Wood County, Texas Eviction Risk: Low

Wood County carries an average eviction-risk score of 3.8/10 (Low) across its 7 cities, placing it at rank 116 of 254 Texas counties. That middle-third position means 115 counties are riskier and 138 are more landlord-friendly, so investors here face a market that leans manageable but is not the quietest corner of the state. With an average rent of $969 and a renter share of 33.9%, the rental base is modest in size but reasonably stable, and state law in Texas eviction laws structures the eviction process in a way that generally keeps timelines short for landlords who move quickly.

Within the county the score range spans 1.5 to 2.5, which is a meaningful spread for a county of 16,822 people. That gap signals that city selection matters considerably here, a point investors underestimate when they treat Wood County as a single homogeneous market. The intra-county variance drives home the need to evaluate each community on its own numbers rather than relying on the county average alone.

The cities inside Wood County

At the higher end of county risk, Hawkins scores 3.6/10 with a population of 1,876, making it the county's most challenging operating environment. Quitman and Yantis both score 3.8/10, and Alba comes in at 3.2/10. Landlords considering these smaller communities should account for the fact that local renter pools are thin, which can complicate both lease-up timelines and collection when a tenancy goes bad.

The picture improves substantially at the other end of the spectrum. Mineola, the county's largest city at 5,068 residents, carries the lowest risk score in the county at 4/10, offering a combination of relative scale and landlord-friendly conditions that makes it the most defensible base for rental operations here. Holly Lake Ranch (population 2,956) scores 3.1/10, a similarly calm environment. Winnsboro, at 4/10, sits in the middle. Risk is genuinely hyper-local in Wood County, and the gap between Mineola and Hawkins is wide enough to materially affect underwriting assumptions.

State-level laws that apply here

Every landlord in Wood County operates under Texas eviction laws state law, specifically Tex. Prop. Code § 91 and § 92, which govern residential tenancies. Texas requires only a 3-day notice to vacate for non-payment of rent (whether the tenant is a first-time or habitual delinquent), lease violations, and holdover situations. Squatters and unauthorized occupants may receive a 0-day notice under Tex. Prop. Code § 24.011 as added by SB-38. Uncontested proceedings typically resolve in 21 to 30 days; contested cases run 45 to 90 days. Understanding the full Texas eviction process is essential before filing, because even a procedurally simple case carries costs: court filing fees run $54 to $125, sheriff lockout fees $50 to $175, and attorney fees $500 to $3,500 depending on complexity.

Texas is one of the stronger landlord states on structural law. There is no statewide just-cause requirement for non-renewal, no rent cap, and the state actively preempts local rent control under TX Local Gov Code §214.902, meaning no city in Wood County can layer on additional rent restrictions. Source-of-income is not a protected class under state law. Landlords should still review Texas security deposit limits and Texas tenant protections under Tex. Prop. Code § 92 before drafting leases, particularly the habitability obligations at § 92.052 and the anti-retaliation provisions at § 92.331, both of which apply regardless of county risk score.

With a poverty rate of 14.1% and roughly one in three residents renting, Wood County's rental market is small but real, and the city-by-city score grid above is the most reliable guide to where within the county conditions favor landlords most.