Grimes County, Texas Eviction Risk: Low
8 incorporated cities and unincorporated areas. The county Eviction Risk Score is held aloft by the city of Navasota (4) and a small number of dense urban cores. Rent-control coverage varies by city.
Ranked #41 of 254 TX counties
11k residents · 8 cities · 8 tracts
Grimes County eviction risk score history
Key metrics
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Tenant beats landlord11.0%/ 100 outcomesIn court-decided eviction outcomes for Grimes County, TX, tenants prevail in roughly 11.0% of contested cases. A higher number means landlords face stronger tenant defenses and longer calendars.
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Timeline27dfiling → judgmentFrom the moment an unlawful-detainer notice is filed in Grimes County, TX until a money judgment is entered, a contested eviction takes about 27 days on average. Longer timelines mean more lost rent for landlords.
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Cost range$1.0–3.5klegal + lost rentA typical eviction in Grimes County, TX costs landlords $986 to $3,479 all-in, covering court filing fees, process-server costs, attorney time, and lost rent.
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Average rent$87728% stretched on rentAverage gross rent in Grimes County, TX is $877 per month per the U.S. Census American Community Survey. 28% of renter households here spend more than 30% of pre-tax income on rent.
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Renters37.1%of households37.1% of occupied housing units in Grimes County, TX are renter-occupied. A higher renter share usually correlates with more eviction filings and a more active rental market.
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Poverty18.7%7.0% unemp.18.7% of Grimes County, TX residents live below the federal poverty line, and unemployment runs at 7.0%. Both feed the economic-stress sub-score in our Eviction Risk Score model.
Scrub 50 years
Grimes County's 3.9/10 (Low) score reflects a low-risk but above-average-for-rural-Texas profile, driven primarily by economic stress indicators in smaller communities rather than tenant-protective law. Ranked 41st of 254 Texas counties - placing Grimes in the higher-risk of the state. 40 counties carry higher eviction risk; 213 are lower.
How Grimes County ranks in Texas
Landlord guides for Texas
| City↕ | Population↕ | Risk↕ | % income on rent↕ | Average rent↕ | Lean↕ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | Navasota | 8,542 | 4.0 | 27.7% | $860 | Rep |
| 002 | Plantersville | 579 | 3.2 | 12.8% | $960 | Rep |
| 003 | Bedias | 478 | 3.4 | 51.0% | $1,102 | Rep |
| 004 | Iola | 372 | 3.8 | 39.7% | $735 | Rep |
| 005 | Pinebrook | 307 | 3.1 | 26.8% | $866 | Rep |
| 006 | Anderson | 202 | 3.2 | 21.7% | $1,110 | Rep |
| 007 | Shiro | 159 | 3.2 | 26.8% | $866 | Rep |
| 008 | Richards | 67 | 3.1 | 26.8% | $866 | Rep |
County heatmap
One county, multiple regulatory regimes.
Grimes County sits in east-central Texas, anchored by Navasota (population 8,542) and extending into a spread of small agricultural communities along the Brazos River corridor. The county carries an overall eviction risk score of 3.9/10 (Low), placing it at 41st of 254 Texas counties - squarely in the higher-risk of the state by risk level. That ranking reflects 58 counties with higher eviction pressure and 195 with lower, meaning Grimes occupies a meaningful but not extreme position on the Texas landlord-risk spectrum. Scores across the county's eight cities range from 3.1 to 4, so where a rental sits within Grimes matters as much as the county average.
Navasota drives the population weight here - at 8,542 residents it accounts for roughly 80% of the county's tracked renter base - and it comes in at 4/10, matching the county average almost exactly. The highest-pressure city is Bedias at 3.4/10, a small community of 478 where the combination of high poverty rates and limited renter mobility pushes risk toward the top of the county's range. Iola follows at 3.8/10 with a population of 372. At the lower end, Shiro (159 residents) scores 3.2/10 and Pinebrook (307 residents) scores 3.1/10 - both well below the county average and reflecting the quieter, more stable rental markets in those communities. Plantersville tracks alongside Navasota at 3.2/10, while the county seat Anderson and nearby Richards each come in at 3.2/10 and 3.1/10 respectively.
The county's average rent of $877/month is among the more affordable in the greater Houston eviction risk commuter zone, but 28.2% of renter income going to housing costs and an 18.7% poverty rate mean that a portion of tenants are operating without much financial cushion. That underlying economic stress - combined with Texas's landlord-friendly procedural framework - shapes how eviction risk distributes across Grimes's communities. The renter share stands at 37.1% of households, slightly below the statewide norm, which limits overall portfolio exposure but also reflects limited rental-market depth in the smaller communities. For landlords evaluating Grimes County, the critical takeaway is that the county-level score of 3.9/10 masks meaningful variation: the gap between 3.1 and 4 across cities is wide enough to drive materially different risk profiles depending on property location.
Grimes County's Low risk score of 3.9/10 reflects a Texas eviction laws regulatory environment built around landlord procedural speed - 3-day notices for most violations, no rent control under TX Local Gov Code §214.902, and no just-cause requirement for non-renewal. The county's position at 41st of 254 statewide places it above most Texas counties on risk, though well below the highest-pressure urban markets. Local economic stress (18.7% poverty, $877 average rent) is the primary driver elevating Grimes above the statewide higher-risk baseline.
Historical eviction filings in Grimes County
From 2000 to 2016, eviction filings in Grimes County declined 28%. The peak was 80 filings in 2006.1
- 472000
- 80Peak (2006)
- 342016
Data covers 2000–2018, the full span of the Princeton Eviction Lab's national county court-records dataset.
How Grimes County compares
At 3.9/10, Grimes County scores modestly above the Texas statewide average of 3.6, consistent with its position in the higher-risk of all 254 counties. Nearby peer counties in similar-sized east-central Texas markets - including Houston County, Aransas County, and Cass County - track close to Grimes in overall risk, none diverging dramatically in either direction. The county's rural character keeps it below the acute landlord-pressure levels seen in Harris or Travis counties, while the poverty-driven stress in communities like Bedias pushes it above purely agricultural counties with lower renter populations.