Within neighborhood
85
th percentile
High
Neighborhood · Ranked #6,513 of 84,120 nationally
Dorchester Heights Eviction Risk: Elevated , Boston
Tract 25025061000 · Suffolk County, MA · pop 2,860 · neighborhood within 0.3 mi
How risky is Dorchester Heights in Boston for landlords? Census tract 25025061000 scores 6.8/10, the Elevated tier. On the national scale it ranks #6,887 of 84,120 for landlord eviction difficulty.
Rent eats 30% or more of income for 38% of renter households, a high level, and 17% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average rent runs $1,154 a month against an average household income of $84,176 a year, roughly 16% of income at the averages. About 65% of occupied units are renter-occupied, a renter-majority tract.
Risk score
6.8
Elevated
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 25%
Stable renters 40%
Owners 35%
Tract context
Occupied units1,155
Renter share64.8%
SVI overall0.44
Poverty rate24.9%
Median income$84,176
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.Within parent city
70
th percentile
Elevated
Within county
72
th percentile
Elevated
Within state
89
th percentile
High
Geographic context
Risk heat across Boston and the region
Centroid at 42.3317, -71.0499 · click any tract to drill in
Why Dorchester Heights scores 6.8
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
24.9% poverty · this tract
6.2
Supply constraint
$1,154 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: 44
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
- 33%Socioeconomic
- 46%Household composition
- 60%Racial/ethnic minority
- 52%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
- 98%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)
- 121Total filings over 5 yrs
- 2.21%Avg annual filing rate
- 3.7%Peak (2016)
- 42Filings in 2016 (latest validated)
Filings climbed 75% over the past 5 months.
Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)
- 27Total filings 2020-21
- 0.6Avg monthly (observed)
- 2.1Pre-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.
- 17.6%Housing insecurity
- 11.8%Utility-shutoff threat
- 20.7%Food insecurity
- 24.7%SNAP enrollment
- 12.5%Transit barriers
- 7.6%No health insurance
- 19.3%Frequent mental distress
- 27.4%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Dorchester Heights
The heaviest input here 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 about the same as 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.
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.
Princeton's Eviction Lab logged 121 eviction filings here over 5 tracked years, with about 2.2% of renter households facing a filing in a typical year. Filings peaked at 3.7% of renter households in 2016.
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 25025061000
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25025061000?
Census tract 25025061000 in the Dorchester Heights neighborhood scores 6.8/10 (Elevated 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 25025061000?
Median gross rent is $1,154/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 38% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 25025061000?
24.9% of residents in tract 25025061000 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 2,860.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 25025061000?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 44th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 33th, household 46th, minority 60th, housing 52th.
Q5
Is tract 25025061000 considered part of Dorchester Heights?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25025061000 fall within Dorchester Heights (neighborhood centroid within 0.3 miles, OSM data).
Q6
How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25025061000?
Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 121 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25025061000 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 2.21% of renter households, peaking at 3.7% in 2016. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7
Did eviction filings in tract 25025061000 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 25025061000 struggle to pay rent?
About 17.6% 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. 11.8% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q9
How does tract 25025061000 compare to Boston overall?
Tract 25025061000 scores 6.8/10, 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.
Q10
Was tract 25025061000 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. 98% 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.
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/ 10 · High
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8.2
/ 10 · High
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Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
8.2
/ 10 · High
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Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
8.2
/ 10 · High
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Nubian Square
8.1
/ 10 · High
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/ 10 · High
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Dorchester Heights
8.1
/ 10 · High
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