals above-average tenant financial stress: an average rent burden of 30.7% of income and a poverty rate of 16.1% translate directly into elevated probability of missed rent and contested proceedings.

Across the county's 28 cities, individual scores span from 4.5 to 5.8, a range narrow enough to suggest common structural pressures but wide enough that neighborhood selection matters. The average rent of $1,029 and a renter share of 34.7% of households round out a picture of a mid-sized regional market with genuine collection risk that operators cannot ignore.

The cities inside St. Louis County

Duluth sits at the top of the county's risk distribution with a score of 5.8/10, the highest of any city here. Duluth, by far the largest city in the county at a population of 87,093, scores 5.6/10, which means the dominant rental market in the region is itself in elevated territory. Chisholm, Eveleth, Ely, Cook, and Nett Lake each score 5.2/10 as well, and Hibbing (population 16,057) comes in at 5.1/10. Risk is clearly not isolated to one corner of the county; it is the dominant baseline across most populated areas.

The lower end of the county's range offers modest relief. Rice Lake scores 5.3/10, and Hermantown (population 10,218) scores 4.8/10, showing that smaller, more suburban settings within the county carry comparatively less exposure. Investors targeting lower-risk sub-markets within St. Louis County should weight these communities in their analysis against the trade-off of thinner rental inventory.

State-level laws that apply here

Under Minnesota's landlord-tenant framework, nonpayment of rent requires a 14-day notice before filing, governed by Minn. Stat. § 504B.291. Terminating a month-to-month tenancy or acting on a material lease violation each require a 30-day notice under Minn. Stat. § 504B.135. Minnesota does not require just cause for nonrenewal of a lease at this time, which gives landlords meaningful flexibility at lease end. Understanding the full Minnesota eviction process matters here because even an uncontested case runs 30 to 60 days from filing to lockout, and a contested case can stretch to 60 to 150 days.

Court filing fees run $310 to $410, sheriff lockout fees add $55 to $150, and attorney fees commonly range from $750 to $3,000 depending on complexity. Statewide there is no rent control and no municipal preemption statute limiting local rent regulation, though no rent cap formula is currently in force. Minnesota security deposit limits and the broader tenant-protection landscape should be reviewed before finalizing lease terms, as source-of-income protections are recognized under state law through the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

With 16.1% of residents below the poverty line and renters making up 34.7% of households, the financial stress driving St. Louis County's Elevated score is real and broadly distributed, review the city grid above to identify which of the county's 28 communities best fits your risk tolerance.