Jefferson County, Wisconsin Eviction Risk: Low

Jefferson County carries an average eviction-risk score of 2.8/10 (Low), but that countywide figure places it in the higher-risk third of Wisconsin. Ranked 16th of 72 Wisconsin eviction laws counties, 15 counties are riskier and 56 are more landlord-friendly, so investors should not treat the Low label as a blanket green light. Across the county's 16 cities, average rent runs $1,078 per month, and renters make up 31.9% of occupied housing units, meaning demand for rental housing is real but so is the tenant financial pressure that drives late payments.

The intra-county range, 3.2 to 4, is what matters most when selecting a specific asset. A landlord buying in one of the lower-risk pockets operates in meaningfully different conditions than one acquiring property in Watertown eviction risk. Understanding those local distinctions, not just the county average, is the starting point for sound underwriting in Jefferson County.

The cities inside Jefferson County

Watertown (population 22,774) tops the county's risk ranking at 4/10, the highest score recorded across all 16 cities. Fort Atkinson (population 12,463) and the city of Jefferson (population 7,732) both score 3.9/10, as does Lake Ripley, making those four cities the most demanding operating environments in the county. Sullivan comes in at 2.8/10, roughly at the county average.

Risk drops noticeably at the other end of the spectrum. Lake Mills, Waterloo, and Johnson Creek each score 3.7/10, while Ixonia and Palmyra register 3.3/10, the lowest figures in the county. That 0.7-point spread between Watertown and Ixonia is wide enough to affect realistic vacancy, turnover, and collection assumptions in a pro forma. Risk in Jefferson County is genuinely hyper-local, and the city-level grid below this section is where due diligence should start.

State-level laws that apply here

Every landlord in Jefferson County operates under Wisconsin eviction laws state law, codified at Wis. Stat. § 704 (Landlord and Tenant). For nonpayment of rent, the required notice period is 5 days; a lease-violation cure notice requires 14 days; and a no-cause end-of-term termination requires 30 days. Wisconsin eviction laws does not require just cause for non-renewal, and the state preempts local rent-control ordinances, so no Wisconsin eviction laws municipality can impose rent caps or additional eviction restrictions on top of state law. A full walkthrough of notice requirements, timelines, and landlord obligations is available in the Wisconsin eviction laws eviction process guide.

On the cost side, court filing fees run $95 to $175, sheriff lockout fees add $50 to $150, and attorney fees, if the case is contested, typically range from $500 to $3,000. An uncontested case resolves in roughly 21 to 45 days; a contested one can stretch to 45 to 120 days. Entry notice is required at least 12 hours in advance. For a full breakdown of filing and service costs, see the Wisconsin eviction costs guide. Wisconsin security deposit limits and Wisconsin tenant protections are also governed at the state level, leaving no local overlay risk in Jefferson County municipalities.

With a poverty rate of 8.7% and just under a third of residents renting, Jefferson County's fundamentals are relatively stable, though the city-by-city scores in the grid above show the pockets where landlord conditions tighten noticeably.