Eviction Statistics (2026): A Comprehensive Look at National Trends, State Breakdowns, and What the Data Means for Landlords and Renters

Every year, millions of Americans receive an eviction notice — a legal process that can upend housing stability, damage credit, and create cascading consequences for families and communities. According to data compiled by the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, approximately 3.6 million eviction filings are recorded annually across the United States, with roughly 1 in 17 renter households facing some form of eviction action in a given year. As rental costs remain elevated heading into 2026 — and as pandemic-era protections have long since expired — eviction rates are returning to, and in some metros surpassing, pre-pandemic levels. This article synthesizes the most current available data from federal agencies, academic research institutions, and housing policy organizations to present a complete picture of eviction trends in the United States.

Key Eviction Statistics at a Glance

The table below summarizes the most critical eviction statistics drawn from recent data. Where 2025–2026 projections are cited, they are based on trend extrapolations from the most recent finalized datasets.

Statistic	Figure	Source & Year
Annual eviction filings (national)	~3.6 million	Eviction Lab, Princeton University (2024)
Annual eviction judgments issued	~1.5 million	Eviction Lab, Princeton University (2024)
Renter households facing eviction filing annually	~1 in 17	Eviction Lab / U.S. Census Bureau ACS (2023)
Share of eviction filings resulting in removal	Approx. 40–50%	Urban Institute (2023)
States with highest eviction filing rates	South Carolina, Delaware, Virginia, Nevada	Eviction Lab (2024)
Median amount owed at time of eviction filing	$600–$700	Eviction Lab (2023)
Share of evictions involving Black renters	~20% (2x population share)	Eviction Lab / Urban Institute (2023)
Households with children facing eviction (annual)	~2.3 million children affected	NLIHC (2024)
Share of renters spending 50%+ of income on rent	27%	Harvard JCHS (2024)
Emergency Rental Assistance disbursed (2021–2023)	$46 billion+	U.S. Treasury Department (2023)
Estimated cost of eviction to a tenant (lost wages, moving, legal)	$5,000–$10,000	Urban Institute (2022)
Average days from filing to eviction execution	15–45 days (varies by state)	NLIHC State Eviction Timelines (2024)

National Eviction Trends: Year-Over-Year Analysis

The Pre-Pandemic Baseline (2016–2019)

Before COVID-19 dramatically reshaped the housing landscape, eviction filings in the United States were running at historically elevated levels. The Eviction Lab's national database — the first large-scale, longitudinal dataset of its kind — documented an average of approximately 3.7 million eviction filings per year between 2016 and 2019. Of those, roughly 1.5 to 1.7 million resulted in formal eviction judgments. These figures reflect only cases that entered the court system; housing researchers broadly acknowledge that informal evictions (where tenants are pressured or coerced into leaving without formal proceedings) may add hundreds of thousands of additional cases annually, a phenomenon documented extensively by sociologist Matthew Desmond in his Pulitzer Prize-winning research.

The Pandemic Era: Moratoriums and Emergency Assistance (2020–2021)

The CDC's national eviction moratorium, active in various forms from September 2020 through August 2021, along with nearly $46.6 billion in Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) disbursed through the U.S. Treasury's ERA1 and ERA2 programs, produced a dramatic but temporary suppression of eviction filings. According to the Eviction Lab's 2022 analysis, eviction filings fell by as much as 55–70% below historical averages in covered jurisdictions during the moratorium period. However, researchers at the Urban Institute cautioned that this suppression masked a growing debt overhang among renters who continued to fall behind on rent without legal consequence during this window.

Post-Moratorium Surge (2022–2024)

Following the Supreme Court's ruling in Alabama Association of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Services (August 2021), which struck down the CDC's final moratorium extension, eviction filings began climbing sharply. By 2022, filings in many jurisdictions had rebounded to 80–90% of pre-pandemic levels, and by 2023, several high-filing states had fully returned to or exceeded their 2018–2019 rates. The Eviction Lab's 2024 report confirmed that nationally, eviction filings had reached approximately 3.6 million annually — essentially back to pre-pandemic levels — while the underlying economic stress on renters, including elevated rents and persistent inflation, remained significantly worse than in 2019.

Key Trend: After a pandemic-era suppression of 55–70%, eviction filings nationally have fully rebounded to pre-pandemic levels of approximately 3.6 million per year, according to Eviction Lab data through 2024.

Heading Into 2025–2026: Emerging Pressures

Several convergent factors suggest that eviction filings may continue at elevated levels — or increase further — heading into 2026. According to the 2024 Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) State of the Nation's Housing report, 27% of renter households were spending more than half their income on housing costs, qualifying as "severely cost-burdened." This represents the largest share of severely cost-burdened renters recorded since the JCHS began tracking the metric. Furthermore, with the complete exhaustion of ERA funds and the expiration of most state-level rental relief programs, the safety net that temporarily buffered millions of households has been entirely removed. NMHC (National Multifamily Housing Council) data from early 2025 indicates that rent payment delinquency rates in professionally managed properties remain approximately 15–20% higher than their 2019 baseline, pointing toward sustained filing pressure.

State-by-State Eviction Filing Rates

Eviction law, court procedures, and filing rates vary enormously by state, making geographic context essential to understanding this issue. The following table presents eviction filing rates per 100 renter households by state, drawn primarily from Eviction Lab data (2023–2024) and supplemented by state court administrative data.

State	Annual Filings per 100 Renter HHs	Relative Rate vs. National Average	Notable Policy Context
South Carolina	~8.5	Highest in nation	Minimal tenant protections; expedited process
Delaware	~7.8	2nd highest nationally	Limited pre-filing notice requirements
Virginia	~6.5	Top 5 nationally	Unlawful detainer process is landlord-favorable
Nevada	~6.1	Top 5 nationally	Las Vegas metro drives high statewide rate
Georgia	~5.8	Above average	Atlanta has one of the highest metro rates nationally
Mississippi	~5.5	Above average	High poverty rates + limited legal aid access
Tennessee	~5.2	Above average	Memphis ranks among highest-filing cities nationally
Texas	~4.9	Above average	Houston and Dallas among top 10 filing metros
Florida	~4.7	Above average	Statewide moratorium ended early; high cost burden
National Average	~2.3–2.7	Baseline	Varies significantly by metro area
California	~1.2	Below average	Strong tenant protections; AB 1482 rent cap
New York	~1.4	Below average	HSTPA (2019) and Good Cause expansion; Housing Court
Minnesota	~1.5	Below average	Expungement rights; right to counsel in Minneapolis
Massachusetts	~0.9	Among lowest nationally	Robust legal aid; 14-day notice requirement

The geographic disparity in eviction rates is stark. States in the South and lower Midwest consistently report filing rates two to four times higher than the national average, reflecting a combination of weaker tenant-protection statutes, faster court processes, higher poverty rates, and lower rates of legal representation for tenants. According to the NLIHC's 2024 Out of Reach report, the mismatch between wages and rental costs is most severe in these same regions, creating a structural pipeline from housing cost burden to eviction filing.

Metro-Level Hotspots

At the metropolitan level, a handful of cities consistently account for a disproportionate share of national eviction filings. According to Eviction Lab's 2024 metro tracking data, the following metros recorded the highest absolute and per-capita filing volumes:

• Houston, TX: Consistently one of the top two metros nationally for eviction filings, with approximately 90,000–100,000 filings annually. Harris County Justice of the Peace courts process more eviction cases than many entire states.
• Memphis, TN: Among the highest per-capita filing rates of any large city in the U.S., with filing rates exceeding 7 per 100 renter households in some ZIP codes.
• Richmond, VA: Despite being a mid-size city, Richmond's eviction filing rate has historically ranked among the highest nationally on a per-capita basis.
• Las Vegas, NV: Post-pandemic rent increases of 20–30% drove Clark County to near-record filing levels in 2023–2024.
• Atlanta, GA: Rapid rent growth in the Sunbelt's largest metro combined with limited tenant protections produced filing rates well above the national average.
• Indianapolis, IN: Frequently cited in national research as a high-filing city with limited legal aid infrastructure.

Demographic Breakdown: Who Faces Eviction?

Race and Ethnicity

Eviction is not distributed randomly across the renter population — it falls with disproportionate weight on communities of color, particularly Black renters. Research published in the American Journal of Sociology (2021) and updated through Eviction Lab data (2023) found that Black renters are approximately twice as likely to face eviction filings relative to their share of the renter population. While Black households represent approximately 19–20% of renter households nationally (per the 2023 American Community Survey), they account for an estimated 35–40% of eviction filings in jurisdictions where race data is collected. This disparity persists even after controlling for income, suggesting structural and potentially discriminatory mechanisms beyond simple economic vulnerability.

Hispanic and Latino renters also face above-average filing rates, particularly in high-cost metros where rent burdens are severe. The Urban Institute's 2023 Racial Equity in Eviction report identified systemic factors — including concentration in lower-quality rental housing with less stable landlords, exclusion from some emergency rental assistance programs due to documentation requirements, and lower rates of legal representation — as key drivers of these disparities.

Racial Disparity: Black renters represent approximately 20% of renter households but account for an estimated 35–40% of eviction filings nationally, according to Eviction Lab and Urban Institute research (2023).

Gender

Research from the Eviction Lab and from sociologist Matthew Desmond's foundational work in Milwaukee found that women — and particularly Black women — face the highest eviction filing rates of any demographic group. In some urban markets, Black women renters face filing rates more than three times higher than the citywide average. Single-mother households, which represent a significant share of low-income renter households, are particularly exposed to eviction risk given their constrained budgets and lack of economic cushion.

Income Level

Unsurprisingly, eviction risk is inversely correlated with income. According to the 2024 NLIHC Gap report, there is a national shortage of approximately 7.3 million affordable and available rental units for extremely low-income (ELI) households — those earning at or below 30% of area median income. This structural shortage means that the lowest-income renters — including those on Section 8/Housing Choice Vouchers, SSI recipients, and minimum wage workers — are perpetually at risk of an eviction event triggered by a single missed paycheck. Among households earning below $25,000 annually, the Urban Institute (2023) estimated eviction filing exposure rates of 8–12% annually, compared to less than 1% for households earning above $50,000.

Age and Family Composition

Children are among the most profoundly affected by eviction, even though they are not parties to the legal proceeding. The NLIHC (2024) estimated that approximately 2.3 million children are affected by eviction filings annually, with documented downstream consequences including school instability, increased rates of homelessness, and long-term educational underachievement. Elderly renters on fixed incomes represent a growing share of the cost-burdened renter population; the Harvard JCHS (2024) noted that renters over age 65 are the fastest-growing segment of severely cost-burdened households, raising concerns about an increase in senior eviction filings in coming years.

The Economics of Eviction: Costs to Both Parties

Cost to Tenants

An eviction filing — even one that does not result in a formal judgment — carries significant economic and social costs for tenants. The Urban Institute (2022) estimated the total cost of an eviction event to a tenant at between $5,000 and $10,000, accounting for moving expenses, security deposit loss, application fees for new housing, potential legal fees, missed work days, and transportation costs. Beyond direct costs, an eviction record creates a "scarlet letter" in the rental market: tenant screening services routinely flag eviction filings (not just judgments), meaning that even a dismissed filing can make it nearly impossible for tenants to secure housing in the private market for years.

Cost to Landlords

Evictions are also costly for landlords — a reality that underscores the economic argument for early intervention and proactive communication. Industry data compiled by NMHC (2023) and NAR suggests that the average eviction costs a landlord between $3,500 and $7,000 when accounting for lost rent during vacancy, filing and court fees, attorney fees, unit turnover costs (cleaning, repairs, re-leasing), and the opportunity cost of management time. For independent landlords operating on thin margins — the population that platforms like VerticalRent serve — a single unplanned eviction can eliminate an entire year's cash flow from a given unit. This economic reality makes preventive tools such as robust tenant screening, online rent collection with automated reminders, and transparent lease management essential components of a landlord's risk management strategy.

Legal Representation and Outcomes

One of the most striking structural inequities in the eviction process is the profound imbalance in legal representation. According to data from LSC (Legal Services Corporation, 2024), landlords are represented by attorneys in eviction proceedings in approximately 81% of cases, while tenants have legal representation in only 3–7% of cases nationally. This asymmetry significantly affects outcomes: research from New York City's Universal Access to Counsel program found that tenants with legal representation were able to remain in their homes in 84% of cases, compared to far lower rates among unrepresented tenants. Cities that have adopted "right to counsel" in eviction proceedings — including New York City, San Francisco, Cleveland, and Philadelphia — have consistently documented reductions in eviction judgments of 20–40% following implementation.

Informal Evictions and the Undercounting Problem

Official eviction filing statistics almost certainly undercount the true scope of housing displacement in the United States. The Eviction Lab and Urban Institute both acknowledge that formal court filings represent only the most visible portion of eviction activity. "Informal evictions" — including landlord harassment, utility shutoffs, lock changes, and cash-for-keys arrangements — occur outside the court system and leave no public record. A 2021 study published in Social Forces estimated that informal evictions may account for an additional 1–2 million displacement events annually beyond what court data captures. When informal displacement is included, the true scope of eviction-related housing instability in the United States may affect 5–6 million households per year.

Emergency Rental Assistance: Lessons and Gaps

The federal Emergency Rental Assistance programs — ERA1 ($25 billion) and ERA2 ($21.6 billion) — represented the largest federal investment in rental housing stability in American history. By the time the programs were fully wound down in 2023, the U.S. Treasury Department reported that ERA funds had assisted approximately 10 million unique households and generated an estimated reduction in eviction filings of 1.5–2 million cases that would otherwise have proceeded through the courts. However, program implementation was uneven: states with weaker administrative capacity and higher baseline eviction rates — including some Southern states — disbursed funds far more slowly than high-capacity states, limiting the programs' effectiveness precisely where need was greatest. With ERA funds now exhausted, housing policy advocates at the NLIHC and National Housing Law Project have called for permanent, federally funded rental assistance programs to prevent the cyclical crises that emergency programs were designed to address.

Technology, Data, and the Future of Eviction Prevention

As eviction data becomes more granular and accessible — through systems like the Eviction Lab's tracking dashboard, state court data portals, and integrated property management platforms — there is growing interest in using predictive analytics and early-warning systems to intervene before eviction filings occur. Landlords using platforms like VerticalRent can monitor rent payment patterns, automate late payment communications, and document lease compliance in ways that can prevent disputes from escalating to court proceedings. Research from the Urban Institute (2023) found that landlords who maintained consistent written communication with tenants and offered payment plan options were significantly less likely to proceed to formal filings — suggesting that technology-enabled relationship management can play a meaningful role in reducing eviction rates.

Implications for Landlords and Renters

For Landlords

• Prevention is cheaper than eviction. With eviction costs ranging from $3,500 to $7,000 per event, proactive communication, payment plans, and early intervention almost always produce better financial outcomes than formal proceedings.
• Tenant screening matters — but must comply with Fair Housing laws. Using consistent, documented screening criteria reduces risk at move-in while protecting against discrimination claims. Be aware that using eviction filing records (as opposed to judgments) in screening decisions is increasingly regulated at the state and local level.
• Know your state's timeline and requirements. The average time from filing to execution ranges from 15 days (in some Southern states) to 45+ days in tenant-protective jurisdictions. Procedural missteps can result in costly delays and case dismissals.
• Stay current on local emergency rental assistance programs. Even post-ERA, many states and municipalities maintain ongoing rental assistance programs that can help landlords recover arrearages without formal proceedings.
• Document everything. Lease agreements, payment records, written notices, and communication logs are essential to a successful eviction proceeding if one becomes necessary.

For Renters

• Even a filing — not a judgment — can affect your rental history. Tenant screening services routinely report eviction filings, making it critical to address disputes before they reach the courthouse.
• Seek legal aid immediately if you receive a notice. The LSC and local legal aid organizations provide free representation in many jurisdictions, and represented tenants achieve far better outcomes than those who appear alone.
• Rental assistance programs may still be available. State and local programs, 211 helplines, and community action agencies can connect renters to emergency assistance even after federal ERA funds have been exhausted.
• Understand your rights by state. Required notice periods, the right to "cure" nonpayment before a filing can proceed, and the legal definitions of habitability all vary significantly by jurisdiction. Know your state's law before assuming what a landlord can or cannot do.
• An eviction record can be expunged in some states. Minnesota, California, and a growing number of states allow tenants to petition for expungement of eviction records under certain conditions — a critical tool for restoring housing access.

Conclusion

The data on eviction in the United States in 2026 paints a picture of a system under pressure. With approximately 3.6 million annual filings, stark racial and income disparities, deep geographic variation, and millions of children and families caught in the crossfire, eviction remains one of the most consequential and underaddressed housing policy challenges in the country. The temporary reprieve provided by pandemic-era protections and emergency rental assistance has faded, and the structural forces driving eviction — a shortage of 7.3 million affordable units, stagnant wages, and a legal system that overwhelmingly favors represented parties — remain firmly in place. For both landlords navigating financial risk and renters struggling to maintain housing stability, understanding the eviction landscape is essential to making informed decisions in an increasingly challenging rental market.

Data in this article is sourced from the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), the Urban Institute, the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), and the U.S. Treasury Department. Figures marked as 2025–2026 estimates reflect trend extrapolations from the most recently finalized data available at time of publication.