Neighborhood · Ranked #18,163 of 84,120 nationally

Downtown Gary Eviction Risk: Elevated

Tract 18089010600 · Lake County, IN · pop 970 · neighborhood within 0.7 mi

18089010600 is a census tract in the Downtown Gary area of Gary, IN. It scores 6/10 for landlords. It is home to 970 residents. SNAP participation runs 49.3% against 15.2% nationally.

Risk score

Elevated

Confidence 85% · 1–10 scale

Household mix · 100 hh

Burdened renters 31% Stable renters 30% Owners 39%

Tract context

Occupied units450

Renter share60.4%

SVI overall0.84

Poverty rate38.5%

Median income$27,685

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.

Geographic context

Risk heat across Gary and the region

Centroid at 41.5991, -87.3224 · click any tract to drill in

Why Downtown Gary scores 6

9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly

Local political climate

Inherited from Gary

6.2

Regional political climate

2024 county presidential margin

5.8

State political climate

Indiana legislature & governorship

2.0

Economic stress

38.5% poverty · this tract

9.6

Supply constraint

$1,021 rent vs county FMR

3.5

Rent control risk

Inherited from Gary

8.2

Eviction process difficulty

State law sets the calendar

2.3

Tenant organizing strength

Inherited from Gary

9.3

Housing court bias

Inherited from Gary

8.7

How Downtown Gary compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.

CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 84

CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.

93%Socioeconomic
84%Household composition
95%Racial/ethnic minority
34%Housing & transportation

Historical context · 1930s redlining

HOLC grade: C: Definitely Declining

This tract sits within an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s. Grade C meant mixed-race / working-class neighborhoods rated as risky. These designations suppressed minority homeownership for generations and remain a documented predictor of present-day eviction filings and rent burden.

0%Grade A
0%Grade B
62%Grade C
0%Grade D · redlined

Source: Mapping Inequality (americanpanorama.org), 1935-1940 HOLC residential security maps, aggregated to 2020 census tracts by area share. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Comparable tracts

Census tracts with similar eviction risk

Within Downtown Gary. Closest by Eviction Risk Score.

CDC PLACES 2023 · health & economic stress

Eviction-adjacent indicators

Crude prevalence of conditions linked to housing loss. Source: CDC PLACES (cwsq-ngmh), 2023 model-based small-area estimates.

33.8%Housing insecurity
33.4%Utility-shutoff threat
51.9%Food insecurity
49.3%SNAP enrollment
24.9%Transit barriers
14.2%No health insurance
21.8%Frequent mental distress
47.7%Any disability

Analysis

What drives eviction risk in Downtown Gary

What pushes it up most is economic stress at 9.6/10. Set annual rent against average income of $27,685 and the ratio lands at 44%, above the conventional 30% ceiling.

Sitting well above the midpoint, tenant-organizing strength reads 9.3/10. The poverty rate is 38%. Judgments in high-poverty tracts are collectible far less often than filing counts suggest. Disability prevalence runs 47.7% against 31.5% nationally.

Running hot, housing-court posture reads 8.7/10. It sits 1.6 points above the Lake County average of 4.4. The severe-burden share is 17%, and it is the single best predictor in this model of a filing that actually reaches judgment.

51% of renter households cross the 30%-of-income line, above the Lake County average of 43.0%. In the 1930s the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation graded this ground C ("Definitely Declining"). Redlining cut off mortgage credit to whole blocks for decades, and the areas graded D still carry measurably lower ownership and higher rent burden today.

That is riskier than roughly 78% of the 84,120 US census tracts in this model. On the CDC Social Vulnerability Index the tract reads 8.5/10, which tracks how hard a shock lands on the households already here.

Statewide the IN average is 3.9, so this tract runs 2.1 points hotter.

All figures here are ACS 5-year estimates for this tract, refreshed as the underlying releases land.

Frequently asked

About tract 18089010600

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 18089010600?

Census tract 18089010600 in the Downtown Gary neighborhood scores 6/10 (Elevated tier). The Eviction Risk Score blends state law, county filing rates, parent-city politics, and tract-specific rent-to-income ratios + poverty signals.

What is the average rent in tract 18089010600?

Median gross rent is $1,021/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 51% of renter households are cost-burdened.

What is the poverty rate in tract 18089010600?

38.5% of residents in tract 18089010600 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 970.

How socially vulnerable is tract 18089010600?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 84th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 93th, household 84th, minority 95th, housing 34th.

Is tract 18089010600 considered part of Downtown Gary?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 18089010600 fall within Downtown Gary (neighborhood centroid within 0.7 miles, OSM data).

What share of households in tract 18089010600 struggle to pay rent?

About 33.8% of adults in this tract reported housing insecurity (could not pay rent or mortgage in the past 12 months), per the CDC PLACES 2023 model-based small-area estimate. 33.4% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.

How does tract 18089010600 compare to Gary overall?

Tract 18089010600 scores 6/10, higher than the parent city of Gary at 4.6/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Gary eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.

Was tract 18089010600 historically redlined?

Yes. This tract sits inside an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s, with a dominant grade of C. 0% of the tract's area was rated D ("Hazardous"), the redlined tier. HOLC redlining systematically denied mortgage credit to Black, immigrant, and working-class neighborhoods and remains a documented predictor of present-day eviction filings, rent burden, and homeownership gaps. Source: Mapping Inequality (americanpanorama.org), Robert K. Nelson et al.

Sibling tracts

Highest-risk tracts in Gary

Top eight tracts in Gary ranked by composite eviction-risk score.