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Neighborhood · Ranked #34,332 of 84,120 nationally

Union Park Eviction Risk: Moderate , Des Moines

Tract 19153001500 · Polk County, IA · pop 2,930 · neighborhood within 0.3 mi

Landlord eviction risk in census tract 19153001500 (the Union Park area of Des Moines, Iowa) comes in at $1/10, the Moderate tier. On the national scale it ranks #51,287 of 84,120 for landlord eviction difficulty.

Rent eats 30% or more of income for 38% of renter households, a high level, and 16% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average gross rent is $1,196 monthly, set against $64,263 in average yearly household income, roughly 22% of income at the averages. Renters make up 20% of occupied homes.

Risk score
4.4
Moderate
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 8% Stable renters 12% Owners 80%
Tract context
Occupied units1,025
Renter share20.3%
SVI overall0.72
Poverty rate18.8%
Median income$64,263

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.
Within neighborhood
50 th percentile
Rank, 50th percentileLowHigh
#1 of 1 tracts In Union Park
Moderate
Within parent city
64 th percentile
Rank, 64th percentileLowHigh
#22 of 60 tracts In Des Moines
Elevated
Within county
82 th percentile
Rank, 82nd percentileLowHigh
#21 of 112 tracts In Polk County
High
Within state
85 th percentile
Rank, 85th percentileLowHigh
#140 of 896 tracts In Iowa
High
Geographic context

Risk heat across Des Moines and the region

Centroid at 41.6138, -93.6112 · click any tract to drill in

Why Union Park scores 4.4

9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly
Local political climate
Inherited from Des Moines
4.5
Regional political climate
2024 county presidential margin
5.8
State political climate
Iowa legislature & governorship
2.3
Economic stress
18.8% poverty · this tract
4.7
Supply constraint
$1,196 rent vs county FMR
4.8
Rent control risk
Inherited from Des Moines
1.0
Eviction process difficulty
State law sets the calendar
2.5
Tenant organizing strength
Inherited from Des Moines
3.0
Housing court bias
Inherited from Des Moines
2.5

How Union Park compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.
Union Park risk score vs. parent city / county / stateThis tract: 4.44.4This tracttract 001500Des Moines: 2.62.6Des Moinesparent cityCounty: 3.23.2Countyavg tract in countyState: 3.33.3Stateavg tract in state
CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 72

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

Historical context · 1930s redlining

HOLC grade: B: Still Desirable

This tract sits within an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s. Grade B meant middle-class areas with mortgage access. 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)

  • 176Total filings over 10 yrs
  • 9.93%Avg annual filing rate
  • 10.8%Peak (2011)
  • 19Filings in 2015 (latest validated)
Filings by year 2006 to 2015
Year-by-year eviction filings in tract 191530015002006: 14 filings (9.46/100 renter HHs)2007: 19 filings (12.84/100 renter HHs)2008: 21 filings (14.19/100 renter HHs)2009: 20 filings (13.51/100 renter HHs)2010: 12 filings (7.06/100 renter HHs)2011: 23 filings (10.80/100 renter HHs)2012: 16 filings (7.51/100 renter HHs)2013: 14 filings (6.57/100 renter HHs)2014: 18 filings (8.45/100 renter HHs)2015: 19 filings (8.92/100 renter HHs)
Filings climbed 36% over the past 10 months.
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 Union Park

The heaviest input here is supply constraint at 4.8/10. 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 Des Moines 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 Polk County average of 5.0 and above the Iowa statewide average of 4.3. Within its own county it reads on the riskier side for landlords.

Princeton's Eviction Lab logged 176 eviction filings here over 10 tracked years, with about 9.9% of renter households facing a filing in a typical year. Filings peaked at 10.8% of renter households in 2011.

Part of this tract, about 21% of its area, sat in the redlined grade-D zone on 1930s HOLC maps, though its dominant grade was B ("Still Desirable"). That lending history still correlates with present-day rent burden.

For a landlord, conditions here are middle-of-the-road. Standard screening and prompt, documented notices usually keep cases short.

Frequently asked

About tract 19153001500

Q1

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 19153001500?

Census tract 19153001500 in the Union Park neighborhood scores 4.4/10 (Moderate 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 19153001500?

Median gross rent is $1,196/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 38% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3

What is the poverty rate in tract 19153001500?

18.8% of residents in tract 19153001500 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 2,930.
Q4

How socially vulnerable is tract 19153001500?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 72th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 77th, household 76th, minority 55th, housing 47th.
Q5

Is tract 19153001500 considered part of Union Park?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 19153001500 fall within Union Park (neighborhood centroid within 0.3 miles, OSM data).
Q6

How many evictions are filed each year in tract 19153001500?

Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 176 eviction filings across 10 validated years in tract 19153001500 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 9.93% of renter households, peaking at 10.8% in 2011. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7

What share of households in tract 19153001500 struggle to pay rent?

About 17.8% 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. 12.0% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q8

How does tract 19153001500 compare to Des Moines overall?

Tract 19153001500 scores 4.4/10, higher than the parent city of Des Moines at 2.6/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Des Moines eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.
Q9

Was tract 19153001500 historically redlined?

Yes. This tract sits inside an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s, with a dominant grade of B. 21% 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 Des Moines

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

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