Neighborhood · Ranked #4,393 of 84,120 nationally

Central Square Eviction Risk: High , Cambridge

Tract 25017353200 · Middlesex County, MA · pop 5,219 · neighborhood within 0.5 mi

With a score of 8.9/10, tract 25017353200 in the Central Square area of Cambridge, MA reads high for landlord eviction risk. Population here is 5,219. It sits 2.6 points above the Middlesex County average of 6.3.

Risk score

8.9

High

Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale

Household mix · 100 hh

Burdened renters 33% Stable renters 40% Owners 27%

Tract context

Occupied units1,999

Renter share72.8%

SVI overall0.47

Poverty rate12.1%

Median income$134,933

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.

Geographic context

Risk heat across Cambridge and the region

Centroid at 42.3585, -71.1058 · click any tract to drill in

Why Central Square scores 8.9

9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly

Local political climate

Inherited from Cambridge

9.0

Regional political climate

2024 county presidential margin

7.3

State political climate

Massachusetts legislature & governorship

6.2

Economic stress

12.1% poverty · this tract

3.0

Supply constraint

$2,673 rent vs county FMR

4.4

Rent control risk

Inherited from Cambridge

8.5

Eviction process difficulty

State law sets the calendar

8.5

Tenant organizing strength

Inherited from Cambridge

8.5

Housing court bias

Inherited from Cambridge

8.0

How Central Square compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.

CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 47

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

40%Socioeconomic
7%Household composition
61%Racial/ethnic minority
85%Housing & transportation

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.

0%Grade A
0%Grade B
14%Grade C
63%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.

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)

69Total filings over 5 yrs
1.29%Avg annual filing rate
1.6%Peak (2014)
13Filings in 2016 (latest validated)

Filings by year 2012 to 2016

Filings climbed 18% over the past 5 months.

Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)

0Total filings 2020-21
0.0Avg monthly (observed)
1.2Pre-pandemic baseline
0.00×Ratio to baseline

Monthly filings 2020–2021 2020-01-01 to 2023-11-01

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 Central 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.

8.7%Housing insecurity
5.1%Utility-shutoff threat
9.2%Food insecurity
9.0%SNAP enrollment
6.9%Transit barriers
3.6%No health insurance
15.3%Frequent mental distress
19.4%Any disability

Analysis

What drives eviction risk in Central Square

The score leans hardest on local political climate at 9/10. 73% of occupied units are rented, so comparables are plentiful and vacancy risk is low, but a mispriced renewal loses the tenant to a building nearby. On the high side, rent-regulation exposure reads 8.5/10.

Severe burden reaches 20%. Those are renters paying half their income or more, and that is where non-payment filings originate. Running hot, eviction-process difficulty reads 8.5/10. Disability prevalence runs 19.4% against 31.5% nationally.

Court records carry 69 eviction filings across 5 observed years. Adults with no health insurance runs 3.6% against 11.3% nationally.

Filings peaked in 2014 at 1.6% of renter households. This ground was mapped D ("Hazardous") on the 1930s HOLC security maps for Cambridge. That grading determined who could get a mortgage, and its imprint on tenure and rent burden is still visible in the ACS data above. In a typical year about 1.3% of renter households face a filing.

That is riskier than roughly 95% of the 84,120 US census tracts in this model. On the CDC Social Vulnerability Index the tract reads 5.2/10, which tracks how hard a shock lands on the households already here.

These are ACS 5-year estimates; the score moves when the ACS, court-record, or statute inputs behind it move.

Frequently asked

About tract 25017353200

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25017353200?

Census tract 25017353200 in the Central Square neighborhood scores 8.9/10 (High 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 25017353200?

Median gross rent is $2,673/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 45% of renter households are cost-burdened.

What is the poverty rate in tract 25017353200?

12.1% of residents in tract 25017353200 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 5,219.

How socially vulnerable is tract 25017353200?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 47th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 40th, household 7th, minority 61th, housing 85th.

Is tract 25017353200 considered part of Central Square?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25017353200 fall within Central Square (neighborhood centroid within 0.5 miles, OSM data).

How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25017353200?

Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 69 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25017353200 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 1.29% of renter households, peaking at 1.6% in 2014. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.

Did eviction filings in tract 25017353200 drop during COVID?

Pandemic-era filings ran 0.00× the pre-COVID monthly baseline. Filings dropped sharply, likely a moratorium effect. Tracked by the Eviction Lab Eviction Tracking System (Boston eviction risk, MA), 2020-2021.

What share of households in tract 25017353200 struggle to pay rent?

About 8.7% 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. 5.1% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.

How does tract 25017353200 compare to Cambridge overall?

Tract 25017353200 scores 8.9/10, right in line with the parent city of Cambridge at 8.9/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Cambridge eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.

Q10

Was tract 25017353200 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. 63% 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 Cambridge

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

Eviction Lab tract-level court records (2000-2018) and Eviction Tracking System, Princeton University. Open Data Commons Attribution license. evictionlab.org