Starr County, Texas Eviction Risk: Low

Starr County carries an average eviction-risk score of 2.7/10 (Low) across 113 cities, placing it in the higher-risk third of Texas: 54 of the state's 254 counties score worse, while 199 are rated less risky. For landlords, that statewide position matters more than the score itself. A 2.3 signals that the county is not the most fraught operating environment in Texas, but conditions here do not mirror the calm found in the majority of the state's markets either. Rent averaging $1,341 per month against a rent burden of 36% of income reflects a renter base that is stretched, and a poverty rate of 18.7% means that payment disruptions are a recurring operational reality rather than an edge case.

The intra-county range runs from 1.5 to 2.5/10, a spread of a full point. That gap is consequential: a landlord operating at the low end faces meaningfully different conditions than one at the high end, even though both are nominally in the same county. Underwriting and tenant-screening policies that work in one submarket may be insufficient in another, which makes city-level data the more reliable planning input.

The cities inside Starr County

Mesquite carries the county's highest risk score at 2.5/10 and is by far the most populous city in the county at 149,299 residents. At that scale, even a modest eviction rate generates substantial absolute case volume, and landlords with portfolios concentrated there should model filing costs accordingly. Santa Rosa (2.7/10, pop. 3,215), Escobares (2.7/10, pop. 2,573), and Roma (2.2/10, pop. 11,545) all cluster in the middle of the county's range, with broadly similar risk profiles that reflect the region's tight household budgets.

Rio Grande City is the clearest outlier on the favorable end, scoring 1.5/10 against a population of 15,396, making it the lowest-risk city in the county by a noticeable margin. Las Lomas also comes in below the county average at 2.0/10. The takeaway for investors is straightforward: risk inside Starr County is hyper-local, and city selection drives outcomes as much as the county-level average does.

State-level laws that apply here

Texas state law governs every landlord-tenant relationship in the county. Under the Texas eviction process, a landlord must serve a 3-day notice to quit for non-payment of rent, lease violations, and holdover tenancies before filing in Justice of the Peace court. For squatters or unauthorized occupants, state law under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.011 permits immediate action with no prior notice period. An uncontested case typically resolves in 21 to 30 days; contested matters extend to 45 to 90 days. Texas eviction costs include a court filing fee of $54 to $125, a sheriff lockout fee of $50 to $175, and attorney fees that commonly run $500 to $3,500, depending on case complexity.

Texas security deposit limits impose no statutory cap on the deposit amount, and Texas tenant protections do not include just-cause-for-eviction requirements, meaning landlords may decline to renew a lease at its natural end. The state also preempts local rent-control ordinances under TX Local Gov Code §214.902, so no city or county within Texas can impose a rent cap. Source-of-income discrimination is not a protected class under state law.

With 36.7% of residents renting and a poverty rate of 18.7%, Starr County's financial stress runs close to the surface; the city-by-city grid above is the fastest way to identify which specific submarkets sit closer to the 1.5 floor versus the 2.5 ceiling.