Presidio County, Texas Eviction Risk: Low

Presidio County sits in far West Texas along the Rio Grande, covering an expanse of high desert and mountain terrain that is home to roughly 5,716 residents. The county's rental market is among the smallest in the state - only about 24.3% of households rent - and the legal framework governing those tenancies is set entirely by state law. Texas eviction laws landlord-tenant law is contained primarily in Tex. Prop. Code § 91 and § 92 and offers landlords one of the more streamlined eviction frameworks in the country: a 3-day notice to vacate for non-payment, lease violations, and holdovers, and a filing fee that runs just $54 to $125 in justice-of-the-peace court. Those procedural realities are reflected in this county's overall standing: Presidio County holds a 3.7/10 (Low) eviction risk score, placing it 144th out of 254 Texas eviction laws counties - a middle position in the statewide distribution, with 143 counties carrying more risk for landlords and 110 carrying less.

Within the county, city-level risk scores span a tight band from 3.1 to 3.7, which itself signals a consistent regulatory environment rather than pockets of heightened landlord exposure. The county seat, Presidio - the largest city with a population of 3,163 and the border crossing point opposite Ojinaga, Chihuahua - comes in at the top of that range at 3.7/10. Marfa, the county's second-largest city with 2,482 residents and a nationally recognized arts and cultural scene, scores 3.2/10 - modestly below the county average, partly a function of its lower poverty rate and more stable rental demand. Redford, a small unincorporated community of 71 people near the Big Bend area, scores 3.1/10, which is the floor of the county's range. That spread - under a single point from highest to lowest - is one of the narrowest of any Texas county, reflecting how uniformly state law applies across communities of very different character here.

What sets Presidio County apart from the bulk of the Texas leaderboard is not its legal framework, which is identical to every other Texas county (state law preempts local rent control under TX Local Gov Code § 214.902, and no just-cause eviction requirement applies), but its economic profile. The county's average poverty rate of 39.8% is more than double the national average, and average monthly rent sits at just $451 - one of the lowest rent levels of any county in Texas. A rent burden rate of 25.1% is relatively contained given that poverty figure, but it also reflects that the rental stock here is genuinely affordable by necessity rather than policy. For landlords, that combination means a higher likelihood of rent delinquency in any given year, but it also means that when eviction does become necessary, the statutory process is fast and inexpensive: uncontested cases typically resolve in 21 to 30 days from filing, with sheriff lockout fees of $50 to $175. The Low risk designation reflects a jurisdiction where state law strongly favors landlord efficiency and local tenant protections are absent, even if the tenant population faces real economic hardship.

Presidio County's 3.7/10 score places it in the middle tier of Texas eviction laws counties by eviction risk. Texas eviction laws imposes no rent caps, no just-cause eviction requirement, and explicitly preempts any city or county from enacting local rent control - leaving landlord rights defined purely by the state Property Code. The 3-day notice period is among the shortest in the country, and justice-of-the-peace courts process most residential eviction filings within a month. For properties in Presidio and Marfa, the practical risk factors are economic rather than legal: high poverty rates and low average rents mean collections exposure is real, but no statutory barrier limits a landlord's ability to act when a tenant defaults.