Foard County, Texas Eviction Risk: Very Low

Foard County, Texas sits in the far northwestern corner of the state, a high-plains ranching county with a total population of roughly 640 people and a single incorporated municipality - Crowell, the county seat. The county carries a 2.1/10 eviction-risk score (Very Low), placing it 225th out of 254 Texas counties, firmly in the lower-risk of the state. That ranking means 224 Texas counties carry more landlord risk than Foard, while only 29 are assessed as less risky - a profile that reflects both the sparse rental market here and the straightforward application of Texas landlord-tenant law in a rural setting where tenant-advocacy infrastructure is minimal and court dockets are short.

Crowell, the only city tracked in the county, mirrors the county-level picture exactly at 2.1/10 - unsurprising given that it accounts for virtually all of Foard's rental housing stock. Average rent in the county runs just $569 per month, well below the Texas statewide norm, and the rent-burden rate of 19.9% - the share of renter income going to housing costs - is notably low by any measure. Just 34.5% of households are renters, and poverty runs at 25.9%, a figure that warrants attention: a high poverty rate in a low-rent, low-burden county can mean tenant finances are fragile even when rents appear affordable. A single unexpected expense or job disruption can trigger delinquency quickly, so proactive communication with tenants during hardship is worth more here than a fast trip to the courthouse.

On the legal side, Foard County operates entirely under Texas state law. Texas gives landlords a lean, landlord-oriented framework: no rent control is permitted anywhere in the state (TX Local Gov Code §214.902 preempts any local ordinance), just cause is not required to end a tenancy, and source-of-income protections do not exist at the state level. The 3-day notice requirement under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005(a) applies to non-payment, lease violations, and holdovers alike - one of the shortest cure-or-quit windows in the country. Uncontested evictions in rural justice-of-the-peace courts typically resolve in 21 to 30 days; contested cases can run 45 to 90 days. Court filing fees range from $54 to $125, and sheriff lockout fees add $50 to $175. Attorney fees, if you retain counsel, run $500 to $3,500 depending on complexity - though most Foard County cases are straightforward enough that landlords frequently handle them pro se in JP court.

With scores spanning 2.1 to 2.1 across its tracked cities, Foard County shows essentially no internal spread - the entire county's rental market is concentrated in Crowell. The county's Very Low classification puts it well below the 2.6 average, making it one of the calmer operating environments for buy-and-hold landlords in West Texas eviction laws, provided they account for the county's thin rental pool and relatively high poverty rate when underwriting vacancy risk.