Van Zandt County, Texas Eviction Risk: Very Low

Van Zandt County carries a county-wide average eviction-risk score of 2.1/10 (Low), placing it at rank 89 of 254 Texas counties, meaning 88 counties are riskier and 165 are less risky. For landlords and investors, that middle-third positioning reflects a market where operating conditions are broadly manageable, yet not uniformly easy across every city. The 31% renter share and a 15.2% poverty rate suggest a tenant base that is mostly stable but carries some income-stress exposure, particularly in higher-risk pockets of the county.

Across the county's 10 cities, individual scores span from 1.4 to 2.5, a range wide enough to matter when choosing where to acquire or hold rental property. Average rent runs $962 per month, and rent burden sits at 30.6%, both figures that place the county in a cautious but workable zone for buy-and-hold strategies in Texas.

The cities inside Van Zandt County

The highest-risk city in the county is Wills Point, scoring 2.5/10 with a population of 3,921. Close behind are Grand Saline at 2.4/10 (population 3,203) and a cluster of cities, including Van and Edgewood, each scoring 2.3/10. None of these scores is alarming in absolute terms, but they represent the more stressed end of the local spectrum, where delinquency risk is modestly elevated relative to the county average.

At the other end, Canton, the county's largest city at 4,545 residents, posts the lowest score in the county at 1.4/10, a notably favorable profile for landlords. Callender Lake and Myrtle Springs both score 1.7/10. The gap between Canton's 1.4 and Wills Point's 2.5 reinforces a core reality of investing here: risk is genuinely hyper-local, and portfolio decisions should be made city by city rather than at the county level alone.

State-level laws that apply here

Under the Texas eviction process, landlords must serve a written notice before filing in justice court. For nonpayment of rent and most lease violations, the notice period is 3 days under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.005(a). The same 3-day period applies to holdover and end-of-lease situations under § 24.005(b). Unauthorized occupants can be removed with no notice period, per § 24.011 as added by SB-38. Uncontested cases typically resolve in 21 to 30 days; contested matters can run 45 to 90 days. Court filing fees range from $54 to $125, sheriff lockout fees from $50 to $175, and attorney fees from $500 to $3,500, so a contested removal can cost well into four figures in out-of-pocket fees alone.

Texas security deposit limits are governed by Tex. Prop. Code § 92, and just-cause eviction is not required under state law. Texas tenant protections do not include source-of-income protections, and the state preempts local rent control under TX Local Gov Code § 214.902, so no city in Van Zandt County can impose a rent cap. Understanding Texas eviction costs upfront helps investors model worst-case holding costs accurately.

With a poverty rate of 15.2% and a renter share of 31%, Van Zandt County's risk profile is shaped by a modest but real income-stress layer; the city grid above breaks down exactly where that stress concentrates most.