Shackelford County, Texas Eviction Risk: Low

Shackelford County sits in the rolling mesquite plains of west-central Texas eviction laws, a sparsely settled agricultural county with a total rental population of roughly 2,108 residents. Only about 24.2% of households here rent rather than own, which is well below the national average and typical of rural Texas eviction laws ranching territory. The county's eviction risk score lands at 3.4/10 (Low), placing it 174th of 254 Texas counties - with 44 counties carrying more risk than Shackelford and 209 carrying less. That puts it squarely in the higher-risk third of the state, driven less by aggressive local tenant-protection ordinances (Texas eviction laws has none) and more by the economic profile of the renter households who do live here. Average gross rent runs just $708 per month, but the average rent burden still reaches 27.9% of household income - a meaningful squeeze in a county where 15.9% of residents fall below the poverty line.

The county contains two incorporated cities. Albany, the county seat and largest community at 1,849 residents, scores 3.4/10 - the same as the county average and the highest point in the local range. Moran, a small agricultural community of 259 people located about 15 miles to the northwest, scores 3.2/10, representing the lower end of the county's risk spread. The gap between 3.2 and 3.4 is modest, which reflects the uniformity of the legal environment: both communities operate under identical Texas eviction laws state landlord-tenant law, with no city-level rent control, no just-cause eviction requirements, and no source-of-income protections for renters. What differentiates Albany from Moran in the score is primarily a function of population density, rental market size, and the relative concentration of cost-burdened households.

Texas eviction laws landlord-tenant law under Tex. Prop. Code § 91 and § 92 is among the more streamlined in the nation from an operator standpoint. Every eviction ground - nonpayment of rent, lease violations, holdover tenancy, and end-of-term terminations - requires only a 3-day written notice under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005. Squatters and unauthorized occupants can be addressed with zero-day notice under the SB-38 amendments to Tex. Prop. Code § 24.011. Court filing fees in justice courts typically range from $54 to $125. Uncontested eviction cases generally resolve in 21 to 30 days from filing; contested matters run 45 to 90 days. Attorney fees for full representation range from $500 to $3,500 depending on complexity, and sheriff lockout fees run $50 to $175. Texas eviction laws also expressly preempts any local attempt to enact rent control under TX Local Gov Code § 214.902, which means neither Albany nor any other Shackelford County municipality can layer additional restrictions on top of the state baseline. The Texas eviction laws Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division handles fair housing complaints, though source-of-income (housing voucher) discrimination is not a protected class under current Texas eviction laws law.

Shackelford County's Low risk designation reflects a legal environment built for landlord efficiency - short notice periods, straightforward justice-court procedures, and zero local ordinance overlay - offset by a renter population that carries meaningful economic stress: a 27.9% average rent burden and 15.9% poverty rate in a county where rentals average just $708 per month. The risk spread from 3.2 to 3.4 across the county's two cities is narrow, confirming that local market factors rather than legal variation drive the modest score difference between Albany and Moran.