Tompkins County, New York Eviction Risk: Very High

Tompkins County earns an 8.6/10 High eviction-risk score, placing it 8th of 60 counties in New York, meaning only 7 counties statewide carry higher risk for landlords. With 56.8% of residents renting and an average rent burden of 39.5% of income, the structural pressure on tenants to fall behind is real, and investors pricing in landlord exposure should treat this as an above-average operating environment from day one.

Spread across 21 cities, Tompkins County shows a risk band from 7.9 to 9/10, a 1.3-point spread that can make a material difference in carrying costs and vacancy behavior. The average rent of $1,476 per month sits against a poverty rate of 20.2%, a combination that keeps delinquency risk elevated even in otherwise stable submarkets. Landlords evaluating portfolios here should not rely on the county average alone.

The cities inside Tompkins County

The highest-risk localities cluster at 8.3/10: Ithaca (population 32,814), Lansing (population 3,876), Forest Home, and West Danby all share that ceiling score. Ithaca eviction risk dominates the county's rental market, and its score reflects a heavily tenant-oriented political environment layered on top of New York eviction laws state protections. Lansing, though smaller, matches that risk profile exactly.

A second tier at 8.2/10 includes Northwest Ithaca (population 2,225), Dryden, Trumansburg, and Varna. The lowest-scoring city in the county is Newfield at 7.9/10 (population 6,951), which offers the most landlord-favorable operating conditions in the county, though still well above a neutral baseline. Risk here is genuinely hyper-local, and two adjacent neighborhoods can diverge by more than a full point on the 10-point scale.

State-level laws that apply here

Every landlord in Tompkins County operates under New York eviction laws state law, principally N.Y. RPL § 226 et seq. and RPAPL § 711. Notice requirements vary by reason and lease duration: nonpayment cases require a 14-day notice under RPAPL § 711(2), a material lease violation triggers a 10-day notice under RPAPL § 711(1), and holdover terminations require 30 days for tenancies under one year, 60 days for one-to-two-year tenancies, and 90 days for tenancies of two or more years, all under RPL § 226-c. Just cause for eviction is required statewide, and rent caps vary by locality rather than following a single state formula. The New York eviction laws eviction process adds further procedural weight: uncontested cases resolve in 30 to 90 days, while contested proceedings extend to 90 to 210 days.

On the cost side, the New York eviction costs landlords face include a court filing fee of $45 to $210, a sheriff lockout fee of $50 to $200, and attorney fees typically running $1,000 to $4,000. Source of income is a protected class under the NY State Division of Human Rights, adding a screening constraint that is important to understand before setting qualification criteria. For a broader view of what tenants can do to slow proceedings, the New York tenant protections framework is worth reviewing alongside local ordinances before acquiring new units here.

With a 20.2% poverty rate and 56.8% of residents renting, the county's underlying fundamentals keep eviction exposure elevated throughout the grid; review the city-by-city scores above to identify which specific markets within Tompkins County carry the most risk for your portfolio.