Clarke County, Virginia Eviction Risk: Moderate

Clarke County sits in the lower-risk segment of Virginia eviction laws's eviction landscape, earning a 4.1/10 (Moderate) on the Eviction Risk Map and ranking 53rd of 132 Virginia counties. With 52 counties carrying higher risk and 79 carrying lower risk, Clarke lands squarely in the middle third statewide - a profile that reflects its small, relatively stable rental market anchored by the Shenandoah Valley foothills rather than the high-pressure suburban corridors around Northern Virginia eviction laws or Richmond eviction risk.

The county's roughly 6,251 residents are spread across four incorporated communities, each with its own eviction-risk footprint. Berryville, the county seat and by far the largest community at 4,707 residents, posts the highest local reading at 4.3/10. Boyce (population 891) and Shenandoah Retreat (population 592) both register 3.4/10 and 3.2/10 respectively - essentially matching the county average. At the low end sits Upperville, a small crossroads community of just 61 residents, where the score dips to 4/10, pulling the county-wide range from 3.2 to 4.3. That narrow band tells you something important: Clarke's risk profile is consistent rather than polarized - there is no single outlier municipality dramatically skewing the picture up or down.

The economic backdrop worth understanding is rent burden. Despite the Low overall risk score, 43.4% of Clarke County renters spend more than 30% of their income on housing - well above the conventional affordability threshold. Average market rent sits at $1,436 per month against a poverty rate of 9.2%, which means a segment of the renter population operates with limited financial cushion even in months when nothing goes wrong. Virginia law under Va. Code § 55.1-1200 et seq. (the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act) requires only a 5-day written notice for nonpayment of rent before a landlord may file for possession, one of the shorter cure windows in the mid-Atlantic region. A material lease violation triggers a 21-day cure notice under Va. Code § 55.1-1245(A), while termination of a month-to-month tenancy requires 30 days under Va. Code § 55.1-1253. Court filing fees in Clarke County General District Court run $58 to $90, and an uncontested case typically resolves in 21 to 45 days; contested matters extend to 45 to 120 days. The county has no local rent-control ordinance, and Virginia state law actively preempts localities from enacting one, so rent increases face no statutory ceiling beyond whatever is written into a lease agreement.

Clarke County's Moderate risk rating reflects a landlord-favorable legal framework statewide, a thin rental market (only about 27.7% of households rent), and the absence of local tenant-protection ordinances - offset somewhat by meaningful rent burden that keeps a portion of renters financially exposed in any given month.