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 2.5/10 (Low), placing the county at rank 90th of 254 Texas eviction laws counties on our scale where rank 1 represents the highest eviction risk. That puts 89 counties ahead of Swisher in risk and 164 counties below it, placing Swisher firmly in the middle tier of the state. Across the county's three tracked cities, scores range from a low of 2.4 to a high of 2.6 - 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 2.5/10, right at the county average. Kress, the smaller community of 642 people at the county's eastern edge, posts the highest individual score at 2.6/10, signaling a marginally elevated tenant-protection profile compared to its neighbors. Happy, with 647 residents on the county's northern end, comes in at 2.4/10 - 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 2.6/10 and Swisher's 2.5/10 reads as comfortably below the Texas norm.

Swisher County's 2.5/10 (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 (2.4 to 2.6) 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.