Piute County, Utah Eviction Risk: Very Low

Piute County posts a county-wide average eviction-risk score of 1.4/10, placing it in the Low risk tier and ranking it 26th of 29 Utah counties, meaning 25 counties carry more risk for landlords and only 3 are calmer. With a total population of roughly 2,696 spread across 7 small cities, the rental market here is thin: just 7.2% of households rent, average rents sit at $915 per month, and the average rent burden is 20.3% of income. That combination of low renter density and manageable affordability pressure is exactly why Utah eviction laws ranks Piute County toward the landlord-friendly end of the spectrum.

Low average scores, however, never tell the whole story. Across Piute County's seven cities the individual scores range from 0.8 to 2.2, a spread that matters when you are underwriting a specific acquisition. Operators working across multiple communities in this part of Utah will find that city-level due diligence is worth the extra step even in a low-risk environment.

The cities inside Piute County

Joseph carries the county's highest risk score at 2.2/10 and, with a population of 559, is also the largest single community here. Circleville follows at 1.7/10 (population 452), and Kanosh sits at the county average with a 1.4/10 score. Neither score is alarming on an absolute scale, but Joseph in particular runs roughly 57% above the county average, which is a meaningful difference at this end of the risk spectrum. Investors considering Joseph or Circleville should stress-test vacancy assumptions and lease enforcement costs more carefully than the county-wide figure alone would suggest.

On the lower end, Kingston scores 0.8/10, the most landlord-favorable reading in the county, while Junction and Antimony each come in at 0.9/10. Marysvale registers 1.1/10. These communities have thin rental inventories but also very limited eviction risk, making them defensible for buy-and-hold strategies when suitable properties can be found. The spread across these seven cities reinforces that risk in Piute County is hyper-local, not uniform.

State-level laws that apply here

Every landlord operating in Piute County operates under Utah state law, specifically Utah Code § 78B-6-801 et seq. (Forcible Entry and Detainer) for eviction procedures. For non-payment of rent or a lease violation, the required notice period is 3 days. A no-cause or end-of-term termination requires 30 days notice. If the matter proceeds to court, filing fees run $360 to $460, sheriff lockout fees add $50 to $175, and attorney fees, if retained, typically run $750 to $3,500. An uncontested case resolves in roughly 21 to 45 days; a contested matter can stretch to 45 to 120 days. Landlords should review the full Utah eviction process and associated Utah eviction costs before committing to filing, since even a straightforward action carries real carrying costs relative to typical rents here.

Utah imposes no rent control and requires no just cause for termination, and the state preempts any local jurisdiction from enacting rent caps. Source of income is not a protected class under state law. Landlords must give 24 hours notice before entry. These provisions, detailed under Utah Code § 57-22-4 and § 57-22-5.1, collectively keep the statutory framework predictable and landlord-neutral across the entire state, including every city in Piute County.

With a poverty rate of 11.3% and a renter share of just 7.2%, Piute County's risk profile is driven more by thin market depth than by tenant-stress indicators; the city-by-city scores in the grid above are the sharpest tool for locating where that modest risk actually concentrates.