Butler County, Nebraska Eviction Risk: Low

Butler County sits in east-central Nebraska, a rural agricultural county of roughly 4,900 residents spread across 11 incorporated communities. The county carries an eviction risk score of 2.7/10 (Low), ranking it 18th of 93 Nebraska counties - placing it in the higher-risk of the state, with 17 counties showing higher risk and 75 showing less. Scores across Butler County's communities range from 2.1 to 3.2, a spread that reflects the difference between its smallest crossroads villages and the county seat.

David City (pop. 3,017) anchors Butler County as the county seat and accounts for well over half the county's total rental housing stock. It scores 2.8/10, landing near the upper end of the county range. The two highest-risk communities in the county are smaller villages: Surprise, at 3.2/10, and Garrison, at 3.1/10 - both very small settlements where thin rental markets and limited local economic activity push scores toward the county ceiling. Ulysses (2.9/10) and Bellwood (2.7/10) follow in the mid-range, while Dwight (2.1/10) represents the lowest-risk community in the county. Brainard (2.6/10), Rising City (2.7/10), and Octavia (2.6/10) all cluster in the lower-middle range. The overall county average of 2.7/10 compares favorably to the Nebraska statewide average of 2.9/10.

Butler County's rental market is small by any measure. Only about 26.6% of occupied housing units are renter-occupied - well below typical urban rates - and the average gross rent of $733 per month is among the more affordable in the state. Renters here spend roughly 26% of household income on housing costs, a burden rate that sits below the 30% threshold commonly used to define cost-stressed households. Poverty runs at about 8.5% countywide. None of those figures eliminate eviction risk entirely, but they do help explain why Butler County lands where it does on the risk scale: limited but affordable rental supply, a workforce tied to agriculture and local services, and minimal policy friction from landlord-unfriendly regulation. Nebraska's statewide preemption of local rent control means no Butler County municipality can impose rent caps or just-cause eviction requirements of its own - the regulatory floor is set entirely at the state level under the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1401 et seq.).

Butler County's 2.7/10 score reflects a predominantly rural rental market with affordable rents averaging $733/month and a below-average rent burden of 26%. With 17 Nebraska eviction laws counties carrying higher eviction risk, most landlords operating here face less tenant-side financial pressure than in the state's urban corridors - though the county's position in the higher-risk of Nebraska eviction laws means it is not among the state's most landlord-favorable markets either.