Ashtabula County, Ohio Eviction Risk: Low

Ashtabula County carries a 2.8/10 Moderate eviction-risk score, placing it at rank 16 of 88 Ohio counties, meaning only 15 counties in the state present higher risk to landlords. That position in the higher-risk third of Ohio eviction laws reflects a combination of economic pressure and a renter base that can strain collections: average rent runs $821/month, the average rent-burden sits at 30.2% of income, and roughly 31.8% of households in the county rent rather than own. For investors evaluating northeast Ohio eviction laws, that context matters before the lease is signed.

The county's 14 cities do not move in lockstep. Scores span a full 1.6-point range from 3.2 to 4.8, so the county average of 4.4 masks real variation in operating conditions from one municipality to the next. Landlords who rely on a single county-level number will be underestimating risk in some pockets and overcorrecting in others.

The cities inside Ashtabula County

The highest-risk locations in the county are Geneva (4.8/10), the city of Ashtabula (4.7/10) with a population of 17,856, and Orwell (4.6/10) and Rock Creek (4.6/10). Geneva, despite a population of only 5,886, tops the county on risk, which makes tenant screening and lease-term decisions especially consequential there. The city of Ashtabula, as the county's largest population center, concentrates the most exposure in absolute unit count. Conneaut, the county's second-largest city at 12,357 residents, scores a comparatively softer 4.2/10.

The lower-risk end of the county is anchored by Roaming Shores at 3.2/10, North Kingsville at 3.5/10, and Edgewood at 4.1/10. Risk is genuinely hyper-local here: Roaming Shores and Geneva are both inside Ashtabula County, yet a landlord operating in Roaming Shores faces a meaningfully different profile than one holding units in Geneva. The city-level grid below is the right place to start any acquisition or portfolio analysis.

State-level laws that apply here

Every landlord in Ashtabula County operates under Ohio eviction laws law, specifically ORC § 5321 (Landlords and Tenants). For nonpayment of rent or a material lease violation, the required notice period is 3 days under ORC § 1923.04. A month-to-month holdover tenant requires a 30-day notice under ORC § 5321.17, while the end of a fixed-term lease requires no additional notice under ORC § 1923.02. The Ohio eviction laws eviction process runs 21 to 45 days uncontested and 45 to 120 days if the tenant contests. Understanding the Ohio eviction costs is critical to budgeting: court filing fees run $160 to $250, sheriff lockout fees add $50 to $175, and attorney fees typically range from $500 to $3,000. Ohio eviction laws imposes no statewide rent control, preempts any local rent-control ordinance, and does not require just cause for non-renewal, which preserves meaningful flexibility for owners managing lease turnover.

With an average poverty rate of 22.3% and roughly a third of households renting, the economic pressure on Ashtabula County tenants is real, which is why the city-by-city risk grid above is the most actionable starting point for any landlord or investor evaluating specific assets in this market.