South Common Historic District Eviction Risk: High , Lowell

Severe burden reaches 27%. Those are renters paying half their income or more, and that is where non-payment filings originate. 85% of occupied units are rented, so comparables are plentiful and vacancy risk is low, but a mispriced renewal loses the tenant to a building nearby. At $1,129 a month, rents run 31% under what the rest of Lowell commands.

It sits 1.7 points above the Middlesex County average of 6.3. The poverty rate is 23%. Judgments in high-poverty tracts are collectible far less often than filing counts suggest. Well under the midpoint, court filing pressure reads 2.5/10.

Running hot, regional political climate reads 7.3/10. Housing insecurity runs 23.1% against 14.2% nationally. Princeton's Eviction Lab logged 211 filings here across 5 tracked years.

Inability to pay a utility bill runs 14.5% against 9.2% nationally. Utility arrears usually lead rent arrears by a month or two. Filings peaked in 2016 at 5.1% of renter households. In a typical year about 4.3% of renter households face a filing.

Tract-level figures come from the ACS 5-year release and are rebuilt whenever that, the court-record feed, or the statutory ledger behind the score changes.