Hidalgo County, Texas Eviction Risk: Low

Hidalgo County carries an average eviction-risk score of 2.7/10 (Low), placing it at rank 34 of 254 Texas counties, which means 33 counties are riskier and 220 are less risky. For landlords weighing where to put capital in the Rio Grande Valley, that ranking signals a market sitting in the higher-risk third of the state even while its raw score looks modest. Across all 57 cities in the county, scores range from 2 to 3.2, so there is meaningful variation from block to block that the county average alone does not reveal. Average rent runs $946 per month, and renters represent 34.2% of occupied housing, a figure that matters for turnover exposure and vacancy timing.

The county's poverty rate of 25.6% is the single most consequential pressure on tenant payment stability, and a rent-burden average of 30.2% means a sizable share of renters are already stretching. Neither figure disqualifies the market -- Texas eviction laws state law is genuinely landlord-friendly by national standards -- but both argue for tighter screening standards and conservative underwriting on rent-to-income ratios before committing to a purchase here.

The cities inside Hidalgo County

The highest-risk locations in the county cluster at the smaller-city end of the spectrum. Edcouch tops the list at 3.2/10, followed by Alton at 3.1/10 (population 20,214) and a group of cities -- Penitas, San Carlos, La Blanca, and West Sharyland -- all scoring 3/10. Mission, with a population of 87,038 and a score of 2.9/10, is the largest city in the elevated tier and the one most likely to affect portfolio-scale operators given the concentration of rental units at that population level.

At the other end of the range, McAllen scores 2/10 -- the lowest in the county -- against a population of 145,385, making it the county's lowest-risk major market. Edinburg, at 2.1/10 and a population of 104,550, is nearly as favorable. These two cities account for a large share of the county's rental housing stock, so a portfolio weighted toward McAllen eviction risk and Edinburg eviction risk will look considerably more manageable than the county average implies. Risk here is genuinely hyper-local: a landlord operating in Edcouch faces a profile that is more than a full point above what the same landlord would encounter ten miles away in McAllen.

State-level laws that apply here

Texas state law under Tex. Prop. Code ss 91 and 92 gives landlords a streamlined notice structure. For non-payment of rent, lease violations, holdover tenants, and end-of-lease situations, the required notice is just 3 days. Squatters and unauthorized occupants can be removed with no notice period at all under Tex. Prop. Code ss 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 ss 214.902, so no Hidalgo County city can impose rent caps above what state law permits. Understanding the full Texas eviction process helps landlords budget time correctly: uncontested cases typically resolve in 21 to 30 days from filing, while contested cases can run 45 to 90 days.

On costs, the Texas eviction costs landlords should plan for include a court filing fee of $54 to $125, a sheriff lockout fee of $50 to $175, and attorney fees of $500 to $3,500 depending on whether the case is contested. Retaliation protections for tenants are codified at Tex. Prop. Code ss 92.331, and habitability obligations run under Tex. Prop. Code ss 92.052, both of which landlords must document compliance with before initiating any action.

With 25.6% of residents below the poverty line and 34.2% renter-occupied households, income and payment risk vary sharply by submarket -- the city grid above breaks down every one of the 57 cities in Hidalgo County so you can compare scores side by side before committing to a specific location.