Moody County, South Dakota Eviction Risk: Very Low

Moody County, South Dakota eviction laws posts a county-wide average eviction-risk score of 1.7/10, placing it in the Low risk tier. For landlords sizing up a market, that number reflects a relatively tenant-stable rental pool: average rent runs $769 per month, rent burden sits at 27.7% of income, and the renter share of households is 33.5%. Taken together, these figures suggest that most renters here are not financially overextended, which tends to reduce delinquency and turnover pressure compared to higher-cost metro markets.

That said, Moody County ranks 16 of 66 counties in South Dakota, meaning 15 counties carry more risk and 50 carry less. This county sits in the higher-risk third of the state even at a low absolute score, so landlords should not treat the Low label as a signal to cut corners on screening or lease documentation. The county score of 1.7 is also a weighted average across 7 municipalities, and the intra-county range of 1.1 to 1.8 confirms that location within the county matters as much as the county headline.

The cities inside Moody County

The county seat, Flandreau (population 2,392), carries the highest risk score in the county at 1.8/10. It is also the largest market by far, accounting for the majority of the county's total population of roughly 3,998. Landlords concentrating holdings in Flandreau eviction risk should expect slightly more competitive tenant turnover dynamics than elsewhere in the county, even if the absolute risk remains low. Colman (population 948) scores 1.6/10, making it the second-highest risk location, while Trent (population 341) scores 1.5/10.

The lowest-risk locations are Ward and Pleasant Valley Colony, each scoring 1.1/10, and Egan and Sherman, each at 1.2/10. These are very small communities with correspondingly thin rental markets, so while the risk scores are attractive, investor liquidity is limited. The spread from 1.1 to 1.8 across the county's 7 cities is a reminder that risk is hyper-local, and city-level data should drive underwriting decisions rather than county averages alone.

State-level laws that apply here

South Dakota eviction laws landlord-tenant law, codified under SDCL § 43-32 (Lease of Real Property), gives landlords a clear set of procedural tools. For non-payment of rent or a lease violation, the required notice period is just 3 days. End-of-term or no-cause terminations require a 30-day notice. Once a case is filed, an uncontested eviction typically resolves in 21 to 40 days; a contested matter can run 45 to 100 days. South Dakota eviction laws imposes no just-cause requirement for eviction and no rent control, and state law preempts any local jurisdiction from imposing rent caps, making the South Dakota eviction laws eviction process notably landlord-favorable by national standards.

On the cost side, court filing fees range from $95 to $180, sheriff lockout fees from $40 to $150, and attorney fees from $500 to $2,500 depending on case complexity. For a detailed breakdown of what landlords pay to remove a non-performing tenant, see the South Dakota eviction costs guide. Fair housing enforcement falls under the South Dakota eviction laws Division of Human Rights; source-of-income protection is not recognized at the state level, which gives landlords broad screening latitude under current law.

With a poverty rate averaging 14.6% across the county and roughly a third of households renting, Moody County presents a modest but real income-risk concentration, making diligent tenant screening the most effective risk-management tool available; the city grid above breaks out scores for all 7 municipalities so landlords can compare locations before committing capital.