Powder River County, Montana Eviction Risk: Very Low

Powder River County, Montana scores 2.5/10 overall, placing it in the Low risk tier, but that headline number deserves context for landlords considering the market. With only 2 cities and a total population of roughly 500, this is one of Montana eviction laws's smallest rental markets. Individual scores range from 2.1 to 2.5, a narrow band that reflects genuine consistency across the county rather than hidden pockets of elevated risk. Rent burden sits at just 14.7% of income on average, and the average rent of $523 signals an affordable, low-volatility market where tenant financial stress tends to stay contained.

Ranked 11th of 56 Montana counties by risk, Powder River County sits in the higher-risk third of the state. Ten Montana counties carry more risk, and 45 are less risky or more landlord-friendly, so investors should not treat this market as universally safe compared to the broader state. The renter share of approximately 32% means rental housing is a meaningful segment of local housing stock, though the scale is small enough that a single vacancy can skew an individual landlord's numbers significantly.

The cities inside Powder River County

Broadus is the county seat and its most populous community, home to roughly 459 residents, and it carries the county's highest risk score at 2.5/10. That score is still firmly in the Low tier, and at this market size, eviction events remain infrequent relative to higher-population metro areas. Broadus accounts for the bulk of the county's rental inventory, so landlords operating here are effectively setting the county's aggregate profile.

Biddle is the only other tracked city in the county, with a population of just 41 and a score of 2.1/10, the lowest in Powder River County. The gap between Biddle at 2.1 and Broadus at 2.5 is modest in absolute terms but illustrates that even within a low-risk county, risk is hyper-local. A landlord holding a single unit in Biddle faces materially different conditions than one operating a small portfolio in Broadus.

State-level laws that apply here

Under the Montana Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, MCA § 70-24, landlords in Powder River County must serve a 3-day notice for non-payment of rent and for lease violations subject to cure, and a 30-day notice for end-of-term, no-cause terminations. Uncontested proceedings resolve in roughly 21 to 45 days, while contested cases can extend to 45 to 120 days. Understanding the full Montana eviction process before a problem lease arises is worth the investment of time. Direct costs run from $90 to $170 in court filing fees, $40 to $125 for sheriff lockout fees, and $500 to $2,500 in attorney fees depending on case complexity.

Montana state law requires no just cause for eviction (just_cause_required is 0) and preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so landlords face no city-level rent caps here. Source-of-income discrimination is not a protected class under current Montana law. Montana security deposit limits and the full schedule of landlord obligations are governed at the state level, so what applies in Billings eviction risk applies identically in Broadus. Entry notice is fixed at 24 hours under MCA § 70-24, and retaliation protections for tenants fall under MCA § 70-24-431.

With a poverty rate of just 3.2% across the county, the underlying tenant financial profile in Powder River County is among the stronger you will find anywhere in Montana eviction laws; the city breakdown above maps where that stability is concentrated and where the modest differences in risk actually land.