Val Verde County, Texas Eviction Risk: Very Low

Val Verde County earns an average eviction-risk score of 1.8/10 (Low), placing it at rank 134 of 254 Texas counties, squarely in the middle third of the state. That means 133 counties carry higher risk than Val Verde County, and 120 are friendlier to landlords. For owners operating across the county's 6 cities and a total population of roughly 38,523, the low aggregate score reflects a rental market that is relatively calm by Texas eviction laws standards, though not without pockets that warrant a closer look.

The county-wide range runs from 1.5 to 2.2, a spread that matters in practice: a landlord choosing between the lowest- and highest-risk cities is navigating meaningfully different operating environments even within the same county lines. Average rent sits at $928 per month, with an average rent-burden rate of 28.6% and a renter share of 33.6%. These figures point to a market where tenants are not stretched to crisis levels on average, supporting relatively stable collections.

The cities inside Val Verde County

Laughlin AFB carries the highest score in the county at 2.2/10, driven by the concentrated, transient nature of its roughly 1,595 residents. Cienegas Terrace follows at 1.9/10 (population 1,868). These two communities represent the upper end of local risk and deserve more conservative underwriting assumptions around tenant turnover.

Del Rio, the county seat and by far the largest market with a population of 34,668, scores 1.8/10, exactly matching the county average. Lake View and Amistad share a score of 1.6/10, while Box Canyon is the most landlord-friendly market in the county at 1.5/10. The 0.7-point spread between Box Canyon and Laughlin AFB is a useful reminder that risk in Val Verde County is hyper-local: broad county averages mask real differences at the city level.

State-level laws that apply here

Regardless of which city a property sits in, all landlords in Val Verde County operate under Texas state law. Under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005, the standard notice period for non-payment of rent, lease violations, and holdover tenancies is 3 days. Texas imposes no just-cause requirement before ending a tenancy, and state law expressly preempts any local rent-control ordinance under TX Local Gov Code § 214.902, so there is no rent-cap exposure anywhere in the county. Understanding the full Texas eviction process matters here because even an uncontested case takes 21 to 30 days to resolve, with contested proceedings running 45 to 90 days.

On costs, court filing fees run $54 to $125, sheriff lockout fees add another $50 to $175, and attorney fees typically fall in the range of $500 to $3,500 depending on complexity. Reviewing Texas eviction costs in full before acquiring property helps investors build accurate pro-forma loss assumptions. Texas security deposit limits and Texas tenant protections, including the retaliation statute at Tex. Prop. Code § 92.331 and the habitability statute at § 92.052, round out the baseline compliance picture every landlord in the county must understand.

With an average poverty rate of 19.3% and a renter share of 33.6%, Val Verde County carries real financial pressure at the household level; the city-by-city grid above shows exactly where that pressure is most concentrated, so investors can calibrate screening and reserves to the specific submarket they are entering.