Within neighborhood
92
th percentile
Very High
Neighborhood · Ranked #1,942 of 84,120 nationally
Dorchester Heights Eviction Risk: High , Boston
Tract 25025060700 · Suffolk County, MA · pop 1,908 · neighborhood within 0.6 mi
How risky is the Dorchester Heights area of Boston for landlords? Census tract 25025060700 scores 7.5/10, the Elevated tier. It lands near the 99th percentile nationally for landlord eviction risk.
About 51% of renters carry a rent burden of 30% of income or higher, a severe level, and 12% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average rent runs $777 a month against an average household income of $23,670 a year, roughly 39% of income at the averages. About 100% of occupied units are renter-occupied, a renter-majority tract.
Risk score
8
High
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 51%
Stable renters 49%
Owners 0%
Tract context
Occupied units832
Renter share100.0%
SVI overall0.97
Poverty rate37.0%
Median income$23,670
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.Within parent city
95
th percentile
Very High
Within county
97
th percentile
Very High
Within state
99
th percentile
Very High
Geographic context
Risk heat across Boston and the region
Centroid at 42.3385, -71.0539 · click any tract to drill in
Why Dorchester Heights scores 8
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
37.0% poverty · this tract
9.2
Supply constraint
$777 rent vs county FMR
1.0
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: 97
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
- 91%Socioeconomic
- 99%Household composition
- 91%Racial/ethnic minority
- 80%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
- 100%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
Historic baseline (2000–2018)
- 141Total filings over 5 yrs
- 3.45%Avg annual filing rate
- 5.4%Peak (2012)
- 20Filings in 2016 (latest validated)
Filings dropped 53% over the past 5 months.
Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)
- 28Total filings 2020-21
- 0.6Avg monthly (observed)
- 2.2Pre-pandemic baseline
- 0.27×Ratio to baseline
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 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.
- 35.5%Housing insecurity
- 25.2%Utility-shutoff threat
- 46.7%Food insecurity
- 55.2%SNAP enrollment
- 25.3%Transit barriers
- 16.4%No health insurance
- 23.3%Frequent mental distress
- 43.0%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Dorchester Heights
What moves this score most is economic stress at 9.2/10. That part is specific to this tract, computed from its own rent, income, and poverty figures. 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 above the Suffolk County average of 6.7 and above the Massachusetts statewide average of 5.9. Within its own county it reads on the riskier side for landlords.
The tract is racially mixed and ranks around the 97th percentile nationally on the CDC Social Vulnerability Index, a measure of how exposed residents are to housing and economic shocks. High vulnerability tends to track with higher eviction-filing rates when rents climb.
During 2020 and 2021, eviction filings here ran at about 0.27x the pre-COVID monthly baseline, well below the pre-pandemic norm, the signature of an eviction moratorium at work.
For a landlord, this is a tract where process discipline pays off. Clean paperwork and steady screening keep the elevated risk manageable.
Frequently asked
About tract 25025060700
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25025060700?
Census tract 25025060700 in the Dorchester Heights neighborhood scores 8/10 (High 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 25025060700?
Median gross rent is $777/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 51% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 25025060700?
37.0% of residents in tract 25025060700 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 1,908.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 25025060700?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 97th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 91th, household 99th, minority 91th, housing 80th.
Q5
Is tract 25025060700 considered part of Dorchester Heights?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25025060700 fall within Dorchester Heights (neighborhood centroid within 0.6 miles, OSM data).
Q6
How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25025060700?
Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 141 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25025060700 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 3.45% of renter households, peaking at 5.4% in 2012. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7
Did eviction filings in tract 25025060700 drop during COVID?
Pandemic-era filings ran 0.27× 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.
Q8
What share of households in tract 25025060700 struggle to pay rent?
About 35.5% 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. 25.2% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q9
How does tract 25025060700 compare to Boston overall?
Tract 25025060700 scores 8/10, higher 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.
Q10
Was tract 25025060700 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. 100% 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
Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
8.2
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Packard's Corner
8.2
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Nubian Square
8.1
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Mount Bowdoin
8.1
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Dorchester Heights
8.1
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Pill Hill
8.1
/ 10 · High
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