Neighborhood · Ranked #41,480 of 84,120 nationally

Prospect Hill Eviction Risk: Moderate , Somerville

Tract 25017351300 · Middlesex County, MA · pop 4,606 · neighborhood within 0.1 mi

Eviction risk in Prospect Hill in Somerville centers on tract 25017351300, which scores 5.4/10 (Moderate tier) and is home to 4,606 residents. That is riskier than about 53% of US census tracts.

About 30% of renters carry a rent burden of 30% of income or higher, a high level, and 15% are severely burdened at 50% or more. The typical renter pays about $2,195 a month while the average household earns $123,125 a year, roughly 21% of income at the averages. About 76% of occupied units are renter-occupied, a renter-majority tract.

Risk score

4.7

Moderate

Confidence 100% · 1-10 scale

Household mix · 100 hh

Burdened renters 23% Stable renters 53% Owners 24%

Tract context

Occupied units2,100

Renter share76.5%

SVI overall0.40

Poverty rate7.3%

Median income$123,125

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.

Geographic context

Risk heat across Somerville and the region

Centroid at 42.3835, -71.0951 · click any tract to drill in

Why Prospect Hill scores 4.7

9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly

Local political climate

Inherited from Somerville

8.5

Regional political climate

2024 county presidential margin

7.3

State political climate

Massachusetts legislature & governorship

6.2

Economic stress

7.3% poverty · this tract

1.8

Supply constraint

$2,195 rent vs county FMR

2.7

Rent control risk

Inherited from Somerville

7.5

Eviction process difficulty

State law sets the calendar

8.0

Tenant organizing strength

Inherited from Somerville

8.0

Housing court bias

Inherited from Somerville

8.0

How Prospect Hill compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.

CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 40

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

32%Socioeconomic
10%Household composition
37%Racial/ethnic minority
83%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
1%Grade C
92%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)

42Total filings over 5 yrs
0.52%Avg annual filing rate
0.7%Peak (2012)
8Filings in 2016 (latest validated)

Filings by year 2012 to 2016

Filings dropped 27% over the past 5 months.

Pandemic-era tracking (2020-2021)

0Total filings 2020-21
0.0Avg monthly (observed)
0.7Pre-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.

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.

10.5%Housing insecurity
6.3%Utility-shutoff threat
10.7%Food insecurity
12.1%SNAP enrollment
7.6%Transit barriers
4.7%No health insurance
16.6%Frequent mental distress
23.7%Any disability

Analysis

What drives eviction risk in Prospect Hill

The score leans hardest on 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 Somerville 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.

The tract is predominantly White and ranks around the 40th percentile nationally on the CDC Social Vulnerability Index, a measure of how exposed residents are to housing and economic shocks. That is a middle-of-the-pack reading for social vulnerability.

In CDC survey modeling, about 10.5% of adults here said they could not pay rent or mortgage at some point in the past year, and 6.3% faced a utility shutoff threat, a common early warning before a filing.

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

Frequently asked

About tract 25017351300

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25017351300?

Census tract 25017351300 in the Prospect Hill neighborhood scores 4.7/10 (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 25017351300?

Median gross rent is $2,195/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 30% of renter households are cost-burdened.

What is the poverty rate in tract 25017351300?

7.3% of residents in tract 25017351300 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 4,606.

How socially vulnerable is tract 25017351300?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 40th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 32th, household 10th, minority 37th, housing 83th.

Is tract 25017351300 considered part of Prospect Hill?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25017351300 fall within Prospect Hill (neighborhood centroid within 0.1 miles, OSM data).

How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25017351300?

Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 42 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25017351300 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 0.52% of renter households, peaking at 0.7% in 2012. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.

Did eviction filings in tract 25017351300 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 25017351300 struggle to pay rent?

About 10.5% 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. 6.3% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.

How does tract 25017351300 compare to Somerville overall?

Tract 25017351300 scores 4.7/10, right in line with the parent city of Somerville at 4.6/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Somerville eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.

Q10

Was tract 25017351300 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. 92% 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 Somerville

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