Marion County, Texas Eviction Risk: Low

Marion County sits in the Piney Woods of deep East Texas, a rural county of roughly 3,048 residents anchored almost entirely by the historic town of Jefferson along Cypress Bayou. With an eviction risk score of 4/10 (Low), it ranks 48th of 254 Texas eviction laws counties - placing it in the higher-risk of the state for tenant risk. Only 47 counties statewide carry a higher risk score, and 206 sit below it. Scores across the county's three incorporated places range from 3.2 to 4, a tight spread that reflects the county's uniform application of state-level Texas eviction laws landlord-tenant law with no municipal overlays.

Jefferson, the county seat and by far the largest community with a population of 2,131, scores 4/10 - essentially matching the county average. The city's economy leans heavily on tourism tied to the historic district and Big Cypress Bayou, which limits the rental housing stock largely to older single-family homes and a small number of apartments. Average rent county-wide is $675 per month, among the lowest of any county in the state, but against a median household income constrained by a 20.2% poverty rate, that still translates to a 32.3% average rent burden for renters - meaning a meaningful share of households spend more than 30% of income on housing costs. Renters make up 35.4% of occupied housing units, a share that is higher than several comparable rural East Texas eviction laws counties. Avinger, the smallest of the three places at 351 residents, registers the county's highest score at 3.9/10 - a slight uptick driven in part by its lower absolute rental supply and the resulting concentration of any eviction activity among a very small renter pool. Pine Harbor, a lakeside community on Caddo Lake with 566 residents, comes in at the county floor, scoring 3.2/10.

Under Texas law, which governs uniformly across all of Marion County, landlords are required to serve a 3-day notice to vacate before filing for eviction in Justice Court, whether the grounds are non-payment of rent (Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005(a)), a lease violation, end of term, or holdover tenancy. Court filing fees in rural Justice Courts typically run between $54 and $125. Uncontested cases resolve in as few as 21 to 30 days; contested cases can stretch to 45 to 90 days. Texas does not require just cause for eviction, does not protect source of income as a fair housing category, and - under TX Local Gov Code § 214.902 - explicitly preempts any local rent control ordinance, so Marion County's municipalities have no authority to enact tenant protections beyond the state floor. The county's consistently low scores across all three cities reflect that regulatory baseline rather than any local policy innovation.

Marion County's 3.8/10 (Low) score places it 48th out of 254 Texas eviction laws counties on eviction risk, with scores ranging from 3.2 in Pine Harbor to 4 in Avinger. The county average sits just below 3.6, the Texas eviction laws statewide average, reflecting deep rural conditions - low rents, limited rental stock, and no local tenant protections above the Texas eviction laws statutory floor.