Richland County, Wisconsin Eviction Risk: Low

Richland County, Wisconsin eviction laws carries an eviction risk score of 3.8/10 (Low), placing it 27th of 72 counties in Wisconsin -- a middle position in the state. With 26 Wisconsin counties registering higher risk and 45 registering lower, Richland County sits close to the state average of 3.9/10. Across the county's 9 tracked communities, individual city scores range from a low of 3.1 to a high of 4/10, reflecting modest but real variation in local housing market pressure and tenant protection exposure.

The county's largest city, Richland Center (population 5,109), comes in at 4/10 -- tracking the county average closely and accounting for the majority of Richland County's roughly 7,939 tracked rental residents. Lone Rock (3.4/10, pop. 734) and Cazenovia (3.4/10, pop. 267) sit at similar levels. The outlier worth watching is Gotham, a small community of 177 that registers the county's highest score at 4/10 -- well above the county average and a notable jump relative to neighboring villages. At the opposite end, Sextonville (3.2/10, pop. 459) is the most landlord-accessible community in the county, with Blue River (3.2/10, pop. 472) close behind. Viola (3.2/10) and Boaz (3.2/10) round out the mid-range group.

Richland County is rural, low-density, and economically modest. The average asking rent across tracked cities is $761 per month -- among the lower rent levels in Wisconsin -- and the average rent burden sits at 24.6%, below the threshold commonly used to flag housing stress. Still, 38.7% of occupied units are renter-occupied and the county's poverty rate of 15.3% is meaningfully above Wisconsin's statewide average, meaning a segment of the renter population has limited cushion against notice-to-vacate scenarios. Under Wisconsin law (Wis. Stat. § 704), nonpayment of rent triggers a 5-day notice; a lease violation gives the tenant 14 days to cure; and a no-cause end-of-term notice requires just 30 days. Court filing fees for an eviction action run $95-$175, with sheriff lockout service adding another $50-$150 on top. Uncontested cases in rural Wisconsin courts typically resolve in 21-45 days; contested proceedings can stretch to 120 days or more depending on court scheduling and tenant response.

Richland County's Low risk designation reflects a combination of low baseline rents, minimal local tenant-protection ordinances, and a legal framework that Wisconsin eviction laws's statewide preemption statute keeps uniform across all 72 counties -- no municipality in Wisconsin eviction laws may enact rent control, and just-cause eviction requirements are not mandated by state law. The score spread from 3.1 to 4/10 across the county's cities is narrow, consistent with the absence of hyper-local tenant protection policies that would create sharper intra-county divergence.