Lane County, Oregon Eviction Risk: High
22 incorporated cities and unincorporated areas. The county Eviction Risk Score is held aloft by the city of Eugene (7.9) and a small number of dense urban cores. Rent-control coverage varies by city.
Ranked #2 of 36 OR counties
312k residents · 22 cities · 92 tracts
Lane County eviction risk score history
Key metrics
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Tenant beats landlord59.8%/ 100 outcomesIn court-decided eviction outcomes for Lane County, OR, tenants prevail in roughly 59.8% of contested cases. A higher number means landlords face stronger tenant defenses and longer calendars.
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Timeline133dfiling → judgmentFrom the moment an unlawful-detainer notice is filed in Lane County, OR until a money judgment is entered, a contested eviction takes about 133 days on average. Longer timelines mean more lost rent for landlords.
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Cost range$6.4–19.4klegal + lost rentA typical eviction in Lane County, OR costs landlords $6,431 to $19,408 all-in, covering court filing fees, process-server costs, attorney time, and lost rent.
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Average rent$1,37033% stretched on rentAverage gross rent in Lane County, OR is $1,370 per month per the U.S. Census American Community Survey. 33% of renter households here spend more than 30% of pre-tax income on rent.
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Renters45.7%of households45.7% of occupied housing units in Lane County, OR are renter-occupied. A higher renter share usually correlates with more eviction filings and a more active rental market.
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Poverty16.3%7.0% unemp.16.3% of Lane County, OR residents live below the federal poverty line, and unemployment runs at 7.0%. Both feed the economic-stress sub-score in our Eviction Risk Score model.
Scrub 50 years
Lane County averages 7.6/10 across 22 cities spanning 5.1 to 8.4, with Springfield the highest-risk city at 8.4/10. Lane County ranks 3rd of 36 Oregon counties for eviction risk.
How Lane County ranks in Oregon
Landlord guides for Oregon
Eviction filings in Lane County
Our eviction records directly track Lane County. In the past month, 235 filings were recorded, 1.68× the historical baseline (above baseline). YTD filings: 946; pandemic-era total: 10,7721
- 235Past month
- 2,792Past 12 months
- 1.23×vs baseline (12 mo)
- 18.1%Serial filings
- $1,373Average rent
| City↕ | Population↕ | Risk↕ | % income on rent↕ | Average rent↕ | Lean↕ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | Eugene | 179,591 | 7.9 | 35.1% | $1,402 | Dem |
| 002 | Springfield | 61,499 | 6.9 | 30.1% | $1,258 | Dem |
| 003 | Cottage Grove | 10,698 | 6.9 | 25.0% | $1,254 | Dem |
| 004 | Santa Clara | 10,551 | 6.6 | 27.0% | $1,706 | Dem |
| 005 | Florence | 9,482 | 6.8 | 31.2% | $1,259 | Dem |
| 006 | River Road | 8,862 | 7.0 | 40.5% | $1,633 | Dem |
| 007 | Junction City | 6,947 | 6.9 | 25.6% | $1,316 | Dem |
| 008 | Creswell | 5,621 | 6.2 | 21.6% | $1,218 | Dem |
| 009 | Veneta | 5,200 | 7.1 | 37.8% | $1,590 | Dem |
| 010 | Oakridge | 3,184 | 7.4 | 45.9% | $1,017 | Dem |
| 011 | Heceta Beach | 2,651 | 7.1 | 41.8% | $1,141 | Dem |
| 012 | Coburg | 1,626 | 7.0 | 30.5% | $1,392 | Dem |
| 013 | Dunes City | 1,357 | 6.2 | 24.4% | $1,036 | Dem |
| 014 | Lowell | 1,228 | 6.7 | 39.6% | $1,125 | Dem |
| 015 | Dexter | 865 | 6.6 | 33.4% | $1,376 | Dem |
| 016 | Mapleton | 503 | 6.7 | 23.0% | $1,091 | Dem |
| 017 | Jasper | 493 | 7.2 | 36.1% | $882 | Dem |
| 018 | Trent | 407 | 6.7 | 51.0% | $2,101 | Dem |
| 019 | Marcola | 407 | 6.6 | 40.0% | $1,682 | Dem |
| 020 | Elmira | 319 | 7.1 | 12.9% | $1,602 | Dem |
| 021 | Cheshire | 296 | 6.7 | 28.2% | $1,064 | Dem |
| 022 | Westfir | 253 | 6.7 | 37.5% | $1,125 | Dem |
County heatmap
Neighborhoods in Lane County
Top 11 neighborhoods by population. Click for a pop-weighted risk score and the constituent census tracts.
One county, multiple regulatory regimes.
Lane County carries an average eviction-risk score of 7.5/10, placing it in the High risk tier and ranking it 3rd of 36 Oregon counties, meaning only 2 counties in the state post higher risk for landlords. Across 22 cities and a total population of 312,040, average rents sit at $1,370 per month while 45.7% of households rent, a share that translates to a large tenant pool but also substantial exposure to the tenant-protection framework Oregon eviction laws has steadily expanded over the past decade.
The intra-county spread runs from 5.1 at the low end to 8.4 at the high end, a 3.3-point gap that matters enormously to anyone deploying capital here. A single ZIP code can shift your operating risk profile dramatically, and the county average of 7.6 masks that divergence. At a rent-burden rate of 33.2%, a meaningful slice of tenants is already stretched thin, which correlates directly with higher nonpayment frequency regardless of where in the county a property sits.
The cities inside Lane County
Springfield anchors the high-risk end of the county with a score of 8.4/10, the single highest mark across all 22 cities. With a population of 61,499, Springfield eviction risk is the county's second-largest city and a significant rental market, so that score is not a niche outlier. Cottage Grove follows at 7.9/10 (population 10,698), and River Road comes in at 7.8/10. Santa Clara and Creswell both score 7.7/10, and Eugene, the county seat and largest city at 179,591 residents, scores 7.5/10, still firmly in High-risk territory despite its comparatively lower position within the county.
The most landlord-favorable conditions are at the other end of the spectrum. Florence, a coastal city of 9,482, scores 6.0/10, the lowest recorded in the county and the clearest example of how geography and local market dynamics can produce meaningfully different operating conditions within a single county. Risk is hyper-local here, and city-level scores should drive acquisition decisions, not the county average alone.
State-level laws that apply here
Every lease in Lane County operates under ORS SS 90 (Residential Landlord and Tenant). For nonpayment of rent, Oregon eviction laws requires a 14-day notice before filing. A material non-curable violation triggers a 3-day notice. No-cause terminations are permitted only during the first year of tenancy with 30 days notice; after one year, just cause is required, and landlord-based no-fault terminations require 90 days notice. Oregon eviction laws's just-cause requirement is statewide and meaningful, and rent increases are capped at 7% plus CPI, maximum 10% annually. Reviewing the Oregon eviction laws eviction process in full is essential before serving any notice, because procedural errors restart the clock.
Court filing fees range from $165 to $275, sheriff lockout fees from $50 to $175, and attorney fees commonly run $750 to $3,500. An uncontested case typically resolves in 30 to 60 days; a contested matter can stretch 60 to 150 days. Oregon eviction costs therefore vary widely depending on whether a tenant contests the proceeding, and landlords should budget for the upper end when underwriting deals here. Oregon security deposit limits and Oregon tenant protections both carry additional compliance requirements that affect turnover economics.
With a poverty rate of 16.3% and nearly half of all residents renting, Lane County's fundamentals point toward sustained eviction-risk pressure; city-specific scores in the grid above give landlords a more precise read on where that pressure concentrates.
Historical eviction filings in Lane County
From 2000 to 2018, eviction filings in Lane County declined 17%. The peak was 2,244 filings in 2007.2
- 2,0902000
- 2,244Peak (2007)
- 1,7452018
Data covers 2000–2018, the full span of the Princeton Eviction Lab's national county court-records dataset.
How Lane County compares
Lane County ranks 3rd of 36 counties in Oregon eviction laws for eviction risk at 7.6/10, putting it near the top of the state. Among its peers it sits just below Marion County at 7.8 and above Linn County at 7.5, Jackson County at 7.4, Deschutes County at 7.3, and Clackamas County at 7.2.
That clustering means landlords face broadly similar statutory friction across western Oregon eviction laws, with Lane County's score driven up by high renter share and rent burden rather than by being an outlier.