Dade County, Missouri Eviction Risk: Low

Dade County sits in southwestern Missouri with a total population of 2,679 spread across six incorporated places. The county's eviction risk score of 3.6/10 (Low) puts it at rank 53 of 115 Missouri counties - meaning 52 counties in the state carry higher risk and 62 are less risky, placing Dade squarely in the middle third. That score reflects a relatively stable rental market: average rent is $644 per month, average rent burden holds at 25%, and the renter share of occupied housing sits at 33.2%. While those figures are modest in absolute terms, the average poverty rate of 25% is a meaningful pressure point for landlords who screen carefully - a quarter of residents are below the poverty line, which can translate to payment volatility even where headline eviction risk scores are low.

Within the county, Greenfield is both the largest city (population 1,229) and the riskiest at 4/10. Lockwood (pop. 821) follows at 3.2/10, and Dadeville (pop. 234) and Everton (pop. 223) score 3.6/10 and 3.6/10 respectively. South Greenfield and Arcola anchor the low end at 3.2/10 and 3.2/10. The narrow spread from 1.9 to 3.2/10 across all six cities is notable: Dade lacks the large urban concentration that typically drives county-level score spikes, so risk is relatively uniform across the county. Landlords holding units in Greenfield should be aware it carries the county's highest reading, driven in part by its larger tenant pool and service-sector income base.

Missouri's eviction framework under RSMo § 441 (Landlord and Tenant) is one of the more landlord-friendly in the country, and Dade County operates entirely within that framework - there is no local just-cause or rent-cap ordinance, and Missouri state law preempts any local rent control effort. A nonpayment case can proceed with no advance notice under RSMo § 535.010, the rent-and-possession action requires only a day in court once filed, and court filing fees range from $70 to $180. Sheriff lockout fees run $40 to $150. Uncontested matters typically resolve in 21 to 45 days; contested cases stretch to 45 to 120 days. Attorney fees, when engaged, run $500 to $3,000 depending on complexity. Tenant protections are limited: the habitability statute (RSMo § 441.500) and anti-retaliation provision (RSMo § 441.020) apply, but source-of-income is not a protected class and no local screening rules exist. For landlords in Dade County, the legal cost and timeline calculus clearly favors a well-documented lease and prompt action - the statutes support it.

Dade County's Low score reflects a small, rural rental market where stable - if modest - rents and an absence of local tenant-protection ordinances keep eviction risk near the bottom of the Missouri eviction laws scale.