Hartley County, Texas Eviction Risk: Low

Hartley County sits in the far northwestern Texas Panhandle, one of the least densely populated corners of the state. With a total population of 746 and only two incorporated places, it is about as rural as Texas gets. The county carries an eviction risk score of 3.7/10 (Low), placing it 78th of 254 Texas counties -- meaning 77 counties across the state register higher eviction risk. That position puts Hartley squarely in the higher-risk of Texas, and it reflects the structural realities of very thin rental inventory, modest rent levels, and a landlord-tenant law environment that closely tracks the state baseline under Tex. Prop. Code § 91 and § 92.

The county's two cities illustrate how narrow the score spread is at this end of the risk spectrum. The city of Hartley, home to about 504 residents, scores 3.9/10 -- the higher of the two but still comfortably in low-risk territory. Channing, the county seat, is smaller at roughly 242 residents and comes in at 3.4/10. The gap between those figures represents the full range of variation in Hartley County: scores run from 3.4 to 3.9, a tight band that reflects homogeneous market conditions across the area. Average rent sits at roughly $1,380 per month -- below the statewide urban average but not dramatically so for a rural Panhandle community where housing stock is predominantly owner-occupied single-family. The renter share is just 31.1%, meaning the majority of residents own their homes and the rental market is correspondingly thin.

Rent burden here averages 34.7% of household income, which is notable for a lower-income rural county where median wages are constrained by the agricultural and energy sectors that dominate the local economy. The poverty rate sits at 8.7% -- below the Texas statewide average -- but that figure can mask volatility in smaller communities where a single employer or crop cycle has an outsized effect on household finances. For landlords operating in Hartley County, the low 3.9/10 score signals a favorable operating environment relative to the 3.6 statewide average: tenant protections follow the standard Texas framework with no local overlays (state law at TX Local Gov Code §214.902 preempts any local rent control), notice periods are the standard 3-day Texas baseline under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005, and court timelines for uncontested evictions typically run 21 to 30 days from filing.

Hartley County's 3.9/10 score reflects a combination of low renter density, below-average tenant protection intensity, and a small, stable rental population concentrated in two towns. With Texas eviction laws counties carrying higher risk scores, the county belongs firmly to the lower-risk segment of the state -- attractive to buy-and-hold landlords seeking a predictable regulatory environment with minimal activist tenant legislation at the local level.