Neighborhood · Ranked #3,287 of 84,120 nationally

Frederick Douglass Square Historic District Eviction Risk: Elevated , Boston

Tract 25025070801 · Suffolk County, MA · pop 1,049 · neighborhood within 0.3 mi

The Frederick Douglass Square Historic District neighborhood of Boston is where census tract 25025070801 sits, home to 1,049 residents. Its landlord eviction-risk score is 7.5/10. It lands near the 99th percentile nationally for landlord eviction risk.

About 72% of renters carry a rent burden of 30% of income or higher, a severe level, and 35% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average gross rent is $2,162 monthly, set against $44,811 in average yearly household income, roughly 58% of income at the averages. Renters make up 86% of occupied homes, a renter-majority tract.

Risk score

7.5

Elevated

Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale

Household mix · 100 hh

Burdened renters 62% Stable renters 24% Owners 14%

Tract context

Occupied units595

Renter share85.5%

SVI overall0.27

Poverty rate35.5%

Median income$44,811

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.

Geographic context

Risk heat across Boston and the region

Centroid at 42.3400, -71.0825 · click any tract to drill in

Why Frederick Douglass Square Historic District scores 7.5

9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly

Local 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

35.5% poverty · this tract

8.9

Supply constraint

$2,162 rent vs county FMR

2.6

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 Frederick Douglass Square Historic District compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.

CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 27

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

47%Socioeconomic
6%Household composition
49%Racial/ethnic minority
32%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

Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)

33Total filings 2020-21
0.7Avg monthly (observed)
1.2Pre-pandemic baseline
0.58×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

Within Frederick Douglass Square Historic District. 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.

16.3%Housing insecurity
11.8%Utility-shutoff threat
19.9%Food insecurity
24.5%SNAP enrollment
13.2%Transit barriers
5.3%No health insurance
21.1%Frequent mental distress
27.2%Any disability

Analysis

What drives eviction risk in Frederick Douglass Square Historic District

What moves this score most is economic stress at 8.9/10. 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.

In CDC survey modeling, about 16.3% of adults here said they could not pay rent or mortgage at some point in the past year, and 11.8% faced a utility shutoff threat, a common early warning before a filing.

This tract overlaps land the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation redlined in the 1930s, a dominant grade of D ("Hazardous") across 100% 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.

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 25025070801

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25025070801?

Census tract 25025070801 in the Frederick Douglass Square Historic District neighborhood scores 7.5/10 (Elevated tier). The Eviction Risk Score blends state law, county filing rates, parent-city politics, and tract-specific rent-to-income ratios + poverty signals.

What is the average rent in tract 25025070801?

Median gross rent is $2,162/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 72% of renter households are cost-burdened.

What is the poverty rate in tract 25025070801?

35.5% of residents in tract 25025070801 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 1,049.

How socially vulnerable is tract 25025070801?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 27th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 47th, household 6th, minority 49th, housing 32th.

Is tract 25025070801 considered part of Frederick Douglass Square Historic District?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25025070801 fall within Frederick Douglass Square Historic District (neighborhood centroid within 0.3 miles, OSM data).

Did eviction filings in tract 25025070801 drop during COVID?

Pandemic-era filings ran 0.58× 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.

What share of households in tract 25025070801 struggle to pay rent?

About 16.3% 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.

How does tract 25025070801 compare to Boston overall?

Tract 25025070801 scores 7.5/10, 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.

Was tract 25025070801 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.

Eviction Lab tract-level court records (2000-2018) and Eviction Tracking System, Princeton University. Open Data Commons Attribution license. evictionlab.org