Emery County, Utah Eviction Risk: Very Low

Emery County scores an average of 1.9/10 (Low risk) across its 8 cities, placing it squarely in the middle third of Utah's 29 counties, with 12 counties carrying higher risk and 16 carrying less. For landlords and investors evaluating rural Utah markets, that average reflects a population of roughly 8,259 residents where eviction conflict is comparatively rare, renter turnover tends to be manageable, and the legal environment tilts toward landlord efficiency rather than friction. Average rent sits at $721 per month, and the average rent-burden rate of 26.1% suggests most renters are not dangerously overextended, which correlates with lower default pressure countywide.

That said, the intra-county score range of 1.8 to 2.8 is meaningful for an area this size. Investors targeting specific communities should look past the county average: conditions vary enough across the eight cities that the single number can mislead at the property level. The renter share averages 21.6% of households countywide, a relatively thin rental market, which means vacancy risk from over-supply is low but so is the depth of the renter pool when you need to fill a unit quickly.

The cities inside Emery County

The clearest outlier in the county is Clawson, which scores 2.8/10 against a county average of 1.9. With a population of only 197, it is a very small market, and even a handful of distressed tenancies can shift its risk profile noticeably. Investors considering Clawson should underwrite that elevated score explicitly rather than assuming countywide conditions apply.

The city of Emery comes in at 2.1/10 (population 491), and Ferron scores 2.0/10 with 1,517 residents, making it one of the larger communities in the county at that risk level. Orangeville and Green River both register 2.0/10 as well. At the lower end of the range, Huntington (population 1,965, the largest city in the county) and Castle Dale (population 1,546) both come in at 1.8/10, the most landlord-favorable scores in the county. Risk is genuinely hyper-local here: Clawson's score is more than 55% higher than Huntington's or Castle Dale's, despite all three being part of the same county market.

State-level laws that apply here

Every landlord in Emery County operates under Utah state law. For non-payment of rent or a lease violation, Utah requires only a 3-day notice before filing; a no-cause termination at the end of a lease term requires 30 days. Landlords must give tenants 24 hours advance notice before entry. An uncontested eviction typically resolves in 21 to 45 days; a contested case can stretch to 45 to 120 days. Understanding the full Utah eviction process matters before committing to any rental here, because even in a low-risk county an individual contested case can run toward the longer end of that range.

On costs, the court filing fee runs $360 to $460, the sheriff lockout fee adds $50 to $175, and attorney fees, if retained, range from $750 to $3,500. Utah eviction costs are therefore not trivial even in routine cases. Utah does not require just cause for eviction and the state preempts any local rent control, meaning no city within Emery County can impose rent caps or stricter termination rules than the state baseline. Source-of-income is not a protected class under Utah state law, leaving landlords relatively unconstrained in tenant-screening decisions.

With a countywide poverty rate of 13.2% and a renter share of 21.6%, Emery County's rental market is small but stable by the numbers; the city-level grid above shows where within the county that stability holds most firmly and where the score edges higher.