Raleigh County, West Virginia Eviction Risk: Low

Raleigh County, West Virginia scores 3/10 on the eviction-risk index, placing it in the Low risk tier and ranking 53rd of 55 counties statewide. That ranking means only 2 West Virginia eviction laws counties are more landlord-friendly, while 52 carry higher eviction risk, so Raleigh County sits comfortably in the lower-risk third of the state. For investors, that combination of a modest county average and an average rent of $868 points to a market where operational fundamentals are workable, though a 23.7% average poverty rate across the county signals that tenant financial stress is a persistent variable to price into underwriting.

The county-wide average, however, masks real variation. Across 24 cities in Raleigh County, individual scores run from 1.9 to 4, a spread wide enough that two properties a few miles apart can sit in meaningfully different risk environments. Landlords who evaluate at the county level alone are leaving important granularity on the table.

The cities inside Raleigh County

At the higher end of the local risk spectrum, Sophia scores 4/10, the highest in the county, with a population of 1,528. Mabscott (3.9/10, pop. 1,396) and Lester (3.9/10) sit just behind it, followed by MacArthur (3.6/10, pop. 1,493) and Stanaford (3.6/10, pop. 1,449). In these communities, eviction frequency and tenant-side financial fragility run above the county norm, and investors should build tighter screening and cash-reserve assumptions into any deal there.

The county's largest city, Beckley (pop. 16,818), scores 1.9/10, the lowest in the county, making it the most landlord-friendly environment in Raleigh County by a clear margin. Shady Spring (2.1/10, pop. 3,381) and Daniels (2.1/10, pop. 1,489) also sit in the low-risk range. The divergence between Beckley and the higher-risk smaller towns illustrates how hyper-local risk is in this county, even when the overall average looks stable.

State-level laws that apply here

All landlords in Raleigh County operate under West Virginia state law, specifically W. Va. Code § 37-6 (Landlord and Tenant). For nonpayment of rent, West Virginia eviction laws requires no prior written notice before filing, which is one of the most landlord-favorable notice structures in the country. A lease-violation cure notice requires 14 days, and a no-cause termination at end of term requires 30 days. Understanding the full West Virginia eviction process is important because even in uncontested cases, the timeline runs 21 to 45 days, and contested cases can extend to 45 to 100 days. West Virginia eviction laws imposes no just-cause requirement for eviction and no rent control, and state law preempts any local rent-control ordinance, giving landlords statewide regulatory predictability.

On the cost side, reviewing West Virginia eviction costs is prudent before acquiring here. Court filing fees run $75 to $150, sheriff lockout fees add $30 to $125, and attorney fees range from $500 to $2,500 depending on case complexity. Those components are the full direct-cost picture under state statute; there is no separate security-deposit statute figure in the data above, but reviewing West Virginia security deposit limits before setting lease terms is a standard step for any new landlord in the state.

With a renter share of 31.6% and a rent-burden rate of 36.8% across the county, a meaningful portion of Raleigh County tenants are stretching to cover housing costs each month; the city-level breakdown in the grid above shows which communities carry the most concentrated exposure.