Barbour County, West Virginia Eviction Risk: Low

Barbour County, West Virginia scores 3.4/10 (Low risk) across its 6 incorporated places, putting it squarely in the middle third of the state, with 21 West Virginia eviction laws counties carrying higher eviction risk and 33 rated more landlord-friendly. For investors evaluating this rural Appalachian market, that average signals a manageable operating environment, though the county's 27.5% poverty rate and an average rent burden of 26.1% of income mean tenant financial stress is a real variable to price into underwriting.

Rental demand is modest but present: renters make up 35.7% of households, and the average rent runs $788 per month. The total covered population across the county's cities is 5,399, so this is a small market where individual property performance matters more than portfolio diversification across submarkets. Landlords who know the intra-county spread, from a low of 2.2/10 to a high of 3.7/10, will be better positioned than those who treat the county as uniform.

The cities inside Barbour County

The county seat of Philippi (population 2,861) scores 3.6/10, the second-highest risk reading in the county. Junior, a smaller community of 281 residents, posts the county's peak at 3.7/10. Neither figure is alarming on an absolute scale, but landlords should recognize that these two places account for a disproportionate share of the county's rental stock and carry the most concentrated tenant-stress indicators.

Belington (population 1,781) comes in at 3.4/10, matching the county average exactly, and represents a more balanced risk profile. At the other end of the spectrum, Century scores just 2.2/10 and Montrose 2.5/10, the two lowest readings in the county. Galloway sits at 2.8/10. The spread from 2.2 to 3.7 across six cities underscores how hyper-local eviction risk can be, even inside a single rural county. A landlord holding units in Century is operating in a materially different environment than one holding units in Junior or Philippi eviction risk.

State-level laws that apply here

West Virginia state law under W. Va. Code section 37-6 (Landlord and Tenant) governs every tenancy in Barbour County. For non-payment of rent, no advance written notice is required before filing, which is one of the more landlord-favorable rules in the region. A lease-violation or cure notice requires 14 days, and a no-cause end-of-term termination requires 30 days. The West Virginia eviction process runs 21 to 45 days for an uncontested case and 45 to 100 days if the tenant contests. Understand the West Virginia eviction costs before budgeting a removal: court filing fees range from $75 to $150, sheriff lockout fees from $30 to $125, and attorney fees from $500 to $2,500, depending on complexity. West Virginia eviction laws does not require just cause for termination and, under state preemption, no locality within the state may impose rent control, so landlords face no local rent cap exposure here. West Virginia security deposit limits and West Virginia tenant protections are governed at the state level with no local overlays to track.

With a poverty rate of 27.5% and renters comprising 35.7% of households, Barbour County's risk profile is driven more by tenant financial fragility than by unfavorable law, making city-level scores, shown in the grid above, the most actionable data point for site selection.