Within neighborhood
23
th percentile
Low
Neighborhood · Ranked #41,218 of 84,120 nationally
Dorchester Heights Eviction Risk: Moderate , Boston
Tract 25025060601 · Suffolk County, MA · pop 1,830 · neighborhood within 0.5 mi
The Moderate-tier score of 5.7/10 for census tract 25025060601 reflects conditions in the Dorchester Heights area of Boston, Massachusetts. It lands near the 65th percentile nationally for landlord eviction risk.
14% of renter households here spend at least 30% of income on rent, a modest level, and 4% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average rent runs $3,141 a month against an average household income of $182,965 a year, roughly 21% of income at the averages. Renters make up 52% of occupied homes, a renter-majority tract.
Risk score
4.5
Moderate
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 7%
Stable renters 45%
Owners 48%
Tract context
Occupied units1,026
Renter share52.0%
SVI overall0.15
Poverty rate3.8%
Median income$182,965
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.Within parent city
10
th percentile
Very Low
Within county
12
th percentile
Very Low
Within state
45
th percentile
Moderate
Geographic context
Risk heat across Boston and the region
Centroid at 42.3393, -71.0490 · click any tract to drill in
Why Dorchester Heights scores 4.5
9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendlyLocal political climate
Inherited from Boston
8.5
Regional political climate
2024 county presidential margin
8.2
State political climate
Massachusetts legislature & governorship
6.2
Economic stress
3.8% poverty · this tract
1.0
Supply constraint
$3,141 rent vs county FMR
6.1
Rent control risk
Inherited from Boston
8.0
Eviction process difficulty
State law sets the calendar
8.0
Tenant organizing strength
Inherited from Boston
8.5
Housing court bias
Inherited from Boston
8.0
How Dorchester Heights compares
Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.CDC Social Vulnerability Index
SVI percentile: 15
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
- 2%Socioeconomic
- 2%Household composition
- 57%Racial/ethnic minority
- 85%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
- 82%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
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.1
Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)
- 26Total filings 2020-21
- 0.6Avg monthly (observed)
- 0.5Pre-pandemic baseline
- 1.05×Ratio to baseline
Pandemic filings ran near baseline. Eviction Lab tracked Boston, MA as part of its 34-metro Eviction Tracking System.
Comparable tracts
Census tracts with similar eviction risk
Within Dorchester Heights. 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.
- 6.9%Housing insecurity
- 4.2%Utility-shutoff threat
- 6.0%Food insecurity
- 6.0%SNAP enrollment
- 4.9%Transit barriers
- 2.9%No health insurance
- 15.6%Frequent mental distress
- 14.9%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Dorchester Heights
What moves this score most is tenant organizing strength at 8.5/10. 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 Boston eviction risk, while the economic and supply signals are measured at the tract level.
Set against its neighbors, this tract scores below the Suffolk County average of 6.7 and in line with the Massachusetts statewide average of 5.9. Within its own county it reads on the safer side for landlords.
This tract overlaps land the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation redlined in the 1930s, a dominant grade of D ("Hazardous") across 82% of the tract. Redlining cut off mortgage credit to Black, immigrant, and working-class blocks, and those areas still tend to carry higher rent burden and eviction filings today.
During 2020 and 2021, eviction filings here ran at about 1.05x the pre-COVID monthly baseline, roughly back to the pre-pandemic baseline.
For a landlord, conditions here are middle-of-the-road. Standard screening and prompt, documented notices usually keep cases short.
Frequently asked
About tract 25025060601
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25025060601?
Census tract 25025060601 in the Dorchester Heights neighborhood scores 4.5/10 (Moderate tier). The Eviction Risk Score blends state law, county filing rates, parent-city politics, and tract-specific rent-to-income ratios + poverty signals.
Q2
What is the average rent in tract 25025060601?
Median gross rent is $3,141/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 14% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 25025060601?
3.8% of residents in tract 25025060601 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 1,830.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 25025060601?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 15th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 2th, household 2th, minority 57th, housing 85th.
Q5
Is tract 25025060601 considered part of Dorchester Heights?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25025060601 fall within Dorchester Heights (neighborhood centroid within 0.5 miles, OSM data).
Q6
Did eviction filings in tract 25025060601 drop during COVID?
Pandemic-era filings ran 1.05× the pre-COVID monthly baseline. Filings returned near baseline. Tracked by the Eviction Lab Eviction Tracking System (Boston eviction risk, MA), 2020-2021.
Q7
What share of households in tract 25025060601 struggle to pay rent?
About 6.9% 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. 4.2% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q8
How does tract 25025060601 compare to Boston overall?
Tract 25025060601 scores 4.5/10, lower than the parent city of Boston at 7.1/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Boston eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.
Q9
Was tract 25025060601 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. 82% 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 Boston
Top eight tracts in Boston ranked by composite eviction-risk score.
Tract · MA
Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
8.4
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
8.2
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Packard's Corner
8.2
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
8.2
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Dorchester Heights
8.1
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Pill Hill
8.1
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Nubian Square
8.1
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Mount Bowdoin
8.1
/ 10 · High
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