Cascade County, Montana Eviction Risk: Very Low

Cascade County, Montana eviction laws posts a county-average eviction-risk score of 2.1/10 (Low), placing it at rank 47 of 56 Montana counties, where rank 1 is the highest-risk. That means 46 counties carry more landlord risk than Cascade County, and only 9 statewide read as more landlord-friendly. For investors weighing this market, those numbers signal genuinely stable operating conditions across a county of 71,049 residents, an average rent of $921, and a renter share of 36.4%.

Still, the county average masks real variation on the ground. Scores across the county's 23 tracked cities run from 1.7 to 2.6 on the 10-point scale, a spread that matters when a single leasing decision can sit at either end of that range. The average rent burden of 28.6% of income suggests renters here are not deeply squeezed, which typically correlates with lower default rates, but pockets of the county diverge from that picture considerably.

The cities inside Cascade County

Great Falls, with a population of 60,329, is by far the county's largest city and its most landlord-friendly, scoring 1.5/10. Because so much of the county's rental stock and activity concentrates there, Great Falls eviction risk anchors the low county average and represents the core operating environment for most landlords investing in Cascade County.

At the other end of the spectrum, Malmstrom AFB scores 2.1/10 and, with a population of 4,302, is the highest-risk city in the county. Black Eagle, Cascade, and Belt each score 1.8/10, followed by Vaughn at 2.1/10. These smaller communities show that eviction risk is genuinely hyper-local here: a landlord operating in Malmstrom AFB eviction risk faces a risk profile nearly double that of a counterpart in Great Falls, even though both properties sit within the same county lines.

State-level laws that apply here

All residential tenancies in Cascade County fall under Montana state law, specifically MCA § 70-24 (Residential Landlord and Tenant Act). For non-payment of rent or a correctable lease violation, landlords must serve a 3-day notice before filing. Month-to-month tenancies require a 30-day no-cause notice to terminate. Montana imposes no just-cause requirement for eviction and, by statute, preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so no city within the county can impose a rent cap independent of state law. Landlords should review the Montana eviction process and Montana eviction costs carefully before filing: court filing fees run $90 to $170, sheriff lockout fees add $40 to $125, and attorney fees, if needed, range from $500 to $2,500. An uncontested case resolves in roughly 21 to 45 days; a contested matter can extend to 45 to 120 days.

With an average poverty rate of 14% and a renter share of 36.4%, Cascade County's fundamentals point toward manageable risk for most landlords, though city-level scores above tell a more specific story worth reviewing before committing to any particular market within the county.