Fillmore County, Nebraska Eviction Risk: Very Low

Fillmore County sits in south-central Nebraska's agricultural belt, a county of about 4,361 residents where renting is genuinely the minority tenure. Only 19.6% of households rent here, and average rent runs $762 a month -- well below statewide urban norms. The county carries a composite eviction-risk score of 2.4/10 (Very Low), placing it 79th out of 93 Nebraska counties ranked by risk. That position in the lower-risk of the state means 78 counties present higher eviction pressure than Fillmore, while just 14 are lower-risk. Scores across the county's eight communities range from 2.3 to 2.8/10, a narrow spread that reflects how uniformly rural and tenant-light this market is.

Geneva (population 2,193) is the county seat and its largest community, scoring 2.4/10. Most rental activity in the county flows through Geneva eviction risk, where a handful of small apartment complexes and scattered single-family rentals serve farm workers, local employees, and retirees who have downsized from surrounding acreages. Fairmont (635 residents, 2.4/10) and Exeter (562 residents, 2.4/10) are the next largest communities, each a compact main-street town with thin but stable rental inventory. Shickley (2.3/10) and Milligan (2.3/10) sit at the lower end of the county's risk range. The highest individual score in the county belongs to Grafton (2.8/10), a village of 160 where a tighter ratio of available units to low-income renters nudges the risk reading up relative to Geneva and Exeter. Ohiowa registers 2.5/10 and rounds out the mid-range.

Nebraska's Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1401 et seq.) governs every lease in Fillmore County. The state preempts local rent control entirely, so no municipality here can cap increases or impose just-cause eviction requirements beyond what state law provides. Nonpayment of rent triggers a 7-day notice to pay or quit; lease violations carry a 14-day cure notice; and no-cause end-of-term terminations require 30 days. Court filing fees run $85 to $200, sheriff lockout fees $40 to $150, and uncontested cases typically resolve in 21 to 45 days -- a timeline that is faster than most metropolitan Nebraska courts given lower docket volume in rural Fillmore County. Average rent burden sits at 23.3% of income, comfortably below the 30% threshold that flags financial stress, and the county's 9.5% poverty rate is modest by rural standards. Landlords operating here face one of the more predictable regulatory environments in the state, with no source-of-income protections and a habitable-premises standard anchored in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1419.

With fewer than 4,400 residents and a renter share under 20%, Fillmore County is a low-volume, low-friction rental market. Eviction filings are rare in absolute terms, costs are contained, and the absence of local ordinances means landlords operate under a single, well-settled state statute. The primary operating risk is vacancy rather than eviction -- units sit longer in small towns when out-migration presses on population, and $762 average rent leaves thin margin for extended turnover.