Suffolk County, Massachusetts Eviction Risk: Elevated

Suffolk County carries a 6.9/10 Elevated eviction risk score, placing it third out of 14 counties in Massachusetts eviction laws, a position that puts it in the higher-risk third of the state. Only two Massachusetts eviction laws counties score higher, meaning 11 are measurably more landlord-friendly. For a county of 820,664 residents where 63% of households rent and the average rent runs $2,146 a month, that elevated score reflects real operating pressure, including a 30.9% average rent burden and a 16% poverty rate that together push default risk well above the state norm.

The intra-county spread, from a low of 5.4 to a high of 6.9, is narrow but meaningful. A landlord with units across the county's 5 cities is not operating in a uniform environment: the difference of 1.5 score points represents a meaningfully different mix of tenant financial stress, local court culture, and vacancy dynamics. Underwriting deals at the county average without city-level detail leaves real risk on the table.

The cities inside Suffolk County

Boston leads the county in risk at 7.1/10, a score that reflects its concentration of cost-burdened renters in a small city of 39,908 people. Just behind it sits Boston at 7.1/10, home to 666,442 residents and the dominant rental market in the county. Boston's sheer scale means that even a fractional uptick in eviction filings translates to hundreds of cases in Housing Court, and its activist tenant-advocacy infrastructure adds procedural complexity that smaller cities lack.

Revere scores 6.2/10 with a population of 60,012, putting it in the elevated-risk middle of the county. Watertown, at 5.9/10 and a population of 35,543, is modestly lower. Watertown eviction risk offers the county's most landlord-friendly environment at 5.9/10, nearly 1.5 points below Chelsea, underscoring that risk in Suffolk County is genuinely hyper-local. Two properties a few miles apart can carry substantially different expected eviction frequencies and timelines.

State-level laws that apply here

Every landlord operating in Suffolk County is subject to Massachusetts eviction laws state law under M.G.L. c. 186 (Estates for Years and at Will). The notice clock starts at 14 days for nonpayment of rent (whether a tenancy at will under M.G.L. c. 186 § 11 or a fixed-term lease under M.G.L. c. 186 § 11A) and drops to just 7 days for a material lease violation under M.G.L. c. 186 § 12. A no-cause termination of a tenancy at will requires a full 30-day notice under the same section. Understanding the Massachusetts eviction laws eviction process before serving any notice is essential, because an error in the notice type or timing restarts the clock entirely. The Massachusetts eviction costs are not trivial either: court filing fees run $195 to $295, sheriff or constable lockout fees add $75 to $200, and attorney fees commonly range from $750 to $3,500, with uncontested cases typically resolving in 30 to 60 days and contested matters stretching to 90 to 180 days.

Massachusetts eviction laws does not currently require just cause for most evictions, and the state does not preempt local rent control, meaning individual municipalities retain the authority to enact their own rules. Landlords should verify local ordinances in each city, particularly in Boston, where local tenant-protection policies can layer on top of baseline state law. Source of income is a protected class under Massachusetts eviction laws law, enforced by the Massachusetts eviction laws Commission Against Discrimination, which affects how landlords screen applicants who pay with housing vouchers.

With 63% of Suffolk County residents renting and an average poverty rate of 16%, the financial stress that drives late payments and eviction filings is distributed across the county, not isolated in one city. The city grid above breaks that exposure down to the municipal level so landlords can see exactly where their properties sit within the county's 5.9 to 7.1 risk range.