Deuel County, Nebraska Eviction Risk: Low
4 incorporated cities and unincorporated areas. The county Eviction Risk Score is held aloft by the city of Chappell (3.1) and a small number of dense urban cores. Rent-control coverage varies by city.
Ranked #49 of 93 NE counties
2k residents · 4 cities · 1 tracts
Deuel County eviction risk score history
Key metrics
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Tenant beats landlord15.5%/ 100 outcomesIn court-decided eviction outcomes for Deuel County, NE, tenants prevail in roughly 15.5% of contested cases. A higher number means landlords face stronger tenant defenses and longer calendars.
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Timeline31dfiling → judgmentFrom the moment an unlawful-detainer notice is filed in Deuel County, NE until a money judgment is entered, a contested eviction takes about 31 days on average. Longer timelines mean more lost rent for landlords.
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Cost range$1.0–3.0klegal + lost rentA typical eviction in Deuel County, NE costs landlords $956 to $2,998 all-in, covering court filing fees, process-server costs, attorney time, and lost rent.
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Average rent$77122% stretched on rentAverage gross rent in Deuel County, NE is $771 per month per the U.S. Census American Community Survey. 22% of renter households here spend more than 30% of pre-tax income on rent.
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Renters17.3%of households17.3% of occupied housing units in Deuel County, NE are renter-occupied. A higher renter share usually correlates with more eviction filings and a more active rental market.
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Poverty11.5%3.4% unemp.11.5% of Deuel County, NE residents live below the federal poverty line, and unemployment runs at 3.4%. Both feed the economic-stress sub-score in our Eviction Risk Score model.
Scrub 50 years
Deuel County's eviction risk of 2.6/10 (Low) reflects a small rental market with low rent burden (22.2%) and landlord-favorable Nebraska statutes - no rent control, no just-cause requirement, and a 7-day nonpayment notice period. Ranked 49th of 93 Nebraska counties, with scores in this county ranging from 2.4 (Chappell) to 3.1 (Lodgepole) - a tight middle-of-state cluster.
How Deuel County ranks in Nebraska
Landlord guides for Nebraska
| City↕ | Population↕ | Risk↕ | % income on rent↕ | Average rent↕ | Lean↕ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | Chappell | 915 | 2.4 | 23.6% | $775 | Rep |
| 002 | Big Springs | 496 | 2.6 | 12.5% | $775 | Rep |
| 003 | Lodgepole | 223 | 3.1 | 28.1% | $725 | Rep |
| 004 | Lewellen | 207 | 2.7 | 32.6% | $789 | Rep |
County heatmap
One county, multiple regulatory regimes.
Deuel County sits in the western Nebraska eviction laws Panhandle with a total population of roughly 1,841 residents and one of the state's smaller rental markets - only about 17.3% of households rent, compared to a much higher share in eastern Nebraska eviction laws cities. Average monthly rent runs around $771, and renters here carry a 22.2% rent burden on average, comfortably below the threshold that economists flag as cost-stressed. The county's overall eviction risk registers 2.6/10 (Low), placing it 49th out of 93 Nebraska counties - a middle position statewide, with 48 counties carrying higher risk scores and 44 sitting below it.
Within the county, risk is not perfectly uniform. Chappell, the county seat and largest community at about 915 residents, comes in at 2.4/10 - the most landlord-favorable reading in the county. Big Springs (population 496) scores 2.6/10, tracking close to the county average. Lodgepole (population 223) carries the highest local reading at 3.1/10, driven partly by a thinner rental base that amplifies statistical volatility. Lewellen (population 207) falls at 2.7/10. Together these four communities span a range of 2.4 to 3.1, a relatively tight spread that reflects how consistently low-pressure this rental market is. The county's score sits below the 2.9 statewide average, meaning landlords here operate in a measurably calmer legal and economic environment than is typical across Nebraska as a whole.
The low risk profile traces to a combination of factors. Nebraska's Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1401 et seq.) governs all residential tenancies, and the state preempts any local attempt to impose rent control - there are no rent caps anywhere in Nebraska, including Deuel County. Landlords are not required to show just cause before a no-cause termination. Poverty rates here average 11.5%, not negligible but lower than many rural Nebraska counties, and the overall tenant population is small enough that contested eviction caseloads in Deuel County District Court are rarely substantial. Court filing fees run $85 to $200 per case, with sheriff lockout costs adding another $40 to $150 - total procedural costs that are well within typical rural Nebraska norms.
Deuel County's Low risk score of 2.6/10 reflects a small, stable rental market governed by landlord-friendly Nebraska eviction laws statutes. No rent control applies, just-cause eviction is not required, and the 7-day notice window for nonpayment is among the shorter cure periods in the region. Uncontested cases typically close in 21 to 45 days; contested matters can run 45 to 100 days depending on court scheduling in this lightly-staffed rural district.
Historical eviction filings in Deuel County
From 2000 to 2016, eviction filings in Deuel County increased. The peak was 5 filings in 2005.1
- 02000
- 5Peak (2005)
- 32016
Data covers 2000–2018, the full span of the Princeton Eviction Lab's national county court-records dataset.
How Deuel County compares
Deuel County's 2.6/10 (Low) sits below the 2.9/10 Nebraska statewide average, making it friendlier to landlords than most of the state's 93 counties. Peer counties with similar risk profiles include Sherman County, Greeley County, and Franklin County - all clustered in the same low-risk band. Brown County and Pawnee County come in slightly lower still. None of these western and central Nebraska eviction laws rural counties approach the elevated risk levels seen in Douglas County (Omaha eviction risk) or Lancaster County (Lincoln eviction risk), where larger tenant populations and higher court volumes push scores substantially higher.