Methodology
What we track
One row per state plus DC for nonpayment-of-rent evictions of residential tenants: the notice period, whether the tenant can pay and stay (right to cure), court deadlines, how long from judgment to lockout, the appeal window, filing/service/lockout fees, statewide tenant protections and the Census median gross rent. Every field has a source URL and a last-checked date (2026-10-17). Download it: JSON · CSV.
Sourcing rules
- Official source: a state statute, court rule, or a court or government website.
- Secondary source: Nolo's state-by-state chart (updated Feb 2026), legal-aid sites, or bar association guides. Notice periods come from Nolo, which cites the statute; we show that citation.
- Unverified: we couldn't find a source, so the value is left blank. We never guess. Where a fee is blank, the calculator uses a national default range (the middle half of the fees we did source) and says so.
- Fees are set by courts and counties. Each fee is labeled statewide only when the schedule applies statewide (a state statute or statewide court schedule). Otherwise we name the county or court it comes from, such as the $45 NYC Housing Court fee.
- Notice periods link to the state statute on the official legislature site, with Nolo's state-by-state chart kept as a backup source.
- Lawyer fees are a national rough estimate (about $500-$1,500 uncontested, $2,000-$5,000+ contested) from industry cost guides. They're low-confidence and not state-specific.
Timeline model
For each state we add: notice period + filing-to-judgment window (from the hearing or answer deadlines in the court rules) + judgment-to-lockout window (writ or warrant waiting periods and officer notice). Low uses the minimums, typical uses a midpoint inside the legal window, and high uses the maximums plus 21 days for a contested case. Where the post-judgment step isn't sourced we use a 5-14 day default and flag it. Where only the earliest lockout day is sourced (for example, a writ that can't issue until 7 days after judgment), we add 7 days for the upper end and flag that too. These are model estimates, not court statistics. Real cases vary with backlogs, continuances, bankruptcy filings and local programs.
Cost calculator
Total = rent × (months behind + months to evict + months to re-rent) + court fees + lawyer + turnover
Months to evict = timeline weeks ÷ 4.345. Court fees = filing + service + lockout. With a lawyer, low and typical use the uncontested range and high uses the top of the contested range. Turnover ($1,000) and days to re-rent (30) are placeholder defaults; replace them with your own. The national comparison runs the same inputs through the median state timeline (4 weeks typical) and the national default fees. The U.S. median gross rent is $1,487 (Census ACS 2024 1-year, table B25064).
Landlord-friendliness score (0-100)
| Timeline, 50 pts | 50 × (14 − typical weeks) ÷ 12, capped between 0 and 50. 2 weeks or faster = 50; 14 weeks or slower = 0. |
| Right to cure, 20 pts | No pay-and-stay right = 20 · depends on payment history = 17 · during the notice only = 14 · after filing (until the hearing) = 7 · until the lockout = 3 · even after the lockout = 0. |
| Statewide protections, 30 pts | Start at 30 and subtract: just-cause rules −10 · rent control −8 · right to counsel −5 · required mediation or pre-filing program −4 · seasonal/weather limits −3. Local (city) rules are listed on each state page but not scored. |
A higher score means a faster, more predictable process for landlords. It isn't a judgment on whether a state's policies are good or bad.
Limits
- Statewide data only. Big cities (NYC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia and others) add their own rules.
- Covers nonpayment evictions only, not lease violations, holdovers or no-fault evictions.
- Laws change. Check the linked sources and a local attorney before acting.