Weston County, Wyoming Eviction Risk: Low
4 incorporated cities and unincorporated areas. The county Eviction Risk Score is held aloft by the city of Newcastle (3.4) and a small number of dense urban cores. Rent-control coverage varies by city.
Ranked #23 of 23 WY counties
5k residents · 4 cities · 2 tracts
Weston County eviction risk score history
Key metrics
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Tenant beats landlord10.5%/ 100 outcomesIn court-decided eviction outcomes for Weston County, WY, tenants prevail in roughly 10.5% of contested cases. A higher number means landlords face stronger tenant defenses and longer calendars.
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Timeline20dfiling → judgmentFrom the moment an unlawful-detainer notice is filed in Weston County, WY until a money judgment is entered, a contested eviction takes about 20 days on average. Longer timelines mean more lost rent for landlords.
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Cost range$0.7–2.5klegal + lost rentA typical eviction in Weston County, WY costs landlords $717 to $2,496 all-in, covering court filing fees, process-server costs, attorney time, and lost rent.
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Average rent$75813% stretched on rentAverage gross rent in Weston County, WY is $758 per month per the U.S. Census American Community Survey. 13% of renter households here spend more than 30% of pre-tax income on rent.
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Renters20.9%of households20.9% of occupied housing units in Weston County, WY are renter-occupied. A higher renter share usually correlates with more eviction filings and a more active rental market.
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Poverty10.5%14.2% unemp.10.5% of Weston County, WY residents live below the federal poverty line, and unemployment runs at 14.2%. Both feed the economic-stress sub-score in our Eviction Risk Score model.
Scrub 50 years
Weston County's 3.2/10 (Low) score is the lowest in Wyoming, with scores across its four communities ranging from 3.1 to 3.4/10. Ranked 23rd of 23 Wyoming counties, with 22 counties carrying higher eviction risk.
How Weston County ranks in Wyoming
Landlord guides for Wyoming
| City↕ | Population↕ | Risk↕ | % income on rent↕ | Average rent↕ | Lean↕ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | Newcastle | 3,348 | 3.1 | 9.0% | $758 | Rep |
| 002 | Upton | 892 | 3.4 | 31.5% | $758 | Rep |
| 003 | Hill View Heights | 240 | 3.1 | 9.0% | $758 | Rep |
| 004 | Osage | 114 | 3.1 | 9.0% | $758 | Rep |
County heatmap
One county, multiple regulatory regimes.
Weston County, Wyoming eviction laws earns an eviction-risk score of 3.2/10 (Low), placing it 23rd out of 23 Wyoming eviction laws counties - the single most landlord-favorable position in the state. With 22 counties carrying higher risk and none sitting lower, Weston represents the quietest end of the Wyoming eviction laws rental market. Scores across the county's four communities run from 3.1 to 3.4/10, a narrow spread that reflects a consistently straightforward legal environment rather than pockets of elevated exposure.
The county seat, Newcastle, is home to roughly 3,348 of the county's 4,594 residents and scores 3.1/10 - the low anchor of the range. Upton, the second-largest community at around 892 people, scores 3.4/10. Hill View Heights, a small unincorporated community of about 240 residents, carries the county's highest reading at 3.1/10, while Osage, with a population of 114, sits at 3.1/10. None of these figures approach the statewide average of 3.4/10, meaning landlords operating anywhere in Weston County face a lighter regulatory and litigation burden than the typical Wyoming eviction laws rental market. The county as a whole sits well below the state average, giving owners in Newcastle and Upton in particular a notably predictable operating environment.
Weston's rental market is small by most measures - renters make up roughly 20.9% of households, and the average gross rent runs around $758 per month. Rent burden is low at 13.4% of income on average, and the poverty rate of 10.5% is moderate for a rural Wyoming eviction laws county. These fundamentals mean tenant financial distress is uncommon relative to larger metro markets, which in turn keeps eviction filing rates low. Wyoming eviction laws's statewide legal framework does the rest: no just-cause eviction requirement, no rent control at any level, and a state preemption law that prevents any municipality in Wyoming eviction laws - including Newcastle and Upton - from enacting local rent caps. Landlords can issue a 3-day notice for both non-payment and lease violations, and a 30-day no-cause notice to end a month-to-month tenancy, all under Wyo. Stat. § 1-21-1201 et seq. Uncontested eviction proceedings typically conclude in 21-45 days from filing, and contested matters generally resolve within 45-100 days - timelines that are fast relative to nearly every other state in the Mountain West.
Weston County's 3.2/10 (Low) score reflects a convergence of factors that consistently favor landlords: a state statutory framework with no habitability-based rent withholding mechanism beyond Wyo. Stat. § 1-21-1203, no source-of-income protections, and court filing fees in the $85-$175 range that keep the cost of action low. The county's small renter population and limited housing stock mean formal eviction proceedings are rare, but when they do occur, the procedural path is among the fastest in the region.
Historical eviction filings in Weston County
From 2014 to 2017, eviction filings in Weston County increased 100%. The peak was 5 filings in 2015.1
- 22014
- 5Peak (2015)
- 42017
Data covers 2000–2018, the full span of the Princeton Eviction Lab's national county court-records dataset.
How Weston County compares
At 3.2/10 (Low), Weston County sits below every other county in Wyoming eviction laws, making it the single least-restrictive rental jurisdiction in the state. The Wyoming average is 3.4/10. Nearby peer counties - Crook, Platte, Sublette, Johnson, and Hot Springs - all carry higher risk scores, though none approach the elevated readings seen in Wyoming's larger urban counties. Weston's combination of short statutory notice periods, fast court timelines, and no local regulation layer makes it a genuine outlier even by Wyoming's already landlord-favorable statewide standards.