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Neighborhood · Ranked #26,446 of 84,120 nationally

University Park Eviction Risk: Moderate , Gary

Tract 18089012000 · Lake County, IN · pop 888 · neighborhood within 1.3 mi

Tract 18089012000, home to 888 residents in the University Park area of Gary, scores 5.7/10 for landlord eviction risk. That is riskier than about 65% of US census tracts.

Rent eats 30% or more of income for 37% of renter households, a high level, and 20% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average gross rent is $1,201 monthly, set against $44,750 in average yearly household income, roughly 32% of income at the averages. Renters make up 37% of occupied homes.

Risk score
4.9
Moderate
Confidence 85% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 14% Stable renters 23% Owners 63%
Tract context
Occupied units273
Renter share37.0%
SVI overall0.87
Poverty rate21.6%
Median income$44,750

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.
Within neighborhood
33 th percentile
Rank, 33rd percentileLowHigh
#3 of 4 tracts In University Park
Low
Within parent city
13 th percentile
Rank, 13th percentileLowHigh
#29 of 33 tracts In Gary
Very Low
Within county
68 th percentile
Rank, 68th percentileLowHigh
#43 of 131 tracts In Lake County
Elevated
Within state
83 th percentile
Rank, 83rd percentileLowHigh
#286 of 1,693 tracts In Indiana
High
Geographic context

Risk heat across Gary and the region

Centroid at 41.5706, -87.3460 · click any tract to drill in

Why University Park scores 4.9

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
21.6% poverty · this tract
5.4
Supply constraint
$1,201 rent vs county FMR
5.0
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 University Park compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.
University Park risk score vs. parent city / county / stateThis tract: 4.94.9This tracttract 012000Gary: 3.13.1Garyparent cityCounty: 3.93.9Countyavg tract in countyState: 3.63.6Stateavg tract in state
CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 87

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

Historical context · 1930s redlining

HOLC grade: D: Hazardous (Redlined)

This tract sits within an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s. Grade D meant Black, immigrant, and poor neighborhoods systematically denied mortgage credit. These designations suppressed minority homeownership for generations and remain a documented predictor of present-day eviction filings and rent burden.

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 University Park. 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.

Analysis

What drives eviction risk in University Park

What moves this score most is tenant organizing strength at 9.3/10. That part comes from the wider legal climate rather than the tract itself. Statewide and court-level factors such as eviction-process speed and rent-control exposure are inherited from Gary eviction risk, while the economic and supply signals are measured at the tract level.

Set against its neighbors, this tract scores above the Lake County average of 5.2 and above the Indiana statewide average of 4.7. Within its own county it reads on the riskier side for landlords.

This tract overlaps land the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation redlined in the 1930s, a dominant grade of D ("Hazardous") across 84% of the tract. Redlining cut off mortgage credit to Black, immigrant, and working-class blocks, and those areas still tend to carry higher rent burden and eviction filings today.

The tract is predominantly Black and ranks around the 87th percentile nationally on the CDC Social Vulnerability Index, a measure of how exposed residents are to housing and economic shocks. High vulnerability tends to track with higher eviction-filing rates when rents climb.

For a landlord, conditions here are middle-of-the-road. Standard screening and prompt, documented notices usually keep cases short.

Frequently asked

About tract 18089012000

Q1

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 18089012000?

Census tract 18089012000 in the University Park neighborhood scores 4.9/10 (Moderate tier). The Eviction Risk Score blends state law, county filing rates, parent-city politics, and tract-specific rent-to-income ratios + poverty signals.
Q2

What is the average rent in tract 18089012000?

Median gross rent is $1,201/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 37% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3

What is the poverty rate in tract 18089012000?

21.6% of residents in tract 18089012000 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 888.
Q4

How socially vulnerable is tract 18089012000?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 87th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 80th, household 86th, minority 95th, housing 71th.
Q5

Is tract 18089012000 considered part of University Park?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 18089012000 fall within University Park (neighborhood centroid within 1.3 miles, OSM data).
Q6

What share of households in tract 18089012000 struggle to pay rent?

About 27.6% 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. 24.0% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q7

How does tract 18089012000 compare to Gary overall?

Tract 18089012000 scores 4.9/10, higher than the parent city of Gary at 3.1/10. 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.
Q8

Was tract 18089012000 historically redlined?

Yes. This tract sits inside an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s, with a dominant grade of D. 84% 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.

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