Oklahomans in this county are evicted more than any other in the state: A look at the numbers

Oklahoma's eviction process is "one of the fastest" in the country, reports the Oklahoma Policy Institute .

When a notice to quit is submitted, most tenants have five days to pay all past rent or move out. After this, a hearing is scheduled within 10 days after the five-day notice period ends, and if an eviction is granted, the tenant may have as little as 48 hours to move.

In Oklahoma, 48,278 evictions were filed in 2023. Of those, 17,868 were filed in Oklahoma County, with 8,602 resulting in evictions. These numbers are projected to rise further in Oklahoma City after already increasing for some time.

More: What should I do if I’m getting evicted? Talk to the landlord? Get emergency help? Here are some tips

10 counties with the most eviction fillings

Between March 2020 and March 2024, Oklahoma County recorded 62,785 eviction filings , the highest in the state. Tulsa County followed with 45,454 filings.

These are the top Oklahoma counties for eviction cases between March 2020 and March 2024, according to the Legal Services Corporation's Civil Court Data Initiative:

• Oklahoma County: 62,785
• Tulsa County: 45,454
• Cleveland County: 13,564
• Comanche County: 6,965
• Canadian County: 4,176
• Payne County: 2,220
• Bryan County: 1,503
• Creek County: 1,422
• Wagoner County: 1,176
• Muskogee County: 2,074

Despite having higher populations, Oklahoma and Tulsa Counties both lead in eviction filings even when adjusted for population. From April 2023 to May 2024, Oklahoma County had 14 evictions filed for every 100 occupied rentals. In Tulsa County, the rate was nearly 13 per 100 renter households in the same period.

How fast can a tenant be evicted in Oklahoma?

Shelterwell found that 73% of these cases resulting in eviction were judged this way because the tenant was not present in court. In Oklahoma County, eviction cases are heard in small claims court under the forcible entry and detainer docket. They start calling names for evictions at 10 a.m. on weekdays , meaning that many defendants would have to take a day off to come to court. Landlords, meanwhile, can send a representative.

While only about 10% of eviction defendants hire an attorney, legal help is available for those being evicted.

For "around a third of renters across the United States," there were nearly 1,115,000 eviction cases filed in 2023, according to Juan Pablo Garnham from the Eviction Lab. This is over 10% more than in 2022 and an even steeper rise from 2021, their data found. Nationwide, these numbers are even higher.

What factors influence eviction?

Eviction is not an isolated incident, reports the Institute for Research on Poverty. There are structural and systemic factors at play that can result in eviction, or worsen after eviction occurs.

Risk factors like unemployment, health challenges that lead to a hospital visit, or mounting debt can lead to unpaid or overdue rent.

The national poverty rate is 11.5% as of 2022. The same year, Oklahoma had the nation's 8th highest poverty rate at 15.7%.

Also, IRP reports, these factors can be particularly challenging for historically marginalized groups like women with children and Black families.

Women are twice as likely to be evicted as men. More than 60 percent of evictions in Oklahoma County in 2023 were households with children. Black renters made up 57% of those facing eviction cases in Oklahoma County in 2023.

This story has been updated to correctly reflect the dataset used by the Eviction Lab.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahomans in this county are evicted more than any other in the state: A look at the numbers