St. Croix County, Wisconsin Eviction Risk: Low

St. Croix County carries an average eviction-risk score of 2.7/10, earning a Low risk rating across its 13 cities. That number places the county at rank 21 of 72 in Wisconsin eviction laws, meaning 20 counties carry higher risk and 51 are more landlord-friendly, putting St. Croix County in the upper-risk third of the state despite its relatively modest overall score. For landlords and investors evaluating Wisconsin eviction laws markets, the county's average rent of $1,278 and a rent-burden rate of 26.1% suggest tenants here are not severely squeezed, which tempers default and eviction risk in most submarkets.

The intra-county spread, from a low of 2.8 to a high of 4.3, is meaningful enough that city selection matters considerably. Operators who pick the right address can hold portfolios with very manageable risk profiles, while those who concentrate in higher-scoring submarkets face noticeably different conditions. The county's average renter share of 33.2% and a poverty rate of 8.5% describe a largely owner-occupied, working-to-middle-income population, which generally correlates with steadier rental collections.

The cities inside St. Croix County

The highest-risk city in the county is New Richmond, scoring 4.3/10 with a population of 10,539. That is the ceiling of county risk and reflects a larger rental pool relative to local income dynamics compared to surrounding communities. Roberts comes in second at 4/10, and Hudson, the county's largest city at 14,959 residents, sits at 3.8/10, making it the biggest market but not the riskiest. Somerset scores 3.6/10, while Baldwin, Hammond, and Woodville all register at 3.5/10.

The most landlord-favorable environment in the county belongs to North Hudson, which scores just 2.8/10 with a population of 3,819. That nearly 1.5-point gap between North Hudson and New Richmond underscores how hyper-local risk can be within a single county boundary. Investors treating St. Croix County as a monolithic market will miss the divergence that matters most for underwriting individual acquisitions.

State-level laws that apply here

All landlords operating in St. Croix County are governed by Wisconsin state law under Wis. Stat. § 704 (Landlord and Tenant). For non-payment of rent, Wisconsin eviction laws requires only a 5-day notice before an eviction action can proceed, one of the shorter cure windows in the Midwest. A lease-violation notice requires 14 days, and a no-cause or end-of-term notice requires 30 days. Wisconsin requires landlords to give 12 hours advance notice before entry. Understanding the Wisconsin eviction process from notice through courthouse filing is essential before placing a tenant, because timelines diverge sharply depending on whether the case is contested: uncontested matters typically resolve in 21 to 45 days, while contested cases can run 45 to 120 days.

On Wisconsin eviction costs, landlords should budget court filing fees of $95 to $175, sheriff lockout fees of $50 to $150, and attorney fees of $500 to $3,000 depending on case complexity. Wisconsin has no rent control, and state law preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so landlords are not subject to rent caps here. Just-cause eviction requirements do not apply under current state law, giving landlords standard lease-termination flexibility at the end of a tenancy.

With a county poverty rate of 8.5% and a renter share of 33.2%, St. Croix County's rental market is relatively stable at the county level, but the city-by-city scores in the grid above show where individual risk concentrates, from North Hudson's 2.8/10 to New Richmond's 4.3/10.