Livingston County, New York Eviction Risk: High

Livingston County scores 7.7/10 (High risk) on the EvictionRiskMap scale, placing it squarely in the middle third of New York eviction laws's 60 counties, with 30 counties riskier and 29 more landlord-friendly. For landlords operating across the county's 35 cities, that average reflects a market where tenant protections, economic stress, and procedural friction combine to make eviction a genuinely costly and time-consuming outcome. With an average rent of $935, a rent burden averaging 36.6% of renter income, and a poverty rate of 16.4%, the financial margin for both tenants and landlords is thin. Investors should treat the county-level score as a baseline, not a ceiling.

The intra-county spread from 7.1 to 8.3/10 is wide enough to matter. A landlord buying in the lowest-risk pocket of Livingston County faces a meaningfully different operating environment than one acquiring in the highest-risk areas, even though those properties may sit only a few miles apart. Site selection is therefore not just an economic decision, it is a risk-management one.

The cities inside Livingston County

The highest-risk locations in the county are Livonia Center and Wadsworth, both scoring 8.3/10. Geneseo is the county's largest city, with a population of 7,701, and its elevated score reflects the concentrated rental demand and tenant-protection environment typical of a college-town market. Avon (population 3,417) and Livonia (population 1,580) follow closely at 7.5/10, as do Nunda, Fowlerville, Piffard, and Cumminsville at the same level. Dansville (population 4,653) and Mount Morris (population 3,146) each register 8/10, still firmly in High territory. The most landlord-friendly reading in the data belongs to Conesus Lake at 7.5/10, which represents a meaningfully lower-friction operating environment than the county's riskiest cities.

The spread across these communities underscores a consistent pattern in upstate New York markets: risk is hyper-local. A landlord who evaluates Livingston County at the county-average level and stops there will miss the meaningful performance difference between a Conesus Lake portfolio and a Geneseo one.

State-level laws that apply here

Every landlord in Livingston County operates under New York eviction laws state law, principally N.Y. RPL § 226 et seq. and RPAPL § 711. Notice requirements depend on the reason and the tenancy length: nonpayment of rent triggers a 14-day notice under RPAPL § 711(2); a material lease violation requires just 10 days under RPAPL § 711(1). For holdover tenancies, RPL § 226-c sets the notice at 30 days for tenancies under one year, 60 days for one to two years, and 90 days for tenancies of two years or more. Just-cause eviction is required under state law, and rent caps vary by locality rather than following a single statewide formula. For a full walkthrough of what landlords owe before filing, see the New York eviction laws eviction process guide. Court filing fees range from $45 to $210, sheriff lockout fees from $50 to $200, and attorney fees from $1,000 to $4,000 for a contested matter, making the New York eviction costs picture far more consequential than the filing fee alone suggests. An uncontested case resolves in 30 to 90 days; a contested one can run 90 to 210 days.

With 33.8% of residents renting and a poverty rate of 16.4%, the economic profile of Livingston County's tenant base adds real default risk on top of the state's procedural protections. The city grid above breaks down individual scores across all 35 cities so landlords can compare locations before committing capital.