Census Tract · Ranked #5,153 of 84,120 nationally

Plainfield Eviction Risk: High

Tract 34039039301 · Union County, NJ · pop 3,067

Census tract 34039039301 covers part of Plainfield, NJ, and scores 8.6/10 on landlord eviction risk. It is home to 3,067 residents. 36% are severely burdened past the 50% mark. That cohort absorbs no shock: one repair bill or one cut shift converts straight into arrears.

Risk score

8.6

High

Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale

Household mix · 100 hh

Burdened renters 44% Stable renters 45% Owners 11%

Tract context

Occupied units889

Renter share89.3%

SVI overall0.99

Poverty rate42.5%

Median income$53,024

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.

Geographic context

Risk heat across Plainfield and the region

Centroid at 40.6136, -74.4262 · click any tract to drill in

Why Plainfield scores 8.6

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

42.5% poverty · this tract

10.0

Supply constraint

$1,449 rent vs county FMR

1.8

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.

CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 99

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

100%Socioeconomic
76%Household composition
99%Racial/ethnic minority
92%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
21%Grade C
62%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.

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.

43.1%Housing insecurity
26.4%Utility-shutoff threat
55.2%Food insecurity
43.4%SNAP enrollment
26.7%Transit barriers
42.8%No health insurance
22.8%Frequent mental distress
42.3%Any disability

Analysis

What drives eviction risk in Plainfield

What pushes it up most is economic stress at 10/10. SNAP participation runs 43.4% against 15.2% nationally. The poverty rate is 43%, which in this model reads as reduced rent-recovery odds after a judgment.

On the high side, tenant-organizing strength reads 9.5/10. This is renter territory: 89% of occupied units are tenant-occupied. It sits 2.0 points above the Union County average of 6.6.

Inability to pay a utility bill runs 26.4% against 9.2% nationally. Utility arrears usually lead rent arrears by a month or two. Running hot, court filing pressure reads 8.9/10. Annualized rent equals 33% of average household income of $53,024, past the 30% affordability line, which thins the margin any screening standard has to work with.

Average gross rent is $1,449, 18% below the Plainfield average. 50% of renter households cross the 30%-of-income line, higher than the Union County average of 44.6%. In the 1930s the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation graded this ground D ("Hazardous"). Redlining cut off mortgage credit to whole blocks for decades, and the areas graded D still carry measurably lower ownership and higher rent burden today.

These are ACS 5-year estimates; the score moves when the ACS, court-record, or statute inputs behind it move.

Frequently asked

About tract 34039039301

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 34039039301?

Census tract 34039039301 in Plainfield scores 8.6/10 (High tier). The Eviction Risk Score blends state law, county filing rates, parent-city politics, and tract-specific rent-to-income ratios + poverty signals.

What is the average rent in tract 34039039301?

Median gross rent is $1,449/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 50% of renter households are cost-burdened.

What is the poverty rate in tract 34039039301?

42.5% of residents in tract 34039039301 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 3,067.

How socially vulnerable is tract 34039039301?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 99th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 100th, household 76th, minority 99th, housing 92th.

What share of households in tract 34039039301 struggle to pay rent?

About 43.1% 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. 26.4% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.

How does tract 34039039301 compare to Plainfield overall?

Tract 34039039301 scores 8.6/10, higher than the parent city of Plainfield at 7.2/10. 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.

Was tract 34039039301 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. 62% 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.