Pecos County, Texas Eviction Risk: Low

Pecos County sits in the vast Trans-Pecos region of far west Texas eviction laws, a sparsely populated stretch of Chihuahuan Desert where the two incorporated places - Fort Stockton and Iraan - together account for nearly the entire county's rental market. The county carries an eviction risk score of 3.2/10 (Low), placing it 150th out of 254 Texas eviction laws counties, firmly in the middle of the state for tenant risk. That ranking means 149 Texas eviction laws counties present a higher eviction risk than Pecos County, and only 104 are lower. Scores across the two cities span a narrow range from 3.2 to 3.5, reflecting how uniformly the landlord-tenant environment operates across this small rural county.

Fort Stockton, the county seat and by far the larger community with roughly 8,278 residents, anchors the local rental market with a risk score of 3.5/10. The city sits along I-10 and has long served as a commercial hub for a wide swath of west Texas ranch and oil country. Average rent in the county runs around $907 per month - well below the Texas eviction laws statewide average - and the rent burden sits at just 23%, meaning renters here spend a comparatively modest share of income on housing. Renter households make up about 29.9% of occupied units, which is slightly below the state norm, reinforcing the county's identity as predominantly owner-occupied ranchland with a modest but stable rental stock. The smaller community of Iraan, home to roughly 1,038 residents in the Pecos River valley, posts an even lower risk score of 3.2/10, reflecting its quieter rental environment and tighter local housing market.

The poverty rate of 28.9% is notably elevated relative to state and national benchmarks, a feature common to remote west Texas counties with limited economic diversity outside of oil and gas extraction. That poverty concentration does create underlying financial stress for renters, but it has not translated into a high-risk eviction environment because the county lacks the dense urban rental stock, activist tenant-rights infrastructure, and contested housing markets that drive higher scores elsewhere. Texas statewide landlord-tenant law - particularly the 3-day notice requirement under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005 and the absence of any just-cause eviction requirement - sets the baseline for every landlord in Pecos County. There is no local rent control ordinance and none is possible: TX Local Gov Code §214.902 expressly preempts any municipality from enacting rent control. Court filing fees for an eviction action run from $54 to $125, and an uncontested case typically resolves in 21 to 30 days. For landlords, that combination of low statutory barriers, affordable costs, and a low-competition rental market contributes directly to the Low risk reading Pecos County carries.

Pecos County's 3.5/10 score reflects a rural west Texas eviction laws landlord-tenant environment with minimal tenant protections, no local rent control, and a streamlined state eviction process. The county's score range of 3.2 to 3.5 across its two cities is among the tightest in Texas, signaling uniform market conditions rather than pockets of concentrated risk.