Gillespie County, Texas Eviction Risk: Low

Gillespie County, Texas eviction laws earns an average eviction-risk score of 1.6/10 (Low) across its 3 cities, placing it at rank 164 of 254 Texas counties. That position means 163 counties carry higher risk, and 90 are less risky, settling Gillespie County in the middle third of the state but toward the landlord-friendly end of that band. For investors and landlords, the headline tells a reassuring story: operating conditions here are materially calmer than most of Texas.

The intra-county spread is narrow, running from 1.5 to 1.7/10, which signals that conditions across the county's cities are broadly consistent rather than sharply divided. Average rent sits at $1,354, and the average rent burden stands at 34.5% of renter income, a figure worth watching but not alarming given the low eviction-risk profile. Landlords evaluating long-term holds here will find a market where tenant stress exists but has not translated into elevated eviction pressure.

The cities inside Gillespie County

Harper carries the highest individual score in the county at 1.7/10, with a population of 1,214. It leads the county in relative risk, though in absolute terms a 1.7 remains firmly in the Low tier. Fredericksburg, the largest city by far at 11,419 residents, comes in at 1.6/10, essentially matching the county average, and represents the primary rental market for the area given its scale.

Stonewall, the smallest community at 295 residents, posts the lowest score in the county at 1.5/10, the most landlord-friendly reading of the three. The tight scoring band across Harper, Fredericksburg, and Stonewall underscores that risk here is hyper-local only at the margins; no single pocket of the county diverges dramatically from the others. Investors comparing city-level data should still pull the individual city pages, since even small score differences compound meaningfully across a portfolio.

State-level laws that apply here

The Texas eviction process is governed by Tex. Prop. Code § 91 and § 92, and it is one of the more landlord-favorable frameworks in the country. Notice requirements are short: 3 days applies to non-payment of rent (whether a first-time or habitually delinquent tenant), to lease violations, and to holdover situations. Unauthorized occupants can be removed with 0 days notice under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.011, as added by SB-38. Texas requires no just cause to terminate a tenancy, and state law preempts any local rent-control ordinance under TX Local Gov Code § 214.902, so no city in Gillespie County can impose a rent cap.

Landlords should still budget realistically for court costs when a case moves forward. Court filing fees range from $54 to $125, sheriff lockout fees run $50 to $175, and attorney fees for contested matters typically fall between $500 and $3,500. An uncontested case resolves in 21 to 30 days; a contested one can stretch 45 to 90 days. Reviewing Texas eviction costs in detail before filing helps landlords set realistic expectations. For a broader picture of how state law shapes the landlord-tenant relationship, the Texas tenant protections guide covers habitability requirements (Tex. Prop. Code § 92.052) and retaliation rules (Tex. Prop. Code § 92.331) that apply to every lease in the county.

With an average poverty rate of 10.1% and a renter share of 35.7% across the county, Gillespie County's rental pool is modest in size but not uniquely distressed; the city-level scores in the grid above give the sharpest picture of where within the county conditions are most and least favorable for landlords.