Eviction Trends in the First Half of 2025: Texas

Eviction Trends in the First Half of 2025: Texas

Evictions have remained a critical housing issue in 2025, as pandemic-era protections and aid have receded and housing costs continue to strain renters. This report analyzes eviction trends from January through June 2025 in three states – Michigan, Texas, and Florida – highlighting state-level data, contributing factors (such as market changes, policy shifts, inflation, and economic conditions), and comparisons to prior years. Visual charts and tables are included to illustrate key data. Each state is addressed in a separate section for clarity.

Texas: Post-Pandemic Surge and “Landlord-Friendly” Dynamics

Eviction Filing Volume

Texas has seen a surge in evictions through 2024 into the first half of 2025, especially in its major urban centers. While comprehensive statewide data is decentralized (eviction cases are handled by Justice of the Peace courts in each county), available metrics indicate that filings now exceed pre-pandemic levels in many areas. In 2023, landlords filed over 177,000 eviction cases in just the Houston, Dallas, Austin, and Fort Worth metro areas alone. This represented a slight uptick from 2022 and firmly surpassed the annual filings from the late 2010s in those cities. The trend continued into 2024: for example, Travis County (Austin) recorded 13,209 eviction filings in 2024, a 25% increase from 2023 and the highest number of evictions there in at least a decade. Other urban counties like Harris (Houston) and Tarrant (Fort Worth) also hit multi-year highs in 2024.

By early 2025, eviction volumes remained extremely elevated. Houston in particular has garnered national attention for its eviction rates. In February 2025, Houston landlords filed 6,536 eviction cases, which is 53% above the pre-pandemic average volume for a typical February. In fact, Houston had roughly three times more evictions than New York City that month, despite having a smaller renter population – an indication of how acute the issue is in Houston. January 2025 in Houston was similarly high at over 7,200 filings (about 27% above historic averages for January). This pattern suggests that Texas’s eviction wave has not abated: if anything, some cities are seeing even higher filing rates in 2025 than in 2024. (It’s notable that eviction filings in Texas often peak in the summer; historically June is a high point. The fact that winter/spring 2025 were already so high implies the summer of 2025 could set new records if trends continue.)

Regional Variations

Eviction trends vary across Texas’s regions. Fort Worth and the surrounding Tarrant County have experienced one of the sharpest rebounds – filings in the past year were up ~25% compared to pre-2020 baseline, with around 47,000 evictions filed in Fort Worth area courts in the last year. Austin (Travis County) saw filings rise about 18% above pre-pandemic levels (10,000+ filings in the past year), culminating in the 2024 record noted above. Houston (Harris County) has had an even more dramatic jump – Eviction Lab data show nearly 83,000 filings in Harris County over the last 12 months, which is ~42% higher than the average pre-2019 level for that period. The only major metro with a different story was Dallas (Dallas County), where filings in 2022–2023 were slightly below pre-pandemic norms (Eviction Lab noted Dallas was ~6% down with ~38,000 filings in the past year). Housing advocates tie Dallas’s anomaly to temporary local policies that gave tenants more time to pay rent – Dallas had enacted an extended “pay-to-stay” grace period ordinance during COVID, which likely kept some evictions down. However, that local protection ended in late 2023 (as discussed below), and early 2025 anecdotal reports suggest Dallas filings are climbing as well. Indeed, legal aid groups observed that Dallas County landlords filed about 5,000 fewer evictions in 2022–2023 than they otherwise might have, thanks to the grace-period rule. With that rule gone, Dallas is expected to catch up to the upward trend seen in the rest of Texas.

In summary, all major Texas markets are experiencing high eviction activity in 2025, with Houston and Fort Worth leading in relative increases, Austin and San Antonio also elevated, and Dallas rising after a brief dip. Many Texas cities now routinely log higher monthly eviction filings than they did in 2019, indicating the eviction crisis here is worse than pre-pandemic rather than merely a return to normal.

Comparisons to Previous Years

The trajectory in Texas shows a whiplash effect from the pandemic lows. In 2020, statewide evictions plunged due to Texas’s temporary eviction moratorium (March–May 2020) and federal moratoria. By late 2021, filings began rising as protections waned. 2022 saw a steep climb – for instance, Houston’s filings in 2022 were already double or more the 2020 levels. The year 2023 then exceeded 2022, solidifying a new high plateau of eviction cases. Housing researchers labeled the post-moratorium eviction spike an “epidemic”. The first half of 2024 continued at that high level or higher, as evidenced by record local totals (Travis County’s 25% jump, etc.). Interestingly, there were indications by late 2024 that filings in some courts were plateauing – for example, Dallas’s slight drop or Austin’s slowing rent growth (see below) – but any such leveling off has been uneven. The data from early 2025 (Houston’s 50%+ above baseline) suggest the trend is still upward in many jurisdictions. Eviction Lab’s tracking confirms that Texas cities dominate the top of national eviction charts in 2025: as of April 2025, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin all ranked among the top 10 U.S. cities for eviction filings. Notably, Houston has even surpassed New York City in total filings, a stark reversal of historical patterns. Overall, compared to pre-pandemic 2019, Texas’s eviction filings in 2025 are substantially higher – a different pattern from some states (like those with stronger tenant protections) where 2024–2025 evictions stayed below 2019 levels. Texas is experiencing a new peak.

Contributing Factors

Texas’s eviction surge can be attributed to a confluence of market and policy factors:

• Rapid Rent Increases and Housing Costs

Texas’s booming economy and population growth in the past few years have driven up housing demand – and rents – significantly. Rents in major Texas cities increased by double digits in 2021–2022. For example, in Austin the average rent spiked ~20–24% year-over-year in early 2022. Although rent growth cooled in 2023–2024 (Austin rents even began to dip slightly after their peak), the cumulative effect is that many renters are locked into much higher housing costs than before. Statewide, a record 2.1 million Texas renter households (over 50%) are now cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of income on rent and utilities. Low-income workers, in particular, have seen no relief in housing affordability. This backdrop means that even a minor financial shock (car repair, medical bill, reduced work hours) can tip a household into nonpayment of rent. Judges in Travis County note that many cases arise from tenants facing an emergency expense and falling behind on rent as a result. With thin financial margins, renters are less resilient, and landlords are quick to file evictions for any payment default (especially given Texas law allows filing just 3 days after a missed rent payment). The high rent levels thus directly contribute to high evictions.

• End of COVID-Era Rental Assistance

During 2021–22, Texas received approximately $1.8 billion in federal Emergency Rental Assistance, which helped over 265,000 families avoid eviction. Those funds, administered through programs like the Texas Rent Relief and Eviction Diversion Program, were largely spent by mid-2022.

The statewide Texas Rent Relief program closed in 2022, and most local emergency rental aid programs have also exhausted their funds. By the start of 2023, these safety nets were gone. Without rental assistance, there is no buffer for tenants who accrued arrears – landlords who might have been paid through relief in 2021 are now pursuing evictions in court. Texas’s Eviction Diversion Program, which paused certain cases to allow tenants to obtain aid, expired in July 2023. The lapse of these programs corresponds with the timing of the continued eviction spike. In short, the disappearance of federal aid removed a critical tool that had been keeping evictions somewhat in check. Now, many vulnerable renters have “used up” their one-shot assistance and have nowhere to turn when behind on rent.

• Weak Tenant Protections and Legal Framework

Texas is widely regarded as a landlord-friendly state in terms of its laws. It has no statewide eviction moratorium capability (outside emergencies), no rent control, and relatively fast court proceedings. In 2023, Texas policymakers even further curtailed local tenant protections. The state legislature passed a law (HB 2127 in 2023) that preempted cities from enacting their own renter protections, such as grace periods or notice requirements. This directly nullified ordinances in Austin and Dallas that had required giving tenants extra time (60 days in Austin, 21 days in Dallas) to catch up on rent before an eviction filing. Those city rules ended on September 1, 2023, when the new state law took effect.

With that, Texas eliminated the patchwork of local safeguards, enforcing a uniform (and minimal) standard: only a 3-day notice to vacate is required for nonpayment statewide. Landlord groups supported this uniformity, arguing local rules created confusion. Tenant advocates, however, warn that removing those protections has likely led to more filings – indeed, Dallas’s lower eviction count in 2022 was partly credited to its now-repealed grace period rule.

In 2025, the Legislature considered additional changes via Senate Bill 38, initially proposing an “expedited eviction” process that alarmed tenant groups. After pushback, the bill was revised to apply only to squatters (unauthorized occupants) and not general tenants. The final SB 38, which was approved in May 2025, bars state and local authorities from pausing evictions in future emergencies (preventing a new moratorium) and relaxes some notice delivery rules for landlords. Tenant advocates note that even in its moderated form, the bill “chips away” at renter protections and could make evictions easier in the long run.

Overall, Texas law strongly favors swift eviction proceedings. The lack of legal shields (such as the “just cause” eviction regulations or longer notice periods seen in some other states) leads to higher filing rates – landlords face little friction or delay in the process, so filing for eviction is often a first resort when rent is late. This partly explains why, as of 2025, Houston’s eviction filings are extraordinarily high: it is simply very easy and inexpensive for a landlord in Texas to file, and with tight rental markets they have confidence they can replace tenants quickly.

• Economic Growth and Population Shifts

Ironically, Texas’s strong economy during the pandemic recovery has had a double-edged effect. Job and wage growth attracted new residents (Texas’s population has grown briskly), fueling housing demand and straining the rental supply. In areas like Austin and Dallas, an influx of higher-income residents has driven gentrification and higher rents, squeezing existing lower-income renters. Additionally, inflation in Texas (especially for housing and utilities) has been above the national average in 2022–2023, further eroding real incomes of working-class tenants. On top of that, property taxes (passed through to renters) and insurance costs have risen in Texas, contributing to rent hikes. Thus, macroeconomic “booms” in Texas have unfortunately translated into more evictions for those left behind by the boom. The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies found Texas now has a dire shortage of affordable housing for low-income renters, meaning many families simply cannot find cheaper housing to avoid evictions. The growth has also meant more absolute renters – some officials argue that part of the eviction increase is a byproduct of having more renter households overallkut.org. Census data shows renter households in Travis County rose ~5% from 2022 to 2023, which likely contributes somewhat to the higher raw eviction counts. However, filings have risen faster than the renter population, indicating it’s not just more renters, but a higher rate of evictions per renter.

• Landlord Practices and Legal Representation

Another factor is the relative power imbalance in Texas eviction courts. The vast majority of tenants go to Justice Court without legal representation, whereas many landlords are represented by attorneys or specialized eviction filing firms. Legal aid organizations in Texas have scaled up efforts post-2020 (setting up eviction clinics at courthouses, etc.), and it’s now “more common” to see some tenants with lawyers, but still only a small fraction have counsel. Having no lawyer, tenants often lose by default or fail to raise valid defenses. This contributes to landlords’ high success rate and may encourage a high filing volume (since landlords know the odds of quick, favorable judgments are in their favor). On the positive side, local innovations in places like Houston’s Harris County have shown promise: an eviction diversion program there provides on-site resources and has reduced default judgments by 44% in participating courts. Such programs, however, are limited in scale. For the most part, Texas renters face eviction proceedings alone, and many do not contest the cases – a dynamic fueling a high conversion of filings into evictions. Landlords, on the other hand, have become more organized. Reports indicate corporate landlords and large property managers are responsible for a disproportionate share of evictions, filing regularly as a business strategy. In Texas’s tight rental market, replacing a non-paying tenant is often more profitable than working out a payment plan, and large landlords are quick to evict. This behavior is seen in other states as well, but Texas’s legal environment makes it especially straightforward.

Visualization – Eviction Filing Surge in Houston

To illustrate Texas’s trend, consider Houston (the state’s largest eviction hotspot). In the chart below, February 2025’s eviction filings in Houston (6,536 cases) far exceed the pre-2020 average for February, and even surpass New York City’s filings for the same period, highlighting the scale of Texas’s crisis. Historically, Houston averaged ~4,300 filings in February; in 2025 it was 50% higher. This surge in one of Texas’s economic centers encapsulates the broader statewide pattern of post-pandemic eviction rates breaking historical norms.

(Houston’s monthly eviction filing counts over time would typically be presented in a line chart here, showing the 2020 dip and steep rise through 2022–2025. Recent data points (2025) are well above the 2019 line, reflecting the trends described.)

Policy and Outlook

Texas’s government response to the eviction crisis has largely emphasized speed and return to normal processes rather than tenant relief. Unlike some states, Texas did not enact any permanent eviction protections after the federal moratorium ended. In fact, as noted, it has rolled back local measures. The one area of consensus has been on addressing squatters (unlawful occupants), which the Legislature tackled in 2025 (SB 38) in an effort to streamline removing non-tenant occupants. Lawmakers explicitly removed a clause that would have applied that expedited process to regular tenants after advocacy warnings. The final bill still prevents state leaders from halting evictions in future emergencies – a reaction to the COVID moratorium – which could have implications if another crisis occurs. Texas did allocate additional funds for affordable housing and homelessness in its budget, but no dedicated rental assistance or eviction prevention funding was in place for 2025. Nonprofit legal aid and rental assistance groups (e.g., Texas Housers, local charity programs) are thus bearing the load in trying to intervene case by case.

Given current trends, Texas is on track in 2025 to have one of its highest eviction totals in recent memory. By mid-year, there is no sign of a significant downturn. Some analysts hoped that as pandemic disruptions fade and with unemployment still low, evictions might naturally ease; however, the data suggest that high housing costs are offsetting those positives and keeping evictions at elevated levels. Without new interventions (such as a statewide diversion program, rental assistance, or stronger tenant rights), Texas’s eviction rates may remain at this “new normal” – or even climb further – through the rest of 2025. In summary, Texas in early 2025 exemplifies an eviction surge fueled by robust housing demand, diminished tenant protections, and landlords’ broad leverage in the legal system.

Sources:

• Texas Tribune reporting on Texas eviction trends and law changes
• KUT/NPR Austin report on Travis County evictions
• KPRC Houston news on 2025 eviction statistics
• Eviction Lab data via belonghome.com analysis