Washington County, Wisconsin Eviction Risk: Low

Washington County carries an average eviction-risk score of 2.7/10 (Low) across its 10 cities, placing it 40th of 72 Wisconsin counties by risk, meaning 39 counties are riskier and 32 are less risky. For landlords and investors, that middle-of-the-pack ranking translates to a market where tenant-default pressure is genuinely subdued: a 5.9% average poverty rate and an average rent of $1,176 per month reflect a stable, working-population renter base. The average rent-burden figure of 26.2% of income is well below the thresholds that typically drive delinquency spikes, giving operators here a meaningful cushion compared with higher-risk markets elsewhere in Wisconsin.

Even within that broadly favorable picture, individual cities span a range from 2.6 to 3.6, a full point of separation that matters when you are deciding which submarket to enter or avoid. Investors who treat the county average as a single number and stop there will miss meaningful variation at the city level, where underwriting conditions diverge noticeably.

The cities inside Washington County

West Bend, the county seat and largest city at 32,030 residents, carries the highest score in the county at 3.6/10, still a Low rating but at the ceiling of that tier. Hartford, with a population of 15,821, follows at 3.5/10, and Slinger rounds out the top three riskiest at 3.4/10. These three cities share relatively higher renter concentrations and modestly elevated economic stress compared with their neighbors, which is why investors acquiring multi-family assets in West Bend or Hartford should build slightly tighter vacancy assumptions into pro formas than the county average alone would suggest.

On the lower-risk end, Jackson scores 2.7/10, one of the lowest readings in the county, followed by Allenton at 2.8/10. Germantown (population 20,962) and Richfield (population 11,755) both land at 3.2/10, offering a useful middle ground: large enough for deal flow but with risk profiles comfortably below West Bend. The takeaway is that risk is genuinely hyper-local here; the county average masks a spread that could affect underwriting, lease-up timelines, and collection performance.

State-level laws that apply here

Every landlord operating in Washington County works under Wisconsin state law, primarily Wis. Stat. § 704 (Landlord and Tenant). For non-payment of rent, Wisconsin requires a 5-day notice; lease violations carry a 14-day cure notice; and no-cause terminations at the end of a tenancy require 30 days. Uncontested cases typically resolve in 21 to 45 days; contested matters can run 45 to 120 days. Court filing fees run $95 to $175, sheriff lockout fees add $50 to $150, and attorney fees typically range from $500 to $3,000, meaning a fully litigated eviction could cost between roughly $645 and $3,325 in hard out-of-pocket expenses before lost rent is counted. Reviewing the Wisconsin eviction process in full before acquiring property is advisable, as procedural missteps can extend timelines and add cost.

Wisconsin has no statewide rent control and does not require just cause for non-renewal, and state law preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so landlords here face no local rent caps. The state also does not protect source of income as a fair-housing class, which gives owners standard screening flexibility under the Wisconsin Equal Rights Division's guidelines. For a complete breakdown of what you will spend getting a problem tenant out, the Wisconsin eviction costs guide details current fee schedules and court-cost expectations.

With a 5.9% average poverty rate and only 26.2% of residents renting, Washington County's renter pool skews toward financially stable households, a foundation that shows up clearly in the low-risk scores across most of the city grid above.