Taylor County, Wisconsin Eviction Risk: Low

Taylor County sits in north-central Wisconsin eviction laws as a sparsely settled timber and dairy region, and its eviction-risk profile reflects that quiet rural character. The county earns a composite score of 2.7/10 (Low), ranking 72nd of 72 Wisconsin counties -- placing it at the very bottom of the state's risk ladder, with every other Wisconsin county registering a higher score. A total of 71 counties statewide carry more eviction risk than Taylor, and 0 carry less. That position is not incidental: Taylor's combination of small rental stock, a relatively stable workforce tied to agriculture and light manufacturing, and straightforward landlord-tenant dynamics under Wis. Stat. § 704 produces one of the calmest landlord-tenant environments in the state.

Medford, the county seat and by far the largest community at 4,431 residents, anchors the rental market at 2.6/10 -- well below the Wisconsin average of 3.1/10. The next largest places, Rib Lake (888 residents, 2.6/10) and Dorchester (879 residents, 2.8/10), remain similarly subdued. Smaller villages like Stetsonville (2.6/10), Curtiss (2.6/10), and Gilman (2.7/10) track closely with Medford. The county's score spread runs from a low of 2.4 to a high of 3.5, a narrow band that signals consistent conditions rather than isolated pockets of acute stress.

The highest-risk communities are Jump River, which tops the county at 3.5/10, and Chelsea at 3.2/10. Both are unincorporated hamlets with very small rental pools, and their elevated readings relative to the county average reflect limited housing supply options rather than structural landlord-tenant friction at scale. Hawkins (2.9/10), Whittlesey (2.9/10), Dorchester (2.8/10), and Westboro (2.8/10) round out the middle of the local range. Across all 12 tracked communities, the pattern is one of low absolute risk contained within a narrow band -- Taylor County does not have a high-risk corridor; it simply has minor variation around a uniformly low baseline. For landlords operating here, eviction proceedings under Wisconsin's 5-day nonpayment notice rule and an uncontested timeline of roughly 21 to 45 days are the main procedural variables to understand, along with court filing fees of $95 to $175 and sheriff's lockout costs of $50 to $150. Renters, who make up about 36.7% of occupied units county-wide, face an average rent of $783 per month and a rent burden sitting at 23% -- below the 30% threshold commonly associated with housing stress. The county's 11.3% poverty rate is worth noting, particularly for smaller hamlets, but it has not translated into systemic eviction pressure at the county level.

Taylor County's Low rating reflects a rental market where rents are affordable relative to local incomes, the tenant population is small and stable, and Wisconsin eviction laws's statewide landlord-tenant framework under Wis. Stat. § 704 operates without the overlay of local rent control or just-cause requirements that can complicate filings elsewhere -- Wisconsin eviction laws state law preempts local rent regulation outright, so conditions are uniform and predictable across every Taylor community.