Swisher County, Texas Eviction Risk: Low

Swisher County sits in the Texas Panhandle with a total population of roughly 5,711 residents. Eviction risk here comes in at 3.8/10 (Low), placing the county at rank 55th of 254 Texas eviction laws counties on our scale where rank 1 represents the highest eviction risk. That puts 54 counties ahead of Swisher in risk and 199 counties below it, placing Swisher firmly in the higher-risk tier of the state. Across the county's three tracked cities, scores range from a low of 3.2 to a high of 4 - a tight spread that reflects the homogeneous landlord-tenant legal environment all Texas eviction laws counties share under state-level preemption.

The county seat, Tulia - with 4,422 residents and the largest population base in Swisher County - scores 4/10, right at the county average. Kress, the smaller community of 642 people at the county's eastern edge, posts the highest individual score at 3.2/10, signaling a marginally elevated tenant-protection profile compared to its neighbors. Happy, with 647 residents on the county's northern end, comes in at 3.2/10 - the lowest reading in the county and the most landlord-favorable of the three. None of these scores represent a materially different legal environment; the variation reflects local demographic factors and renter-burden data more than any policy divergence. Texas eviction laws state law governs all three communities identically, with no city-level just-cause eviction protections or rent control permitted under TX Local Gov Code §214.902.

For landlords evaluating Swisher County, the practical picture is shaped by several ground-level realities. Average rent runs $808 per month, well below the Texas eviction laws statewide average, which tracks with the Panhandle's rural economy. Yet rent burden is meaningful here: 32% of renter household income goes to housing costs on average, against a poverty rate of 37% of the adult renter population - a combination that elevates the risk of rent delinquency even when eviction law is procedurally straightforward. Renters make up 37% of occupied households. Under Texas law (Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005), landlords must deliver a written 3-day notice before filing; non-payment and lease-violation cases both carry the same 3-day threshold. Uncontested cases typically resolve in 21-30 days from filing; contested matters run 45-90 days. Court filing fees at the Swisher County justice court range from $54 to $125, with sheriff lockout fees adding $50-$175 on top of a judgment. Compare these figures against the statewide eviction risk average of 3.6/10 and Swisher's 3.8/10 reads as comfortably below the Texas norm.

Swisher County's 3.8/10 (Low) rating reflects a landlord-favorable environment shaped by Texas eviction laws's no-rent-control, no-just-cause statutory framework. The county's tight score spread (3.2 to 4) across Tulia, Kress, and Happy confirms that local policy variation is minimal; the principal risk factor for landlords here is tenant financial stress - a 32% average rent burden and 32% poverty rate - rather than legal exposure.