Neighborhood · Ranked #25,671 of 84,120 nationally

Medford Square Eviction Risk: Moderate

Tract 25017339500 · Middlesex County, MA · pop 5,565 · neighborhood within 0.5 mi

How risky is the Medford Square area of Medford for landlords? Census tract 25017339500 scores 5.5/10, the Moderate tier. It lands near the 57th percentile nationally for landlord eviction risk.

About 58% of renters carry a rent burden of 30% of income or higher, a severe level, and 28% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average rent runs $2,293 a month against an average household income of $94,122 a year, roughly 29% of income at the averages. Renters make up 59% of occupied homes, a renter-majority tract.

Risk score

5.9

Moderate

Confidence 100% · 1-10 scale

Household mix · 100 hh

Burdened renters 34% Stable renters 25% Owners 41%

Tract context

Occupied units1,698

Renter share58.7%

SVI overall0.34

Poverty rate7.6%

Median income$94,122

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.

Geographic context

Risk heat across Medford and the region

Centroid at 42.4119, -71.1150 · click any tract to drill in

Why Medford Square scores 5.9

9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly

Local political climate

Inherited from Medford

8.3

Regional political climate

2024 county presidential margin

7.3

State political climate

Massachusetts legislature & governorship

6.2

Economic stress

7.6% poverty · this tract

1.9

Supply constraint

$2,293 rent vs county FMR

3.1

Rent control risk

Inherited from Medford

4.8

Eviction process difficulty

State law sets the calendar

6.1

Tenant organizing strength

Inherited from Medford

8.9

Housing court bias

Inherited from Medford

4.6

How Medford Square compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.

CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 34

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

43%Socioeconomic
3%Household composition
46%Racial/ethnic minority
70%Housing & transportation

Historical context · 1930s redlining

HOLC grade: C: Definitely Declining

This tract sits within an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s. Grade C meant mixed-race / working-class neighborhoods rated as risky. These designations suppressed minority homeownership for generations and remain a documented predictor of present-day eviction filings and rent burden.

0%Grade A
39%Grade B
51%Grade C
0%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.

Eviction filings · Princeton Eviction Lab

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.

Historic baseline (2000-2018)

33Total filings over 5 yrs
0.89%Avg annual filing rate
1.2%Peak (2013)
6Filings in 2016 (latest validated)

Filings by year 2012 to 2016

Filings stayed roughly flat over the past 5 months.

Pandemic-era tracking (2020-2021)

0Total filings 2020-21
0.0Avg monthly (observed)
0.6Pre-pandemic baseline
0.00×Ratio to baseline

Monthly filings 2020-2021 2020-01-01 to 2023-11-01

Pandemic filings ran far below baseline (moratorium effect). Eviction Lab tracked Boston, MA as part of its 34-metro Eviction Tracking System.

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.

10.7%Housing insecurity
6.2%Utility-shutoff threat
11.9%Food insecurity
12.2%SNAP enrollment
9.0%Transit barriers
4.5%No health insurance
19.4%Frequent mental distress
25.1%Any disability

Analysis

What drives eviction risk in Medford Square

What moves this score most is tenant organizing strength at 8.9/10. 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 Medford 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 Middlesex County average of 5.2 and below the Massachusetts statewide average of 5.9. Within its own county it reads on the riskier side for landlords.

During 2020 and 2021, eviction filings here ran at about 0.00x the pre-COVID monthly baseline, well below the pre-pandemic norm, the signature of an eviction moratorium at work.

Princeton's Eviction Lab logged 33 eviction filings here over 5 tracked years, with about 0.9% of renter households facing a filing in a typical year. Filings peaked at 1.2% of renter households in 2013.

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

Frequently asked

About tract 25017339500

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25017339500?

Census tract 25017339500 in the Medford Square neighborhood scores 5.9/10 (Moderate tier). The Eviction Risk Score blends state law, county filing rates, parent-city politics, and tract-specific rent-to-income ratios + poverty signals.

What is the average rent in tract 25017339500?

Median gross rent is $2,293/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 58% of renter households are cost-burdened.

What is the poverty rate in tract 25017339500?

7.6% of residents in tract 25017339500 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 5,565.

How socially vulnerable is tract 25017339500?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 34th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 43th, household 3th, minority 46th, housing 70th.

Is tract 25017339500 considered part of Medford Square?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25017339500 fall within Medford Square (neighborhood centroid within 0.5 miles, OSM data).

How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25017339500?

Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 33 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25017339500 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 0.89% of renter households, peaking at 1.2% in 2013. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.

Did eviction filings in tract 25017339500 drop during COVID?

Pandemic-era filings ran 0.00× the pre-COVID monthly baseline. Filings dropped sharply, likely a moratorium effect. Tracked by the Eviction Lab Eviction Tracking System (Boston eviction risk, MA), 2020-2021.

What share of households in tract 25017339500 struggle to pay rent?

About 10.7% 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. 6.2% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.

How does tract 25017339500 compare to Medford overall?

Tract 25017339500 scores 5.9/10, higher than the parent city of Medford at 5.4/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Medford eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.

Q10

Was tract 25017339500 historically redlined?

Yes. This tract sits inside an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s, with a dominant grade of C. 0% 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 Medford

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