Eviction and small claims filing fees, appearance fees, jury demands, and what the sheriff or constable charges to serve the papers — taken from each county's own fee schedule, with the date we checked it printed on the page.
Pick a state and county to see the filing fee, the service cost, and the source document.
Popular: Cook · Harris · Fulton · Miami-Dade · Franklin · Dallas
Ask a search engine what it costs to file an eviction and you get a state-level range. That range is not what you pay. What you pay is set by your county board, and it is published — if at all — in a PDF on a clerk's website. Here is what we found when we actually read them.
Across 703 Illinois counties we have verified. Same case type, same state, 66 different prices.
Per defendant, to serve the papers. Set by the county sheriff, constable or marshal — not by the court — and almost nobody aggregates it. This is the number that surprises people.
So far. Some counties publish an image-only scan; at least one publishes a schedule from 2010. We flag those rather than repeat them.
Illinois first, because it has a clean statutory backbone and real county-to-county variation. More states as they are verified — we publish a county when we have read its source document, not before.
Alabama District Courts. Small claims up to $6,000. Fees set county by county under Ala. Code § 12-19-71; § 6-6-330.
Arizona Justice Courts. Small claims up to $5,000. Fees set county by county under A.R.S. § 22-281.
California Superior Courts. Small claims up to $12,500. Fees set county by county under Cal. Gov't Code § 70613; Code Civ. Proc. § 1161.2(d).
Colorado County Courts. Small claims up to $7,500. Fees set county by county under C.R.S. § 13-32-101.
Florida County Courts. Small claims up to $8,000. Fees set county by county under Fla. Stat. § 34.041.
Georgia Magistrate Courts. Small claims up to $15,000. Fees set county by county under O.C.G.A. § 15-10-80(a); § 15-21A-6(a).
Illinois Circuit Courts. Small claims up to $10,000. Fees set county by county under 705 ILCS 105/27.1b.
Indiana Circuit and Superior Courts, Small Claims Division. Small claims up to $10,000. Fees set county by county under IC 33-37-4-4; IC 33-37-4-6; IC 33-34-8-1.
Louisiana City Courts, Parish Courts, Justice of the Peace Courts, and District Courts. Small claims up to $5,000. Fees set county by county under La. C.C.P. arts. 4701–4735 (eviction); arts. 4831–4844, 4911–4913 (court jurisdiction); La. R.S. 13:841, 13:2590 (costs).
District Court of Maryland. Small claims up to $5,000. Fees set county by county under Md. Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 7-301.
Massachusetts Trial Court — District Court, Boston Municipal Court and Housing Court Departments. Small claims up to $7,000. Fees set county by county under G.L. c. 262, § 2 (District/BMC entry fee); G.L. c. 185C, § 19 (Housing Court entry fee); G.L. c. 262, § 4C (surcharge); G.L. c. 218, § 22 (small claims fees).
Michigan District Courts. Small claims up to $7,000. Fees set county by county under MCL 600.5756; MCL 600.8371; MCL 600.1986.
Minnesota District Courts. Small claims up to $20,000. Fees set county by county under Minn. Stat. § 357.021, subd. 2(1); § 134A.09; § 134A.10.
Missouri Circuit Courts — Associate Circuit Division. Small claims up to $5,000. Fees set county by county under RSMo 483.530; 488.010–488.020; 488.027.
New Jersey Superior Court, Law Division — Special Civil Part. Small claims up to $5,000. Fees set county by county under N.J.S.A. 22A:2-37.1; N.J.S.A. 22A:2-37.2.
No single court hears evictions statewide. Inside New York City, it is the Housing Part of the New York City Civil Court, one per borough. Everywhere else it is whichever City Court, Town Court, Village Court, or (in Nassau and part of Suffolk) District Court has the rental property inside its lines, and the state has close to 1,200 of those Town and Village Justice Courts alone.. Small claims up to $5,000. Fees set county by county under N.Y. City Civ. Ct. Act § 1911; N.Y. Uniform City Court Act § 1911; N.Y. Uniform Dist. Court Act § 1911; N.Y. Uniform Justice Court Act § 1911.
North Carolina Small Claims Court (Magistrate Division of District Court). Small claims up to $10,000. Fees set county by county under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7A-305(a); § 7A-311.
Ohio Municipal and County Courts. Small claims up to $6,000. Fees set county by county under R.C. 1901.26; R.C. 1907.24.
Magisterial District Judges (66 counties) and the Philadelphia Municipal Court (Philadelphia County only). Small claims up to $12,000. Fees set county by county under 42 Pa.C.S. § 1725.1.
South Carolina Magistrate Courts. Small claims up to $7,500. Fees set county by county under S.C. Code Ann. § 8-21-1010(6), (9), (14); § 22-3-340; § 27-37-10 et seq..
Tennessee General Sessions Courts. Small claims up to $25,000. Fees set county by county under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-18-101 et seq.; § 8-21-401; § 67-4-601; § 67-4-602.
Texas Justice Courts. Small claims up to $20,000. Fees set county by county under Tex. Loc. Gov't Code §§133.151(a-1), 135.103.
Virginia General District Courts. Small claims up to $5,000. Fees set county by county under Va. Code § 16.1-69.48:2.
Washington Superior Courts. Small claims up to $10,000. Fees set county by county under RCW 36.18.020; RCW 36.18.012; RCW 36.18.016.
Wisconsin Circuit Courts. Small claims up to $10,000. Fees set county by county under Wis. Stat. 814.62(3)(a); 799.01.
Built on the same verified county data. Both of them show their work — you can see which numbers came from a source and which are your own inputs.
True cost to evict
Filing fee, service, and enforcement for your county, added up honestly — with the gaps marked as gaps rather than zeroed out.
Is it worth filing?
Your claim amount against the real fees in your county, so you can see what is left if you win — and what you are out if you lose.