Eviction filings hit some Houston neighborhoods three times harder than average

Parts of Houston and Harris County are seeing eviction filing rates three times the county average, a new Kinder Institute for Urban Research analysis found July 20. The pattern is not spread evenly across the county: it is concentrated in specific neighborhoods and apartment corridors, with northern Harris County and southern Houston showing the most filings in 2024.

The scale is large as well as uneven. ABC13 said more than 26,000 evictions have been filed in the Houston metro, and the outlet’s earlier reporting in April 2025 said nearly one in 10 Houston renters face eviction. That backdrop helps explain why a ZIP code can be such a strong signal of housing risk in Harris County: where a renter lives can shape how likely they are to get pulled into court.

The pressure falls on a county with 768,200 renter households, according to Texas Housers’ 2024 Harris County Eviction Snapshot. Nearly half of those households, 49%, were cost burdened, and the median rent in evictions filed in 2023 was $1,269. In that same snapshot, 42.2% of case decisions were dismissed, 37.9% ended in default judgments, 16.5% favored the plaintiff, 2.8% fell into other dispositions and only 0.62% favored the defendant. Ten percent of case decisions were appealed.

Those numbers show why filing itself matters, even before a move-out order is entered. An eviction case can damage credit, make it harder to rent again and create a chain reaction of missed work, school disruption and added stress for families already dealing with high rent, medical bills or lost hours. Houston Public Media reported in February 2024 that eviction filings in major Texas cities were running above pre-pandemic levels amid high rents, reinforcing that Harris County’s problem sits inside a broader affordability squeeze.

Court costs add another hurdle. Harris County justice court civil filing fees, revised in January 2025, list a total of $139 for original petitions in civil matters including evictions. That means tenants facing a filing start the process already behind, often before they can find counsel or catch up on rent.

The county has expanded legal help, but the need remains intense in the same neighborhoods where filings are clustered. Houston Public Media reported in March 2023 that Harris County would soon offer free legal counseling to residents facing eviction through its Eviction Defense Program. Texas Housers also maintains a county eviction mapping tool and dashboard, giving advocates and residents a way to track where filings are piling up. The data puts pressure on county officials to explain why some ZIP codes keep showing far higher filing rates than the county as a whole, even after years of legal aid, rental assistance and public attention.