Red River County, Texas Eviction Risk: Low

Red River County sits in the far northeastern corner of Texas, bordered by the Red River and the Arkansas state line, with a total renter population of roughly 5,118 residents spread across five small communities. The county carries an eviction risk score of 2.5/10 (Low), placing it 83rd out of 254 Texas counties - squarely in the higher-risk of the state by risk level. That position reflects a tension familiar to landlords across rural East Texas: an average rent of $955 per month sounds modest, but a 35.2% rent burden and a 31.8% poverty rate mean that a meaningful share of tenants are living right at the edge of what they can sustain. When income shocks hit - a lost job at the Clarksville feed co-op, a medical bill, a reduced harvest check - the gap between rent due and cash in hand closes fast.

Within the county, Clarksville is both the largest city (population 2,853) and the highest-risk community, scoring 2.7/10. As the county seat and the only incorporated place with a functioning municipal court, Clarksville handles the overwhelming majority of eviction filings in the county. Bogata and Detroit each score 2.3/10 and 2.3/10 respectively - smaller communities where landlord-tenant disputes are less frequent in raw numbers but can feel more acute given the limited pool of alternative housing. Avery and Annona, the county's two smallest incorporated places, both score 2.2/10 and 2.2/10, reflecting conditions typical of deep-rural Texas micro-communities where informal lease arrangements and cash rentals remain common. The county's score spread runs from 2.2 to 2.7/10 - a tight band that signals broad consistency rather than dramatic hot spots.

Texas landlord-tenant law sets the procedural floor for every Red River County filing. Under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005, landlords must deliver a written 3-day notice to vacate before filing, regardless of whether the issue is non-payment, a lease violation, or an end-of-term holdover. There is no cure period mandated by state statute for repeat rent delinquency - a tenant who has been late before can receive the same 3-day notice without an opportunity to pay and stay. Unauthorized occupants can be addressed under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.011 (as updated by SB-38) with no advance notice at all. Once a filing lands at the justice of the peace court, uncontested matters typically conclude in 21 to 30 days; contested hearings extend the timeline to 45 to 90 days. Court filing fees run $54 to $125, and sheriff lockout costs add another $50 to $175 after a judgment. Texas imposes no rent control and - critically - the state actively preempts any city or county from enacting local rent caps under TX Local Gov Code § 214.902, so Red River County communities have no authority to create their own protections even if they wanted to. Source-of-income discrimination is also not prohibited under Texas law, meaning landlords may lawfully decline housing voucher holders. Taken together, the legal environment here is one of the more landlord-accessible in the country, and the Low score reflects that - but the economic fragility of the renter base remains the variable that drives actual eviction activity.

Red River County's 2.5/10 average sits within a tight range of 2.2 to 2.7/10 across its five cities, indicating that eviction risk conditions are broadly similar throughout the county rather than concentrated in a single community. The 44.1% renter share is above what many comparable rural East Texas eviction laws counties report, and the 31.8% poverty rate means a substantial portion of the rental market is financially vulnerable even in a low-risk legal environment.