Boone County, West Virginia Eviction Risk: Low

Boone County, West Virginia scores 3.2/10 (Low risk) across its 9 mapped cities, placing it at rank 32 of 55 West Virginia counties. That middle-of-the-pack position means 31 counties carry more eviction risk than Boone, while 23 present a calmer operating environment. For landlords evaluating this market, the county average signals a manageable baseline, though the average rent of $840 and a 25.1% rent burden suggest tenants are not dramatically cash-strapped, which supports on-time payment in stable tenancies.

With a renter share of 33.6% and a poverty rate of 17.2%, Boone County is a modestly thin rental market spread across small communities. Investors will find fewer units and thinner liquidity than in larger West Virginia metros, but that scarcity also limits competition. The intra-county score range, 2 to 3.9, is nearly two full points wide, which means the city you choose inside the county matters considerably more than the county average alone.

The cities inside Boone County

The highest-risk location in the county is Danville, scoring 3.9/10 with a population of 549. Madison, the county seat and largest city at 2,788 residents, comes in at 3.6/10. Both cities sit noticeably above the county average and warrant extra screening diligence. Whitesville follows at 3/10, still in the middle of the county distribution but meaningfully below the Danville and Madison readings.

At the lower-risk end, Racine scores 2/10, the most landlord-friendly location in the county, and Greenview checks in at 2.2/10. Comfort and Van each score 2.3/10. The spread confirms that risk is highly localized here: a landlord in Racine is operating in a fundamentally different environment than one in Danville, even though both fall inside the same county boundary.

State-level laws that apply here

All Boone County rentals are governed by West Virginia state law under W. Va. Code § 37-6 (Landlord and Tenant). For non-payment of rent, state law requires 0 days notice before filing, meaning landlords can proceed immediately. Lease-violation cure notices require 14 days, and end-of-term no-cause terminations require 30 days. Understanding the full West Virginia eviction process matters here because uncontested cases typically resolve in 21 to 45 days, while contested proceedings can run 45 to 100 days. Filing fees range from $75 to $150, sheriff lockout fees add $30 to $125, and attorney fees range from $500 to $2,500, so a contested case can cost well over $2,000 before the property is recovered.

West Virginia does not require just cause for non-renewal, and state law preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so no city inside Boone County can impose rent caps independently. There is no source-of-income protection at the state level. Reviewing West Virginia eviction costs before closing on a rental acquisition here will give investors a realistic picture of worst-case carrying costs during a protracted removal proceeding.

With an average poverty rate of 17.2% and a renter share of 33.6%, Boone County is a small, price-sensitive rental market; the city-level grid above breaks down which specific communities carry the most and least risk within the county.