Stark County, Ohio Eviction Risk: Low

Stark County scores 2.6/10 (Low) on the eviction-risk scale, placing it 7th of 88 Ohio counties, where rank 1 is highest risk. That means only 6 Ohio eviction laws counties carry more landlord risk than Stark County, and 81 are easier places to operate. For an investor scanning northeast Ohio, that context matters: a Moderate label at the top of the state distribution signals genuine operating friction, not a comfortable middle ground. Average rent runs $901 per month against a 28.2% average rent burden, and 17.8% of residents live below the poverty line, which together push the probability of rent shortfalls above the statewide norm.

Across 26 cities, scores range from 2 to 2.8, a spread wide enough that a landlord choosing between two Stark County submarkets could be looking at conditions that differ as much as those in entirely separate counties. That variance is the most important operating fact in the county: where you buy matters as much as whether you buy in Stark County at all.

The cities inside Stark County

Canton anchors the high-risk end of the county at 2.8/10, the maximum recorded in Stark County. With a population of 69,755, Canton eviction risk is by far the largest city in the county and concentrates the highest share of renter-occupied housing and economic stress. Alliance comes in at 2.6/10 with 21,478 residents, and Perry Heights sits at 2.3/10. These three cities account for a disproportionate share of the county's total eviction risk profile and deserve tighter due diligence on tenant screening and lease enforcement before acquisition.

The lower end of the risk spectrum offers better operating conditions. Uniontown scores 2.3/10, the lowest among the cities in DATA, followed by Canal Fulton at 2.6/10 and North Canton at 2.3/10 (population 17,727). Landlords willing to accept smaller markets often find that the stability gains in these communities offset the tighter rent ceiling. Risk in Stark County is hyper-local: a single zip code boundary can separate two meaningfully different business environments.

State-level laws that apply here

All Stark County landlords operate under ORC § 5321 (Landlords and Tenants), Ohio's statewide landlord-tenant framework. For nonpayment of rent or a material lease violation, the required notice is 3 days under ORC § 1923.04. Month-to-month holdover tenancies require 30 days notice under ORC § 5321.17, while the end of a fixed-term lease requires no notice. Understanding the Ohio eviction process in full detail is essential before serving any notice, because an error restarts the clock. Uncontested evictions typically resolve in 21 to 45 days; contested cases can run 45 to 120 days. Total out-of-pocket costs for a single eviction stack up from court filing fees of $160 to $250, sheriff lockout fees of $50 to $175, and attorney fees ranging $500 to $3,000 depending on complexity. Reviewing Ohio eviction costs against your expected rent roll before entering a market is a basic underwriting step many investors skip. Ohio imposes no statewide rent control and the statute preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so landlords here face no cap on market-rate rent increases. Just cause is not required to end a tenancy, and source-of-income status is not a protected class under Ohio law.

With 39% of Stark County residents renting and a poverty rate of 17.8%, the economic pressure on tenants is real and concentrated, making city-level scores the sharpest tool for comparing risk across the 26 cities mapped in the grid above.