Walworth County, Wisconsin Eviction Risk: Low

Walworth County carries an average eviction-risk score of 2.9/10, placing it in the Low risk tier across its 26 cities. That puts the county at rank 26 of 72 in Wisconsin eviction laws, meaning 25 counties are riskier and 46 are more landlord-friendly, landing Walworth squarely in the middle third of the state. For investors, that framing matters: the county is not a slam dunk, but it is meaningfully more stable than a large portion of Wisconsin markets. Average rent sits at $1,144, rent burden averages 26.5%, and the renter share of households is 39.3%, all figures that describe a functional, moderately renter-dense market without the stress indicators that push scores into the High or Severe bands.

The intra-county spread, 2.4 to 4.5, is wide enough that a landlord choosing between two cities in Walworth County is effectively choosing between two different operating environments. County averages are a starting point, not a substitute for city-level due diligence. The sections below break down exactly where that spread comes from.

The cities inside Walworth County

The highest-risk city in the county is Delavan, scoring 4.5/10 with a population of 8,689. That score sits at the top of the county range and warrants extra caution around tenant screening and lease documentation. Sharon comes in second at 4.3/10, and Elkhorn, the county's second-largest city at 10,221 residents, scores 4/10. These three cities account for the upper end of the county's risk distribution and share characteristics common to markets with elevated eviction pressure: tighter household budgets and higher renter concentration relative to the rest of the county.

On the lower end, cities such as Genoa City (2.9/10), Williams Bay (3.4/10), and East Troy (3.5/10) offer operating conditions that track closer to the county's most landlord-friendly markets. Whitewater, the largest city in the county at 15,807 residents, scores 3.8/10, positioning it in the moderate range. Risk is hyper-local here: two cities separated by a few miles can differ by a full point on the scale, so underwriting assumptions built on the county average alone will miss that variation.

State-level laws that apply here

Every landlord in Walworth County operates under Wisconsin eviction laws state law, specifically Wis. Stat. § 704 (Landlord and Tenant). For nonpayment of rent, the required notice period is 5 days. Lease violations with an opportunity to cure require 14 days, and a no-cause end-of-term termination requires 30 days. Landlords must give 12 hours notice before entry. Wisconsin eviction laws does not require just cause for non-renewal, and state law preempts any local rent control ordinance, meaning no municipality in Walworth County can impose rent caps independent of state authority. Understanding the full Wisconsin eviction laws eviction process is essential before filing, particularly around timeline expectations: uncontested cases typically resolve in 21 to 45 days, while contested cases can run 45 to 120 days.

Wisconsin eviction costs are a concrete factor in operating budgets. Court filing fees range from $95 to $175, sheriff lockout fees from $50 to $150, and attorney fees from $500 to $3,000, depending on case complexity. Retaliation protections for tenants are codified under Wis. Stat. § 704.45, and habitability obligations fall under Wis. Stat. § 704.07. Source of income is not a protected class under Wisconsin state law.

With a poverty rate of 12.9% and a renter share of 39.3%, Walworth County's baseline risk is real but manageable; use the city grid above to identify where within the county that risk concentrates before committing to a market.