Delaware County, Ohio Eviction Risk: Very Low

Delaware County carries an average eviction-risk score of 2.3/10 (Moderate) across its 8 scored cities, placing it 25th of 88 Ohio counties. That rank puts only 24 counties above it in risk, meaning Delaware County sits in the higher-risk third of the state, a meaningful detail for landlords accustomed to thinking of the Columbus suburbs as uniformly stable. The county-wide average is held down by a cluster of very low-scoring rural towns at one end and pushed up by its larger, faster-growing communities at the other.

That spread, from a floor of 2.8/10 to a ceiling of 4.6/10, is one of the widest within any single Ohio county at this scale. Average rent runs $1,500 per month, and the average rent-burden rate of 26.9% of household income suggests most renters can cover the rent in normal times, but carry little cushion when income drops. Investors assessing this county need to go city by city rather than rely on the headline average.

The cities inside Delaware County

Sunbury is the highest-risk city in the county at 4.6/10, a score that stands above the county average by nearly half a point. With a population of 8,005, it is a growing small city that has attracted significant residential development in recent years, and that growth brings a more transient renter profile and greater exposure to nonpayment events. The city of Delaware, the county seat with 44,589 residents, scores 4.3/10, making it the second-riskiest jurisdiction and home to the vast majority of the county's rental units. Ashley rounds out the upper tier at 4.1/10.

On the lower end, Kilbourne scores 2.8/10, Ostrander and Radnor both score 3.1/10, and Galena comes in at 3.6/10. Powell, a suburb with a population of 14,451, scores 3.8/10, reflecting its higher-income renter base. The gap between Sunbury at 4.6 and Kilbourne at 2.8 underscores that eviction risk in Delaware County is hyper-local: a landlord concentrated in the county seat or Sunbury faces materially different conditions than one operating in the rural townships.

State-level laws that apply here

All landlords in Delaware County operate under Ohio state law, specifically ORC § 5321 (Landlords and Tenants). For nonpayment of rent or a material lease violation, Ohio requires only a 3-day notice before filing. A month-to-month holdover tenant requires a 30-day notice, while the end of a fixed-term lease requires no notice at all to begin eviction proceedings. Understanding the Ohio eviction process end to end matters because, even with fast notice periods, an uncontested case typically takes 21 to 45 days from filing to lockout, and a contested case stretches to 45 to 120 days.

Ohio eviction costs add up quickly. Court filing fees run $160 to $250, sheriff lockout fees add another $50 to $175, and attorney fees commonly range from $500 to $3,000, depending on whether the case is contested. Ohio does not require just cause to terminate a tenancy and, critically, the state preempts local rent-control ordinances, so no city within Delaware County can impose its own rent cap or additional eviction requirements. Landlords wanting a fuller picture of Ohio security deposit limits and other statewide rules should consult the relevant state-level guides before signing leases here.

With a poverty rate of 7.2% and 28.6% of residents renting, Delaware County's exposure is concentrated but real; see the city grid above to compare scores across all 8 jurisdictions before choosing where to deploy capital.