Perkins County, Nebraska Eviction Risk: Low

Perkins County sits in the southwestern Nebraska eviction laws Panhandle fringe, a sparsely populated agricultural county of roughly 1,778 residents where the rental market is modest by almost any measure. The county scores 3.2/10 (Low) on the Eviction Risk Map index, ranking 85th of 93 Nebraska counties - placing it firmly in the lower-risk of the state. With scores ranging from 3.2 to 3.2 across its three tracked communities, the spread within the county is narrow, reflecting a uniformly low-intensity rental environment. The Nebraska state average is 3.6/10, and Perkins County trails well behind that benchmark in the direction landlords prefer.

The county seat of Grant is by far the largest community at roughly 1,413 residents, and it anchors the county's low end with a score of 3.2/10. Landlords operating there benefit from a thin rental market - only about 23.8% of households rent - and an average gross rent near $940 per month, with rent burden running at 23% of renter income. That rent-burden figure is low enough that payment instability is not a structural concern the way it is in denser Nebraska metros. Madrid, the county's highest-risk community despite its population of only 226, scores 3.2/10 - still a Low-tier reading in absolute terms. Elsie, with 139 residents, sits between them at 3.2/10. None of these communities present elevated eviction pressure by Nebraska standards, let alone national ones.

The statutory environment reinforces this picture. Nebraska's Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1401 et seq.) governs the process statewide, and Perkins County landlords file in county court under a regime that has no rent control, no just-cause-required eviction standard, and no local preemption concerns - the state already preempts local rent-control ordinances, which is moot for a county this size but worth noting for investors tracking regulatory risk. Non-payment of rent triggers a 7-day pay-or-quit notice; lease violations allow a 14-day cure period; no-cause terminations of month-to-month tenancies 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 - among the faster timelines in the region. Poverty sits at 9.9%, which is low enough that the pool of deeply rent-burdened tenants likely to contest an eviction is small. For a landlord seeking a low-friction operating environment in rural Nebraska, Perkins County's numbers are about as favorable as they get in the state.

Perkins County's Low eviction-risk score of 3.2/10 reflects a combination of low rent burden (23%), limited tenant-protection statutes, and a thin but stable rural rental market where average rents of $940 per month are well within reach for working households. With only 3 tracked cities and a total rental population of under 450 renter households, individual landlord decisions carry outsized weight on local vacancy and turnover metrics.