Smith Highlands Eviction Risk: Moderate , Bessemer

What moves this score most is tenant organizing strength at 8.7/10. 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 Bessemer eviction risk, while the economic and supply signals are measured at the tract level.

Set against its neighbors, this tract scores above the Jefferson County average of 5.3 and above the Alabama statewide average of 4.5. Within its own county it reads on the riskier side for landlords.

In CDC survey modeling, about 23.1% of adults here said they could not pay rent or mortgage at some point in the past year, and 17.5% faced a utility shutoff threat, a common early warning before a filing.

The tract is predominantly Black and ranks around the 83rd 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.

For a landlord, this is a tract where process discipline pays off. Clean paperwork and steady screening keep the elevated risk manageable.