Within neighborhood
50
th percentile
Moderate
Neighborhood · Ranked #11,988 of 84,120 nationally
Medford Square Eviction Risk: Elevated
Tract 25017339500 · Middlesex County, MA · pop 5,565 · neighborhood within 0.5 mi
Tract 25017339500 sits in the Medford eviction risk Square area of Medford eviction risk, MA, carrying an eviction-risk score of 7.2/10. Population here is 5,565. Against Middlesex County at 43.0%, 58% of renters here are cost-burdened.
Risk score
7.2
Elevated
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.Within parent city
69
th percentile
Elevated
Within county
65
th percentile
Elevated
Within state
68
th percentile
Elevated
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 7.2
9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendlyLocal 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
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)
- 33Total filings over 5 yrs
- 0.89%Avg annual filing rate
- 1.2%Peak (2013)
- 6Filings in 2016 (latest validated)
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
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
The severe-burden share is 28%, and it is the single best predictor in this model of a filing that actually reaches judgment. The dominant input is tenant-organizing strength at 8.9/10. Sitting well above the midpoint, local political climate reads 8.3/10.
Well under the midpoint, economic stress reads 1.9/10. Against the Middlesex County average of 6.3, this tract reads riskier for landlords by 0.9 points. Princeton's Eviction Lab logged 33 filings here across 5 tracked years.
Filings peaked in 2013 at 1.2% of renter households. At $2,293 a month, rents run 9% under what the rest of Medford commands.
In the 1930s the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation graded this ground C ("Definitely Declining"). 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. In a typical year about 0.9% of renter households face a filing. That is riskier than roughly 86% of the 84,120 US census tracts in this model.
Social vulnerability reads 4.1/10 on the CDC index, a measure of exposure to housing and economic shocks. Statewide the MA average is 6.2, so this tract runs 1.0 points hotter.
These are ACS 5-year estimates; the score moves when the ACS, court-record, or statute inputs behind it move.
Frequently asked
About tract 25017339500
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25017339500?
Census tract 25017339500 in the Medford Square neighborhood scores 7.2/10 (Elevated 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 25017339500?
Median gross rent is $2,293/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 58% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
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.
Q4
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.
Q5
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).
Q6
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.
Q7
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.
Q8
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.
Q9
How does tract 25017339500 compare to Medford overall?
Tract 25017339500 scores 7.2/10, higher than the parent city of Medford at 6.6/10. 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.
Tract · MA
Hillside Avenue Historic District
8
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
South Medford
8
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Ten Hills
7.4
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · MA
West Somerville
7.3
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · MA
Old Ship Street Historic District
6.8
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · MA
West Somerville
6.6
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · MA
Old Ship Street Historic District
6.3
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · MA
South Medford
6.2
/ 10 · Elevated
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