Neighborhood · Ranked #45,599 of 84,120 nationally

Inman Square Eviction Risk: Moderate , Cambridge

Tract 25017351203 · Middlesex County, MA · pop 4,222 · neighborhood within 0.2 mi

How risky is the Inman Square area of Cambridge for landlords? Census tract 25017351203 scores 5.5/10, the Moderate tier. On the national scale it ranks #36,089 of 84,120 for landlord eviction difficulty.

Rent eats 30% or more of income for 30% of renter households, a high level, and 18% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average gross rent is $3,025 monthly, set against $172,750 in average yearly household income, roughly 21% of income at the averages. Renters make up 73% of occupied homes, a renter-majority tract.

Risk score

4.4

Moderate

Confidence 100% · 1-10 scale

Household mix · 100 hh

Burdened renters 22% Stable renters 51% Owners 27%

Tract context

Occupied units2,198

Renter share72.7%

SVI overall0.11

Poverty rate7.8%

Median income$172,750

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.

Geographic context

Risk heat across Cambridge and the region

Centroid at 42.3770, -71.1007 · click any tract to drill in

Why Inman Square scores 4.4

9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly

Local political climate

Inherited from Cambridge

8.5

Regional political climate

2024 county presidential margin

7.3

State political climate

Massachusetts legislature & governorship

6.2

Economic stress

7.8% poverty · this tract

1.9

Supply constraint

$3,025 rent vs county FMR

5.7

Rent control risk

Inherited from Cambridge

7.5

Eviction process difficulty

State law sets the calendar

8.0

Tenant organizing strength

Inherited from Cambridge

8.0

Housing court bias

Inherited from Cambridge

8.0

How Inman Square compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.

CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 11

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

12%Socioeconomic
2%Household composition
40%Racial/ethnic minority
56%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
0%Grade C
96%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 · Princeton Eviction Lab

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.

Historic baseline (2000-2018)

24Total filings over 5 yrs
0.36%Avg annual filing rate
1.0%Peak (2016)
13Filings in 2016 (latest validated)

Filings by year 2012 to 2016

Filings climbed 550% over the past 5 months.

Pandemic-era tracking (2020-2021)

0Total filings 2020-21
0.0Avg monthly (observed)
0.5Pre-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 Inman 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.

7.7%Housing insecurity
4.6%Utility-shutoff threat
7.0%Food insecurity
7.4%SNAP enrollment
5.8%Transit barriers
3.1%No health insurance
16.0%Frequent mental distress
17.7%Any disability

Analysis

What drives eviction risk in Inman Square

The heaviest input here is eviction process difficulty at $1/10. 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 Cambridge eviction risk, while the economic and supply signals are measured at the tract level.

Set against its neighbors, this tract scores about the same as the Middlesex County average of 5.2 and below the Massachusetts statewide average of 5.9. Within its own county it reads on the riskier side for landlords.

During 2020 and 2021, eviction filings here ran at about 0.00x the pre-COVID monthly baseline, well below the pre-pandemic norm, the signature of an eviction moratorium at work.

The tract is predominantly White and ranks around the 11th percentile nationally on the CDC Social Vulnerability Index, a measure of how exposed residents are to housing and economic shocks. That is a relatively low-vulnerability reading.

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

Frequently asked

About tract 25017351203

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25017351203?

Census tract 25017351203 in the Inman Square neighborhood scores 4.4/10 (Moderate tier). The Eviction Risk Score blends state law, county filing rates, parent-city politics, and tract-specific rent-to-income ratios + poverty signals.

What is the average rent in tract 25017351203?

Median gross rent is $3,025/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 30% of renter households are cost-burdened.

What is the poverty rate in tract 25017351203?

7.8% of residents in tract 25017351203 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 4,222.

How socially vulnerable is tract 25017351203?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 11th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 12th, household 2th, minority 40th, housing 56th.

Is tract 25017351203 considered part of Inman Square?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25017351203 fall within Inman Square (neighborhood centroid within 0.2 miles, OSM data).

How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25017351203?

Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 24 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25017351203 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 0.36% of renter households, peaking at 1.0% in 2016. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.

Did eviction filings in tract 25017351203 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 25017351203 struggle to pay rent?

About 7.7% 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. 4.6% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.

How does tract 25017351203 compare to Cambridge overall?

Tract 25017351203 scores 4.4/10, lower than the parent city of Cambridge at 5.8/10. 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 25017351203 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. 96% 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.