Stewart County, Tennessee Eviction Risk: Very Low

Stewart County sits along the Cumberland River in northwestern Tennessee eviction laws, a rural county of roughly 2,693 renters and owners where the rental market is small by any measure - only about 29.9% of households rent, and the average asking rent of $784 per month ranks well below the state average. Those conditions feed directly into the county's eviction risk profile: 2.1/10 (Very Low), placing Stewart 88th out of 95 Tennessee counties. That position puts it firmly in the lower-risk of the state, with 87 counties carrying higher risk scores and just 7 sitting lower. Scores across the county's three tracked cities span from 1.8 to 2.4, a narrow band that reflects the uniformly rural, low-density character of the area.

Dover, the county seat and by far the largest community with around 1,956 residents, comes in at 2/10 - in line with the county average. Cumberland City, a small Tennessee River community of about 574 people near Land Between the Lakes, is the riskiest point in the county at 2.4/10. Big Rock, the smallest tracked locality at 163 residents, scores 1.8/10 - the most landlord-friendly reading in the county. The spread between Cumberland City and Big Rock is modest, signaling that while some variation exists across Stewart's communities, no single locality dramatically outpaces the others in tenant-side legal complexity or eviction exposure. Compared to the statewide average of 2.4/10, every city in Stewart County tracks meaningfully lower.

Stewart County falls below Tennessee's 75,000-population threshold that triggers application of the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA). That matters practically: landlords here operate under TCA Title 29 Chapter 18 rather than the URLTA framework, which means the default termination notice for most lease violations and non-payment situations is 30 days rather than the 7-day or 14-day windows available in larger URLTA counties. However, non-curable breach notices remain at 3 days under TCA § 66-28-517. Court filing fees at the Montgomery or Stewart County General Sessions level typically run $200 to $300, and an uncontested eviction - one where the tenant does not appear or contest the filing - typically resolves in 21 to 45 days. Contested matters can stretch 45 to 120 days depending on docket load. Tennessee does not require just cause for eviction and has no local rent control; a 2011 state preemption statute blocks any municipality from enacting rent caps, so landlords in Dover or Cumberland City face no locally layered restrictions beyond the baseline statute. Poverty rates in Stewart County sit at 9.3%, moderate for rural Tennessee, and average rent burden at 26.5% is below the 30% threshold conventionally associated with housing stress - both factors that contribute to the county's low overall risk reading.

Stewart County's 2.1/10 Very Low risk score reflects a small, stable rural rental market with limited tenant-side legal infrastructure, below-average rent burden (26.5%), and a legal framework that falls outside the URLTA's accelerated notice timelines. The county's 88th-of-95 state ranking places it among Tennessee eviction laws's most landlord-favorable jurisdictions.