Warren County, Ohio Eviction Risk: Very Low

Warren County, Ohio eviction laws carries a county-average eviction-risk score of 2.4/10 (Very Low), placing it 31st out of 88 Ohio eviction laws counties, where rank 1 is the highest-risk and rank 88 is the most landlord-friendly. That positioning means 30 counties in Ohio are riskier, and 57 are less risky, putting Warren County squarely in the middle third of the state. For landlords and investors, that translates to a market where conditions are workable but not uniformly easy, with pockets that demand closer underwriting than others.

Across the county's 19 cities, scores range from 1.9 to 2.8, a 1.3-point spread that matters operationally. An average rent of $1,347 and a rent-burden average of 27.5% suggest most tenants are managing their housing costs without severe stress, which supports rent collection. The relatively low renter share of 23.9% reflects a predominantly owner-occupied county, meaning the rental stock is tighter but tenant quality can be more selective.

The cities inside Warren County

The highest-risk communities are concentrated in the county's older, less affluent corridors. Carlisle tops the list at 2.6/10, followed by South Lebanon at 2.8/10 and Lebanon, with a population of 21,501, at 2.3/10. Franklin, population 11,712, also scores 2.6/10. These cities share demographic and economic characteristics, including higher renter shares and income pressure, that elevate eviction-risk metrics relative to the county average. Landlords holding or evaluating assets in these submarkets should stress-test for higher vacancy and turnover costs.

On the lower end, Springboro scores 2.4/10 against a population of 19,980, and Mason, the county's largest city at 35,509 residents, comes in at 3.9/10. Hunter sits at 2.3/10, the lowest score in the biggest-cities list. Risk is hyper-local inside Warren County, and a portfolio spread across both ends of that range will behave very differently from one concentrated in a single submarket.

State-level laws that apply here

Ohio eviction laws state law under ORC § 5321 (Landlords and Tenants) sets the procedural framework for every landlord in Warren County. For nonpayment of rent or a material lease violation, the notice period is 3 days under ORC § 1923.04. Month-to-month holdover tenancies require 30 days notice under ORC § 5321.17, and a fixed-term lease requires no additional notice upon expiration under ORC § 1923.02. Ohio eviction laws does not require just cause for nonrenewal, and state law preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so no Warren County municipality can impose rent caps. Understanding the Ohio eviction laws eviction process matters here because uncontested cases typically resolve in 21 to 45 days while contested cases can run 45 to 120 days. Ohio eviction costs include a court filing fee of $160 to $250, a sheriff lockout fee of $50 to $175, and attorney fees ranging from $500 to $3,000, so a fully litigated eviction can expose a landlord to meaningful carrying costs that erode returns, particularly on lower-rent units in the county's higher-risk cities. Ohio security deposit limits carry their own statutory rules under ORC § 5321, and landlords should review Ohio tenant protections enforced by the Ohio eviction laws Civil Rights Commission for fair-housing compliance.

With an average poverty rate of 6.7% and a renter share of 23.9%, Warren County's fundamentals are relatively stable at the county level, but the city-by-city spread shown in the grid above is where the real due-diligence work begins.