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Neighborhood · Ranked #34,278 of 84,120 nationally

Cushing Square Eviction Risk: Moderate , Belmont

Tract 25017370201 · Middlesex County, MA · pop 4,278 · neighborhood within 0.5 mi

Tract 25017370201 sits in the Cushing Square area of Middlesex County, MA, carrying an eviction-risk score of 4.9/10. Population here is 4,278. Pulling hardest the other way is economic stress at 1/10.

Risk score
4.9
Moderate
Confidence 80% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 17% Stable renters 21% Owners 62%
Tract context
Occupied units1,808
Renter share37.6%
SVI overall0.23
Poverty rate1.8%
Median income$141,176

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.
Within neighborhood
0 th percentile
Rank, 0th percentileLowHigh
#6 of 6 tracts In Cushing Square
Very Low
Within parent city
0 th percentile
Rank, 0th percentileLowHigh
#10 of 10 tracts In Belmont
Very Low
Within county
10 th percentile
Rank, 10th percentileLowHigh
#320 of 357 tracts In Middlesex County
Very Low
Within state
30 th percentile
Rank, 30th percentileLowHigh
#1,134 of 1,613 tracts In Massachusetts
Low
Geographic context

Risk heat across Belmont and the region

Centroid at 42.3736, -71.1701 · click any tract to drill in

Why Cushing Square scores 4.9

9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly
Local political climate
Inherited from Belmont
6.2
Regional political climate
2024 county presidential margin
7.3
State political climate
Massachusetts legislature & governorship
6.2
Economic stress
1.8% poverty · this tract
1.0
Supply constraint
$2,664 rent vs county FMR
4.4
Rent control risk
Inherited from Belmont
6.2
Eviction process difficulty
State law sets the calendar
5.0
Tenant organizing strength
Inherited from Belmont
4.0
Housing court bias
Inherited from Belmont
5.0

How Cushing Square compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.
Cushing Square risk score vs. parent city / county / state4.9This tracttract 3702016.1Belmontparent city6.3Countyavg tract in county6.2Stateavg tract in state
CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 23

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

Historical context · 1930s redlining

HOLC grade: B: Still Desirable

This tract sits within an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s. Grade B meant middle-class areas with mortgage access. 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.

Eviction filings

Court-record eviction history

Court-validated eviction filings collected from county clerks and consolidated by the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. Filing rate is filings per 100 renter households.1

Historic baseline (2000–2018)

  • 23Total filings over 4 yrs
  • 0.85%Avg annual filing rate
  • 1.0%Peak (2013)
  • 7Filings in 2016 (latest validated)
Filings by year 2012 to 2016
Year-by-year eviction filings in tract 25017370201

Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)

  • 0Total filings 2020-21
  • 0.0Avg monthly (observed)
  • 0.0Pre-pandemic baseline
  • 0.00×Ratio to baseline
Monthly filings 2020–2021 2020-01-01 to 2023-11-01
Monthly eviction filings vs pre-pandemic baseline

Pandemic filings ran far below baseline (moratorium effect). Eviction Lab tracked Boston, MA as part of its 34-metro Eviction Tracking System.

Comparable tracts

Census tracts with similar eviction risk

Within Cushing Square. 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 Cushing Square

It sits 1.4 points below the Middlesex County average of 6.3. On the softer side, court filing pressure reads 2.5/10.

Running hot, regional political climate reads 7.3/10. Severe burden reaches 9%. Those are renters paying half their income or more, and that is where non-payment filings originate.

Princeton's Eviction Lab logged 23 filings here across 4 tracked years. Housing insecurity runs 6.7% against 14.2% nationally. Inability to pay a utility bill runs 4.1% against 9.2% nationally. Utility arrears usually lead rent arrears by a month or two.

Filings peaked in 2013 at 1.0% of renter households. In the 1930s the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation graded this ground B ("Still Desirable"). 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. In a typical year about 0.8% of renter households face a filing.

That is riskier than roughly 59% of the 84,120 US census tracts in this model. CDC social-vulnerability scoring puts the tract at 3.1/10.

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

Frequently asked

About tract 25017370201

Q1

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25017370201?

Census tract 25017370201 in the Cushing Square 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 25017370201?

Median gross rent is $2,664/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 45% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3

What is the poverty rate in tract 25017370201?

1.8% of residents in tract 25017370201 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 4,278.
Q4

How socially vulnerable is tract 25017370201?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 23th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 19th, household 23th, minority 31th, housing 45th.
Q5

Is tract 25017370201 considered part of Cushing Square?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25017370201 fall within Cushing Square (neighborhood centroid within 0.5 miles, OSM data).
Q6

How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25017370201?

Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 23 eviction filings across 4 validated years in tract 25017370201 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 0.85% of renter households, peaking at 1.0% in 2013. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7

What share of households in tract 25017370201 struggle to pay rent?

About 6.7% 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. 4.1% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q8

How does tract 25017370201 compare to Belmont overall?

Tract 25017370201 scores 4.9/10, lower than the parent city of Belmont at 6.1/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Belmont; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.
Q9

Was tract 25017370201 historically redlined?

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

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

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