Census Tract · Ranked #41,480 of 84,120 nationally

Melrose Eviction Risk: Moderate

Tract 25017336202 · Middlesex County, MA · pop 3,268

In Melrose in Middlesex County, census tract 25017336202 scores 4.5/10 for eviction risk. That is riskier than about 23% of US census tracts.

About 20% of renters carry a rent burden of 30% of income or higher, a modest level, and 0% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average gross rent is $2,500 monthly, set against $140,625 in average yearly household income, roughly 21% of income at the averages. Renters make up 9% of occupied homes.

Risk score

4.7

Moderate

Confidence 100% · 1-10 scale

Household mix · 100 hh

Burdened renters 2% Stable renters 7% Owners 91%

Tract context

Occupied units1,298

Renter share9.2%

SVI overall0.06

Poverty rate2.3%

Median income$140,625

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.

Geographic context

Risk heat across Melrose and the region

Centroid at 42.4613, -71.0549 · click any tract to drill in

Why Melrose scores 4.7

9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly

Local political climate

Inherited from Melrose

8.3

Regional political climate

2024 county presidential margin

7.3

State political climate

Massachusetts legislature & governorship

6.2

Economic stress

2.3% poverty · this tract

1.0

Supply constraint

$2,500 rent vs county FMR

3.8

Rent control risk

Inherited from Melrose

6.0

Eviction process difficulty

State law sets the calendar

5.9

Tenant organizing strength

Inherited from Melrose

6.9

Housing court bias

Inherited from Melrose

4.3

How Melrose compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.

CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 6

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

3%Socioeconomic
10%Household composition
14%Racial/ethnic minority
32%Housing & transportation

Historical context · 1930s redlining

HOLC grade: A: Best

This tract sits within an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s. Grade A meant wealthy, predominantly white neighborhoods favored for lending. These designations suppressed minority homeownership for generations and remain a documented predictor of present-day eviction filings and rent burden.

43%Grade A
40%Grade B
16%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.

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

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

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.

5.8%Housing insecurity
3.6%Utility-shutoff threat
5.3%Food insecurity
5.9%SNAP enrollment
4.3%Transit barriers
2.4%No health insurance
13.0%Frequent mental distress
20.8%Any disability

Analysis

What drives eviction risk in Melrose

The heaviest input here is tenant organizing strength at 6.9/10. 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 Melrose eviction risk, while the economic and supply signals are measured at the tract level.

Set against its neighbors, this tract scores below 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 A ("Best"), above the redlined D tier. The grading still shaped decades of lending and development in the surrounding area.

In CDC survey modeling, about 5.8% of adults here said they could not pay rent or mortgage at some point in the past year, and 3.6% 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 25017336202

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25017336202?

Census tract 25017336202 in Melrose 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 25017336202?

Median gross rent is $2,500/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 20% of renter households are cost-burdened.

What is the poverty rate in tract 25017336202?

2.3% of residents in tract 25017336202 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 3,268.

How socially vulnerable is tract 25017336202?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 6th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 3th, household 10th, minority 14th, housing 32th.

What share of households in tract 25017336202 struggle to pay rent?

About 5.8% 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. 3.6% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.

How does tract 25017336202 compare to Melrose overall?

Tract 25017336202 scores 4.7/10, lower than the parent city of Melrose at 5.4/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Melrose eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.

Was tract 25017336202 historically redlined?

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

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