Clinton County, Ohio Eviction Risk: Low

Clinton County, Ohio eviction laws carries an average eviction-risk score of 2.5/10 (Low), placing it at rank 32 of 88 Ohio counties, where rank 1 is the highest-risk. That positioning means 31 counties across Ohio eviction laws are riskier for landlords and 56 are more landlord-friendly, putting Clinton County squarely in the middle third of the state. For investors underwriting a 9-city market with an average rent of $897 and a rent-burden rate of 25.6%, that mid-table score signals manageable but real operating friction, not a free-run landlord market.

The aggregate 2.5/10 figure conceals a meaningful intra-county spread of 2.2 to 2.9. Where a landlord acquires property inside Clinton County shapes expected eviction frequency, tenant financial stress, and collection risk far more than the county average alone suggests. The 39% renter share and 20.7% poverty rate across the county are worth carrying into every acquisition model, since elevated poverty correlates directly with nonpayment pressure regardless of lease quality.

The cities inside Clinton County

Wilmington anchors the county both in population and in risk. With 12,620 residents, it is the county seat and accounts for the bulk of the rental stock, and it scores 4.2/10, the highest in the county. Clarksville comes in close behind at 2.9/10 (population 573). Those two markets together define the upper end of the risk band and deserve tighter tenant screening and cash-reserve discipline from any owner operating there.

The lower end of the range is meaningfully different. Port William scores 2.5/10, and New Vienna reaches 2.2/10, both well below the county average. Blanchester (2.8/10, population 4,538) and Sabina (2.3/10, population 2,734) sit in the middle, making them useful comparables when modeling a portfolio spread across the county. The gap between Wilmington at 4.2 and Port William at 3.2 illustrates how hyper-local risk is inside a single county; a blanket county-average assumption would misprice underwriting at either end.

State-level laws that apply here

Ohio state law under ORC § 5321 (Landlords and Tenants) governs every tenancy in Clinton County. For nonpayment of rent or a material lease violation, Ohio requires only a 3-day notice before a landlord can file in court, one of the shorter notice windows nationally. Month-to-month holdover situations require a 30-day notice, and a fixed-term lease that simply expires requires no additional notice at all under ORC § 1923.02. Understanding the full Ohio eviction process matters here because uncontested cases still run 21 to 45 days start to finish, and contested matters extend to 45 to 120 days, a range that directly affects cash-flow assumptions.

Ohio eviction costs for a typical Clinton County landlord include a court filing fee of $160 to $250, a sheriff lockout fee of $50 to $175, and attorney fees in the range of $500 to $3,000 depending on complexity. Ohio imposes no statewide rent control, does not require just cause for non-renewal, and preempts any local government from enacting rent caps, so landlords operating here face no rent-ceiling exposure at the county or city level. Entry-notice requirements stand at 24 hours under Ohio law, and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission enforces fair-housing obligations statewide.

With a county-wide poverty rate of 20.7% and a renter share of 39%, the financial vulnerability of Clinton County tenants is meaningful context for any landlord; the city grid above breaks that exposure down property-by-property, from Wilmington at 2.5/10 down to Port William at 2.5/10.