Forrest Hangen

This chart displays the various case outcomes for the 2017 dataset from largest to smallest: Warrant and Judgment, Warrant Only, Withdrawn, Dismissed, and Judgement only.
This chart displays the rates of the various case outcomes for the 2017 dataset. One square represents one case in 2017.

Eviction Warrants Are the Norm

The vast majority of cases culminated in an eviction warrant to be issued (over 70%). Counting all cases heard in front of a judge (excluding cases that were withdrawn) almost all these cases (88.8% of cases) culminated in an eviction warrant to be issued and over half of all theses cases (58.5%) received a judgement.

Dismissals Are Rare

Less than 10% of cases are dismissed by a judge (8.9% ± 2.1%).

Adjournments Are Also Rare

Only 6.7% (± 1.8%) of cases were adjourned to a later date, meaning that the vast majority of cases are decided by a judge on the same day those cases are called to court.

Eviction Warrant “Stayed To” Dates

In most cases where an eviction warrant is issued (75.2 ± 4.4%), the judge delays the enforcement of the eviction warrant for some number of days. In these cases, a stayed warrant won’t be enforced if the tenant pays back rent owed before the stayed-to date.

Immediate vs. Stayed Eviction Warrants

This chart shows that most eviction warrants are stayed to a later date, meaning the tenant is given more time before the actual eviction warrant was issued.
This chart displays the proportions of cases that either received an immediate warrant or a stayed warrant (meaning the tenant was given time before the actual eviction warrant was issued). One square represents one case in 2017.

Stayed Eviction Warrants Are The Norm

Only about a quarter (25.1% ± 4.4%) of warrants issued were immediate warrants (meaning the warrant was issued the same day the court decision was made).

Two Weeks or Less 

The median stated to date is 15 days, meaning that half of tenants were given about 2 weeks or less before an eviction warrant would be issued.

Distribution of Warrant Stayed to Dates

This histogram displays the frequencies of the eviction warrant stayed to dates and demonstrates that over half of tenants are given about two weeks or less to move out.
This histogram display the frequencies of the eviction warrant stayed to dates. A small number (22) of cases with stayed to dates well above 100 were omitted from the chart for ease of interpretation.

Judgment Amounts

In cases where a tenant owes money to the landlord (e.g., for unpaid rent, damages, etc.), a judgement may be issued with an eviction warrant. These amounts can vary widely, with the lowest amount in the data at $54, the highest at $6,300, and an average amount of around $1,556.

Distribution of Judgement Amounts


This histogram displays the frequencies of the judgement amounts in U.S. dollars.