Orange County, Vermont Eviction Risk: Moderate

Orange County, Vermont sits in the central-east portion of the state, stretching from the Connecticut River valley towns near Bradford and Wells River westward through the rolling hills around Randolph and Chelsea. With roughly 6,211 renters tracked across 8 communities, the county carries an eviction-risk score of 4.9/10 (Moderate), placing it 7th of 14 Vermont eviction laws counties by landlord risk -- right in the middle of the state's range. Six counties carry higher risk scores than Orange, while seven sit below it, making this a genuinely moderate environment rather than an outlier in either direction.

Scores across Orange County's communities are tightly clustered, running from 4.6 to 5.2 out of 10. The county seat area around Randolph (population 2,007, score 5/10) and the village of Williamstown (population 1,660, score 4.8/10) anchor the county's largest renter populations, both landing near the county average. Bradford eviction risk (population 1,097, score 4.6/10) comes in at the lower end of the local scale -- a relatively more landlord-friendly environment by Orange County standards. On the higher end, Chelsea scores 5.2/10 and Wells River scores 5.2/10, each representing the county's most tenant-protective communities. Graniteville (5.1/10) and Newbury (4.9/10) round out the mid-to-upper range, while Fairlee (population 54, score 4.6/10) is the smallest tracked community and sits at the lower end alongside Bradford.

The narrow 4.6-to-5.2 spread tells a consistent story: Vermont's statewide regulatory framework drives most of the risk profile here, and local variation is modest. The state requires just cause for evictions under 9 V.S.A. § 4451 et seq., protects source of income as a fair-housing category, and mandates a 48-hour landlord entry notice under 9 V.S.A. § 4457. Non-payment of rent triggers a 14-day notice requirement; lease violations and no-cause terminations each require 30 days. Court filing fees for an eviction action run $295 to $340, and an uncontested case typically resolves in 30 to 60 days, while a contested matter can stretch to 150 days and require $750 to $3,000 in attorney fees. Average rent in Orange County sits at $1,319 per month against a rent-burden rate of 34.3% -- meaning a substantial share of renters are cost-stressed, which amplifies the practical consequence of any eviction proceeding. A poverty rate of 15.5% underscores that many tenants have limited cushion to absorb disruption, a factor the model weights alongside statutory protections when computing the overall Moderate designation.

Orange County's 4.9/10 average reflects Vermont eviction laws's broadly protective landlord-tenant statute applied to a lightly urbanized, economically modest county. With 31.7% of households renting and average rents at $1,319, affordability pressure is real; the 34.3% rent-burden rate means many tenants are cost-stressed well before an eviction filing enters the picture. Just-cause protections and the absence of a local-preemption statute mean municipalities retain theoretical flexibility, though no Orange County community has enacted rent control.