Smith Highlands Eviction Risk: Moderate , Bessemer

roughly two in three of renter households cross the 30%-of-income line, markedly above the Jefferson County average of 46.3%. Annualized rent equals 40% of average household income of $28,684, past the 30% affordability line, which thins the margin any screening standard has to work with. The clearest offset is eviction-process difficulty at 1.3/10.

Sitting well above the midpoint, tenant-organizing strength reads 8.7/10. Food insecurity runs 33.3% against 17.8% nationally.

The poverty rate is 28%. Judgments in high-poverty tracts are collectible far less often than filing counts suggest. Against the Jefferson County average of 4.3, this tract reads riskier for landlords by 1.5 points.

Running cool, state political climate reads 1.8/10. The filing record is not thin: 83 evictions over 11 years of observation. Inability to pay a utility bill runs 17.5% against 9.2% nationally. Utility arrears usually lead rent arrears by a month or two.

The worst year on record was 2016, when 21.3% of renter households were served. In a typical year about 5.1% of renter households face a filing.

Tract-level figures come from the ACS 5-year release and are rebuilt whenever that, the court-record feed, or the statutory ledger behind the score changes.