Golden Valley County, North Dakota Eviction Risk: Very Low

Golden Valley County sits in the far southwestern corner of North Dakota, a sparsely populated stretch of badlands and grassland along the Montana state line with a total population of roughly 1,053 residents. The county earns an eviction risk score of 2/10 (Very Low) -- placing it 9th of 53 counties in North Dakota. That ranking puts Golden Valley in the higher-risk of the state, meaning 8 counties carry higher risk and 44 carry lower risk. Even within that tier, the score spread across the county's three incorporated communities runs from 1.4 to 2.1, so landlords should look at individual city figures before drawing conclusions about the whole county.

Beach, the county seat and by far the largest community at 899 residents, posts the highest risk score in the county at 2.1/10 and is the single market that pulls the county average upward. Sentinel Butte, a small town of 57 people a few miles to the east on I-94, sits at 1.6/10 -- a noticeably lower reading than Beach despite both towns drawing from the same state-level legal framework. Golva, the smallest incorporated place in the county with a population of 97, records the lowest score in the county at 1.4/10. That gap between Beach and Golva of roughly 1.4 to 2.1 reflects real differences in local rental-market conditions and tenant-demographics rather than any difference in state law, which applies uniformly across all three communities.

The broader context matters for any investor comparing Golden Valley against North Dakota as a whole. The state average sits at 1.8/10, and Golden Valley's 2/10 is positioned relative to that benchmark in ways the score panel to the right details. North Dakota operates under a landlord-oriented legal framework -- no rent control is permitted anywhere in the state (the legislature preempts local ordinances under N.D.C.C. § 47-16), no just-cause requirement applies to lease non-renewals, and the standard notice period for non-payment of rent is just 3 days under N.D.C.C. § 47-16. Those baseline conditions keep scores across the state relatively compressed compared with coastal states, which means small county-level differences in rent burden and poverty rates have an outsized effect on where a county lands within the distribution. Golden Valley's average rent of $778 per month and a rent burden of 18.9% are both well below national norms, suggesting tenants here face less financial stress than in higher-cost markets -- though the county's 22.1% poverty rate introduces a separate vulnerability that landlords should factor into underwriting. Renter households make up 24.3% of the occupied housing stock, a share that reflects the thin rental market typical of very rural western North Dakota.

Golden Valley County's 2/10 Very Low score reflects a low-regulation state environment combined with a modest local rental market. Scores across the county's communities range from 1.4 to 2.1/10, anchored by Beach at 2.1/10. No local rent-control or just-cause ordinances exist -- and state law bars them -- so landlord rights here rest entirely on the North Dakota eviction laws Century Code framework.