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Census Tract · Ranked #7,456 of 84,120 nationally

Plainfield Eviction Risk: Elevated

Tract 34039038900 · Union County, NJ · pop 6,675

The Elevated-tier score of 7.3/10 for census tract 34039038900 reflects conditions in Plainfield, New Jersey. That is riskier than roughly 97% of the 84,120 US census tracts we score.

About 50% of renters carry a rent burden of 30% of income or higher, a severe level, and 20% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average rent runs $1,704 a month against an average household income of $69,491 a year, roughly 29% of income at the averages. Renters make up 77% of occupied homes, a renter-majority tract.

Risk score
6.5
Elevated
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 39% Stable renters 38% Owners 23%
Tract context
Occupied units1,862
Renter share76.8%
SVI overall0.99
Poverty rate10.5%
Median income$69,491

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.
Within parent city
27 th percentile
Rank, 27th percentileLowHigh
#9 of 12 tracts In Plainfield
Low
Within county
71 th percentile
Rank, 71st percentileLowHigh
#35 of 120 tracts In Union County
Elevated
Within state
79 th percentile
Rank, 79th percentileLowHigh
#467 of 2,175 tracts In New Jersey
High
National
91 th percentile
Rank, 91st percentileLowHigh
#7,456 of 84,120 tracts In U.S.
Very High
Geographic context

Risk heat across Plainfield and the region

Centroid at 40.6295, -74.4129 · click any tract to drill in

Why Plainfield scores 6.5

9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly
Local political climate
Inherited from Plainfield
7.1
Regional political climate
2024 county presidential margin
6.8
State political climate
New Jersey legislature & governorship
6.8
Economic stress
10.5% poverty · this tract
2.6
Supply constraint
$1,704 rent vs county FMR
3.0
Rent control risk
Inherited from Plainfield
7.8
Eviction process difficulty
State law sets the calendar
6.7
Tenant organizing strength
Inherited from Plainfield
9.5
Housing court bias
Inherited from Plainfield
7.6

How Plainfield compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.
Plainfield risk score vs. parent city / county / stateThis tract: 6.56.5This tracttract 038900Plainfield: 8.28.2Plainfieldparent cityCounty: 4.74.7Countyavg tract in countyState: 4.34.3Stateavg tract in state
CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 99

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

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.

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)

  • 636Total filings over 4 yrs
  • 13.49%Avg annual filing rate
  • 20.8%Peak (2013)
  • 163Filings in 2018 (latest validated)
Filings by year 2013 to 2018
Year-by-year eviction filings in tract 340390389002013: 223 filings (20.84/100 renter HHs)2016: 130 filings (10.42/100 renter HHs)2017: 120 filings (9.62/100 renter HHs)2018: 163 filings (13.06/100 renter HHs)
Filings dropped 27% over the past 4 months.
Comparable tracts

Census tracts with similar eviction risk

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.

Analysis

What drives eviction risk in Plainfield

The score leans hardest on tenant organizing strength at 9.5/10. 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 Plainfield eviction risk, while the economic and supply signals are measured at the tract level.

Set against its neighbors, this tract scores above the Union County average of 6.6 and above the New Jersey statewide average of 6.6. Within its own county it reads on the riskier side for landlords.

Princeton eviction risk's Eviction Lab logged 636 eviction filings here over 4 tracked years, with about 13.5% of renter households facing a filing in a typical year. Filings peaked at 20.8% of renter households in 2013.

In CDC survey modeling, about 30.6% of adults here said they could not pay rent or mortgage at some point in the past year, and 17.0% faced a utility shutoff threat, a common early warning before a filing.

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 34039038900

Q1

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 34039038900?

Census tract 34039038900 in Plainfield scores 6.5/10 (Elevated tier). The Eviction Risk Score blends state law, county filing rates, parent-city politics, and tract-specific rent-to-income ratios + poverty signals.
Q2

What is the average rent in tract 34039038900?

Median gross rent is $1,704/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 50% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3

What is the poverty rate in tract 34039038900?

10.5% of residents in tract 34039038900 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 6,675.
Q4

How socially vulnerable is tract 34039038900?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 99th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 96th, household 77th, minority 93th, housing 99th.
Q5

How many evictions are filed each year in tract 34039038900?

Princeton eviction risk Eviction Lab recorded 636 eviction filings across 4 validated years in tract 34039038900 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 13.49% of renter households, peaking at 20.8% in 2013. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q6

What share of households in tract 34039038900 struggle to pay rent?

About 30.6% 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. 17.0% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q7

How does tract 34039038900 compare to Plainfield overall?

Tract 34039038900 scores 6.5/10, lower than the parent city of Plainfield at 8.2/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Plainfield eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.
Q8

Was tract 34039038900 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. 48% 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 Plainfield

Top eight tracts in Plainfield ranked by composite eviction-risk score.

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