Polk County, Missouri Eviction Risk: Very Low

Polk County posts a county-wide average eviction-risk score of 2.4/10 (Very Low), covering 9 cities with a combined population of roughly 14,937. That number is encouraging on its surface, but the state-level context matters: the county ranks 20th of 115 Missouri eviction laws counties, meaning 19 counties carry higher risk and 95 are more landlord-friendly, placing Polk County in the higher-risk third of the state. Investors accustomed to Missouri's rural southwest should calibrate accordingly rather than treating the Low label as a blanket green light.

Intra-county scores run from 2 to 2.8, a spread that signals meaningfully different operating environments within the same county borders. An average rent of $811 and a rent-burden rate of 30.2%, where renters spend nearly a third of income on housing, suggest that cash-flow disruptions are a real and recurring risk even in towns where eviction scores look modest. Understanding which communities sit at the high or low end of that range is the practical starting point for any acquisition decision.

The cities inside Polk County

Bolivar, the county seat and by far the largest city at a population of 11,170, sits at the top of the risk scale with a score of 2.4/10, tied with Humansville (1,058 residents, 2.7/10). Fair Play and Morrisville each score 2.2/10, while Halfway comes in at 2/10. Because Bolivar accounts for the vast majority of the county's rental stock, its score effectively anchors the county average. Landlords adding units in or around Bolivar should not expect the Low county label to shield them from the higher-risk conditions driving that score.

The lowest-risk city in the dataset is Pleasant Hope at 2/10, followed by Aldrich at 2.5/10, with Pleasant Hope and Walnut Grove both at 2/10. The roughly one-point gap between Flemington and Bolivar is large enough to affect underwriting assumptions on vacancy reserves and legal-cost budgets. Risk in Polk County is genuinely hyper-local, and city-level scores, not the county average, should drive individual investment decisions.

State-level laws that apply here

Missouri eviction laws state law governs landlord-tenant relationships throughout Polk County under RSMo § 441 (Landlord and Tenant). For nonpayment of rent, Missouri eviction laws allows a landlord to file a rent-and-possession action immediately, with no mandatory pre-suit notice period under RSMo § 535.010. A lease-violation (unlawful detainer) case requires a 10-day notice under RSMo § 441.060, while terminating a month-to-month tenancy requires 30 days under the same statute. Understanding the Missouri eviction laws eviction process start-to-finish is essential, because even an uncontested case takes 21 to 45 days from filing to resolution, and a contested matter can stretch 45 to 120 days.

On Missouri eviction costs, landlords should budget carefully: court filing fees run $70 to $180, sheriff lockout fees add $40 to $150, and attorney fees range from $500 to $3,000 depending on complexity. Missouri eviction laws imposes no rent control and requires no just cause to terminate a tenancy, and state law preempts any local rent-control ordinance. Source-of-income is not a protected class under state fair-housing law, though federal protections apply. There is no statutory cap on security deposits beyond the customary two-months-rent standard that courts have generally observed.

With a poverty rate of 21.7% and a renter share of 44.1% across the county, a substantial portion of Polk County's tenant pool faces real financial pressure. Review the city-level risk scores in the grid above before committing to any specific market within the county.