Hughes County, Oklahoma Eviction Risk: Low

Hughes County, Oklahoma scores 2.6/10 (Low) on eviction risk, averaged across all 11 cities in the county. For landlords and investors, that aggregate masks meaningful variation: individual city scores range from 1.9 to 2.8, meaning the operating environment can shift noticeably depending on exactly where a property sits. With a total county population of roughly 8,661 and an average rent of $654, this is a small, affordable rural market where tenant demand is limited and rent growth is constrained.

Sitting at rank 24 of 77 Oklahoma eviction laws counties, Hughes County falls in the higher-risk third of the state: 23 counties score worse, but 53 are less risky and more landlord-friendly. A rent-burden average of 27.9% and a poverty rate of 27.5% signal that a meaningful share of tenants here are financially stretched, which elevates the probability of payment disruptions even when overall risk scores look modest.

The cities inside Hughes County

The highest-scoring city in the county is Dustin at 2.8/10, followed by Holdenville and Spaulding and Atwood, all at 2.7/10. Holdenville is by far the largest community, with a population of 5,902, meaning the majority of the county's rental units are concentrated in a city that sits at the higher end of the local risk range. Investors focused on Holdenville should price that elevated risk into vacancy assumptions and screening standards.

On the lower end, Lamar scores 1.9/10, the least risky city in the county, and Horntown comes in at 2.0/10. Wetumka (population 1,234) scores 2.3/10, placing it comfortably in the lower half of the county's risk distribution. The takeaway for landlords is straightforward: risk is hyper-local here. Two properties a few miles apart can sit in meaningfully different operating environments, so city-level scores matter more than the county average.

State-level laws that apply here

Under the Oklahoma eviction laws Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, 41 O.S. § 101 et seq., landlords must serve a 5-day notice for non-payment of rent, a 10-day notice for a curable lease violation, and a 30-day notice for end-of-term or no-cause terminations. Understanding the Oklahoma eviction laws eviction process matters here because even an uncontested case runs 21 to 45 days from filing to possession, and a contested case can stretch to 45 to 100 days. Total out-of-pocket costs vary widely: court filing fees run $75 to $175, sheriff lockout fees add $40 to $125, and attorney fees, if you use counsel, typically range from $500 to $2,500. Reviewing Oklahoma eviction costs before acquiring property here will help landlords build realistic loss reserves.

Oklahoma eviction laws imposes no rent control and requires no just cause to terminate a tenancy, and state law preempts any local rent ordinance. Source-of-income is not a protected class under state fair housing rules. These are landlord-friendly statutory defaults that partially offset the financial vulnerability of the tenant base in a high-poverty rural county.

With 35.7% of residents renting and a poverty rate of 27.5%, Hughes County carries elevated tenant financial stress relative to its low aggregate risk score; city-level scores in the grid above give a more precise read on conditions block by block.