Neighborhood · Ranked #31,898 of 84,120 nationally

Old Ship Street Historic District Eviction Risk: Moderate , Medford

Tract 25017339900 · Middlesex County, MA · pop 5,861 · neighborhood within 0.4 mi

Landlord eviction risk in census tract 25017339900 (the Old Ship Street Historic District area of Medford, Massachusetts) comes in at 5.1/10, the Moderate tier. It lands near the 42nd percentile nationally for landlord eviction risk.

Rent eats 30% or more of income for 39% of renter households, a high level, and 17% are severely burdened at 50% or more. The typical renter pays about $1,997 a month while the average household earns $107,720 a year, roughly 22% of income at the averages. About 48% of occupied units are renter-occupied.

Risk score

5.4

Moderate

Confidence 100% · 1-10 scale

Household mix · 100 hh

Burdened renters 19% Stable renters 29% Owners 52%

Tract context

Occupied units2,142

Renter share48.2%

SVI overall0.16

Poverty rate8.0%

Median income$107,720

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.

Geographic context

Risk heat across Medford and the region

Centroid at 42.4187, -71.0928 · click any tract to drill in

Why Old Ship Street Historic District scores 5.4

9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly

Local political climate

Inherited from Medford

8.3

Regional political climate

2024 county presidential margin

7.3

State political climate

Massachusetts legislature & governorship

6.2

Economic stress

8.0% poverty · this tract

2.0

Supply constraint

$1,997 rent vs county FMR

2.0

Rent control risk

Inherited from Medford

4.8

Eviction process difficulty

State law sets the calendar

6.1

Tenant organizing strength

Inherited from Medford

8.9

Housing court bias

Inherited from Medford

4.6

How Old Ship Street Historic District compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.

CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 16

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

26%Socioeconomic
7%Household composition
42%Racial/ethnic minority
27%Housing & transportation

Historical context · 1930s redlining

HOLC grade: C: Definitely Declining

This tract sits within an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s. Grade C meant mixed-race / working-class neighborhoods rated as risky. 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
98%Grade C
0%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)

61Total filings over 5 yrs
1.25%Avg annual filing rate
1.7%Peak (2012)
14Filings in 2016 (latest validated)

Filings by year 2012 to 2016

Filings dropped 18% over the past 5 months.

Pandemic-era tracking (2020-2021)

0Total filings 2020-21
0.0Avg monthly (observed)
0.6Pre-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 Old Ship Street Historic District. 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.

11.0%Housing insecurity
6.6%Utility-shutoff threat
11.4%Food insecurity
12.9%SNAP enrollment
7.7%Transit barriers
4.4%No health insurance
16.7%Frequent mental distress
24.9%Any disability

Analysis

What drives eviction risk in Old Ship Street Historic District

The heaviest input here is tenant organizing strength at 8.9/10. 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 Medford 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 safer side for landlords.

HOLC surveyors mapped this tract in the 1930s with a dominant grade of C ("Declining"), above the redlined D tier. The grading still shaped decades of lending and development in the surrounding area.

In CDC survey modeling, about 11.0% of adults here said they could not pay rent or mortgage at some point in the past year, and 6.6% 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 25017339900

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25017339900?

Census tract 25017339900 in the Old Ship Street Historic District neighborhood scores 5.4/10 (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 25017339900?

Median gross rent is $1,997/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 39% of renter households are cost-burdened.

What is the poverty rate in tract 25017339900?

8.0% of residents in tract 25017339900 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 5,861.

How socially vulnerable is tract 25017339900?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 16th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 26th, household 7th, minority 42th, housing 27th.

Is tract 25017339900 considered part of Old Ship Street Historic District?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25017339900 fall within Old Ship Street Historic District (neighborhood centroid within 0.4 miles, OSM data).

How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25017339900?

Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 61 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25017339900 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 1.25% of renter households, peaking at 1.7% in 2012. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.

Did eviction filings in tract 25017339900 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 25017339900 struggle to pay rent?

About 11.0% 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. 6.6% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.

How does tract 25017339900 compare to Medford overall?

Tract 25017339900 scores 5.4/10, right in line with the parent city of Medford at 5.4/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Medford eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.

Q10

Was tract 25017339900 historically redlined?

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

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