McCone County, Montana Eviction Risk: Very Low

McCone County, Montana eviction laws carries an average eviction risk score of 2.3/10 (Low) across its 5 tracked cities, with a total population of roughly 986 residents. That low average reflects a rural, lightly rented county where tenants tend to be stable and disputes are infrequent. Average rent runs $477 per month, and the average rent burden sits at 18.3%, meaning most renters here are not financially overextended. On the surface, those are comfortable numbers for a buy-and-hold landlord.

Still, McCone County sits at rank 16 of 56 Montana eviction laws counties for eviction risk, placing it in the higher-risk third of the state: 15 counties score worse, but 40 score better. The intra-county spread, from a low of 1.6 to a high of 2.9, also signals that conditions are not uniform across the county's communities. Landlords who treat Montana's eastern rural counties as interchangeable should look more closely at the city-level data before committing.

The cities inside McCone County

Frazer carries the county's highest individual risk score at 2.9/10, making it the most tenant-pressured community in the county. With a population of 387, it is the second-largest city in the county by population but the first in risk. Landlords operating there face conditions meaningfully different from the rest of the county, and vacancy and collection performance should be monitored closely.

Circle, the county's largest city at 514 residents, scores a more moderate 2/10, and Brockway scores exactly 2.3/10, matching the county average. At the low end of the risk spectrum, Vida and Prairie Elk Colony each score 1.6/10, the friendliest numbers in the county. The range from 1.6 in Vida to 2.9 in Frazer underscores that risk in McCone County is genuinely hyper-local: a landlord operating in Circle faces a different equation than one in Frazer, even though both sit within the same county boundary.

State-level laws that apply here

Under MCA § 70-24 (Residential Landlord and Tenant Act), Montana state law sets a 3-day notice for non-payment of rent and a 3-day notice to cure a lease violation. A no-cause end-of-term termination requires 30 days notice. An uncontested eviction typically resolves in 21 to 45 days; a contested case can run 45 to 120 days. Understanding the Montana eviction process is essential before pursuing any removal, because even a relatively straightforward case carries costs: court filing fees range from $90 to $170, sheriff lockout fees from $40 to $125, and attorney fees from $500 to $2,500. Montana eviction costs can therefore reach well into four figures once all three components combine, which is a meaningful sum relative to a $477 average monthly rent. Montana does not impose rent control and does not require just cause to end a tenancy, and state law preempts any local municipality from imposing rent caps, giving landlords clear, uniform rules across every city in the county.

With an average poverty rate of 20% and a renter share of 30.7% across the county, the rental pool in McCone County is modest in size but not without financial stress; the city scores listed above are the sharpest tool for pinpointing where that stress concentrates.