Bailey County, Texas Eviction Risk: Low

Bailey County sits in the Texas South Plains at the New Mexico state line, anchored almost entirely by Muleshoe, the county seat and its only incorporated city. With a total population of 5,667 and a renter share of just 20.2%, this is a thin rental market by Texas eviction laws standards - yet the dynamics that govern landlord-tenant relations here are identical to those in the state's largest metros, because Texas eviction laws sets those rules uniformly at the state level. Bailey County's eviction risk score is 3.2/10 (Low), placing it 205th out of 254 Texas counties on our scale where rank 1 is highest risk. That puts 204 counties above it in risk and only 55 below, landing Bailey firmly in the lower-risk of the state.

Muleshoe - the county's sole tracked city - carries a score of 3.2/10, mirroring the county average precisely given the county's single-city composition. Average rent in Bailey County runs $938 per month, and rent burden sits at 28.1% of renter household income, just below the 30% threshold that housing economists flag as financially stressed. The poverty rate of 12.9% is above the statewide average, a factor our model weighs because higher poverty concentrations correlate with elevated tenant financial fragility and, downstream, with contested eviction proceedings that cost landlords more time and money. Despite those economic headwinds, Bailey County's score of 3.2/10 compares favorably to the Texas average of 3.6/10, reflecting the South Plains' combination of modest rents, no local tenant-protection ordinances, and Texas's landlord-aligned procedural code.

Texas law under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005 requires only a 3-day written notice before filing for eviction - for non-payment, lease violations, and holdover tenancies alike. There is no just-cause requirement for non-renewal, no source-of-income protection, and TX Local Gov Code § 214.902 explicitly bars any Texas city or county from enacting rent control. That state preemption means Muleshoe cannot layer on protections that would change the calculus here, keeping the regulatory environment stable and predictable for Bailey County landlords regardless of any future local political shifts. Court filing fees range from $54 to $125, and sheriff lockout fees run $50 to $175 - costs that, for uncontested cases, are typically resolved in 21 to 30 days from filing.

Bailey County's Low risk score of 3.2/10 reflects a straightforward Texas eviction laws landlord environment: short mandatory notice periods, no local rent caps, and court costs that are among the more predictable in the state. The county's small renter population (roughly 1,145 renter households based on the 20.2% renter share of 5,667 residents) means the local justice of the peace court processes a modest volume of eviction filings, and uncontested cases typically clear in under a month.