Brewster County, Texas Eviction Risk: Low

Brewster County sits in the far reaches of the Trans-Pecos, anchoring Big Bend National Park and covering more land than Connecticut eviction laws and Rhode Island eviction laws combined - yet its total rental population is just over 6,500 people. That sparse geography translates directly into a 3.5/10 eviction risk score (Low), placing the county at 146th of 254 Texas counties when ranked from highest to lowest risk. Only 10 counties statewide are more landlord-favorable; 243 carry a higher score. For landlords operating in Brewster County, that standing signals a legal climate where Texas state law sets firm, unambiguous rules - and no local ordinance is permitted to override them. Under TX Local Gov Code §214.902, Texas preempts any municipality from enacting rent control, so rent pricing is entirely market-driven throughout the county.

The county's four incorporated communities span a narrow score spread - 3.1 to 3.5 across all tracked places - reflecting how uniformly the same state statutes govern every landlord-tenant relationship here. Alpine, the county seat and by far the largest community at 6,014 residents, scores 3.5/10 and sets the tone for the county average. Terlingua, the artsy desert outpost near the park's western entrance, comes in at 3.1/10, while Marathon - the small ranching town on Highway 90 - sits at 3.2/10. Study Butte, the smallest tracked community at 114 residents near the park's western boundary, posts the lowest score in the county at 3.4/10, reflecting its exceptionally sparse rental activity. The tight range across all four communities means landlords can expect nearly identical legal exposure regardless of which Brewster County community they operate in.

Average rent runs $903 per month across the county, with a 27.8% rent burden - meaning the average renter household here devotes just over a quarter of gross income to housing costs. That sits below the 30% threshold commonly used to flag housing stress, though the 9.2% poverty rate and 34.2% renter share indicate a tenant base that operates on thin margins. For eviction procedures, Texas law provides one of the cleaner frameworks in the country from a landlord standpoint: a 3-day notice for non-payment of rent under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005(a) applies in all four Brewster County communities, courthouse filing fees run $54 to $125, and uncontested cases typically resolve in 21 to 30 days. No just-cause requirement exists under state law, and source-of-income is not a protected class in Texas. Those factors collectively keep Brewster County's score low - and make it one of the most operationally straightforward rental markets in the state.

Brewster County's 3.5/10 score is well below the Texas state average of 3.6/10, reflecting the county's remote character, market-rate rent environment, and the absence of any local tenant-protection ordinances. With scores ranging from 3.1 in Study Butte to 3.5 in Alpine, the spread across all four communities is unusually tight - landlords face essentially the same statutory framework no matter where in the county they hold property.