Buckingham County, Virginia Eviction Risk: Low

Buckingham County sits in the rural Piedmont region of central Virginia and carries a 3.8/10 eviction risk score -- a Low rating that places it 97th out of 132 counties statewide. Because Virginia eviction laws ranks counties from highest-risk at 1 down to lowest-risk, landing at 97th means 96 of Virginia eviction laws's 132 counties carry higher eviction risk than Buckingham, and only 35 are rated lower. For a landlord assessing a small rural portfolio, or a renter weighing relocation options, Buckingham's position in the lower-risk third of the state signals a market where eviction pressure is relatively contained compared to the Northern Virginia eviction laws suburbs and the Hampton eviction risk Roads corridor.

The county's three tracked localities cluster tightly. Dillwyn -- the county seat and its most populated community at roughly 459 residents -- scores 3.6/10, making it the highest-risk point in the county. Yogaville, home to the Satchidananda Ashram and a distinct intentional-community demographic, comes in at 4/10. Buckingham Courthouse, the smallest of the three at about 227 residents, anchors the lower end at 3.9/10. The spread between the county's minimum and maximum scores -- 3.6 to 4 -- is narrow, reflecting how economically and demographically similar these communities are. None of the localities deviate sharply from the county average, which is a pattern more common in tightly-knit rural counties than in metros where neighborhoods can diverge by several points.

The economic backdrop matters here. Average rent in Buckingham County sits at $830 per month, modest by Virginia eviction laws standards, yet the average rent burden reaches 35% of household income -- a figure that puts renters close to the conventional financial-stress threshold of 30%. About 35.7% of households rent rather than own, and the poverty rate lands at 8.7%. That combination -- affordable nominal rents but meaningful income strain -- helps explain why the county's eviction risk is low in relative terms yet still warrants attention. When a renter earning near the county's median income absorbs an unexpected expense, a $830 rent payment can become difficult faster than the headline figure suggests. Virginia's 5-day notice requirement for nonpayment under Va. Code § 55.1-1245 leaves little buffer: a landlord may serve notice and begin the eviction clock within days of a missed payment, with uncontested cases typically resolving in 21 to 45 days once filed. Court filing fees range from $58 to $90 -- low enough that small landlords face no significant financial friction initiating proceedings. The county's Low risk score reflects the relatively low tenant-protection framework in Virginia combined with Buckingham's rural market dynamics, where informal landlord-tenant relationships and limited legal-aid access can shape outcomes as much as the statutory baseline does.

Buckingham County's 3.8/10 score sits in the lower-risk tier of Virginia's 132 counties and is below the statewide average of 4.3/10. Virginia operates under the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (Va. Code § 55.1-1200 et seq.), a landlord-leaning framework with no statewide rent control, no just-cause eviction requirement, and a preemption clause that bars any locality from enacting rent stabilization independently. The combination of short statutory notice periods and accessible court filing fees keeps the procedural cost of eviction low across the state, and Buckingham is no exception -- but the county's small rental market, low population density, and limited court-filing volume have historically correlated with moderate actual eviction rates relative to urban Virginia jurisdictions.