Schleicher County, Texas Eviction Risk: Low

Schleicher County sits deep in the Concho Valley of West Texas eviction laws, a rural stretch of rolling mesquite grassland and ranchland where the rental market is measured in dozens of units rather than thousands. The county earns an eviction risk score of 3.1/10 (Low), placing it 251st out of 254 Texas eviction laws counties - firmly in the lower-risk of the state for overall eviction risk. With 204 Texas eviction laws counties registering a higher risk score and only 49 sitting lower, Schleicher is well toward the landlord-friendly end of the spectrum, though still not the absolute floor. The score applies county-wide; with Eldorado as the sole incorporated place, the county average and the city figure are the same: Eldorado scores 3.1/10.

The county's rental footprint is small even by rural Texas eviction laws standards. Renters account for just 16.4% of occupied households - well below the Texas statewide norm - and the total population hovers around 1,737. Average rent sits at approximately $650 per month, and rent burden (the share of income going toward rent) runs at 30%, a moderate figure that tracks closely with other isolated West Texas eviction laws communities where incomes are modest but housing costs haven't spiked the way they have in metro corridors. The poverty rate of 12.1% is close to the state average, meaning the renter pool is neither disproportionately impoverished nor especially affluent. These fundamentals - thin renter supply, affordable rents by Texas standards, stable income dynamics - contribute to the county's low baseline risk profile.

Texas law governs the eviction process entirely, since the state prohibits local rent control ordinances under TX Local Gov Code §214.902 and Schleicher County has no local tenant protection overlay of any kind. Landlords operate under Tex. Prop. Code § 91 and § 92, which set a 3-day written notice requirement for nonpayment of rent (both first-time and habitually delinquent tenants under § 24.005(a) and § 24.005(a-1)), a 3-day notice for lease violations, a 3-day notice for end-of-term holdovers, and - notably - zero advance notice for squatters or unauthorized occupants under the SB-38 addition at § 24.011. Court filing fees in Justice of the Peace courts typically run $54 to $125, with an uncontested proceeding resolving in 21 to 30 days and a contested case stretching to 45 to 90 days. Sheriff lockout fees add $50 to $175, and attorney costs for a straightforward eviction case commonly range from $500 to $3,500 depending on complexity and whether the tenant contests. Texas requires no just cause to terminate a month-to-month tenancy and offers no source-of-income protection, so rental criteria and lease non-renewal decisions remain squarely within the landlord's discretion under state law.

Schleicher County's Low score of 3.1/10 reflects a convergence of low renter density, affordable rents, and a Texas eviction laws statutory framework that keeps procedural timelines short and landlord discretion broad. The absence of local ordinances and the state's preemption of rent control leave both parties operating solely under Tex. Prop. Code § 91 and § 92.