Neighborhood · Ranked #28,080 of 84,120 nationally

Old Ship Street Historic District Eviction Risk: Moderate , Medford

Tract 25017339802 · Middlesex County, MA · pop 5,137 · neighborhood within 0.7 mi

In Old Ship Street Historic District in Medford, census tract 25017339802 scores 5.1/10 for eviction risk. That is riskier than roughly 42% of the 84,120 US census tracts we score.

35% of renter households here spend at least 30% of income on rent, a high level, and 25% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average rent runs $2,590 a month against an average household income of $145,263 a year, roughly 21% of income at the averages. Renters make up 57% of occupied homes, a renter-majority tract.

Risk score

5.7

Moderate

Confidence 100% · 1-10 scale

Household mix · 100 hh

Burdened renters 20% Stable renters 37% Owners 43%

Tract context

Occupied units2,156

Renter share56.8%

SVI overall0.38

Poverty rate9.7%

Median income$145,263

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.

Geographic context

Risk heat across Medford and the region

Centroid at 42.4073, -71.0911 · click any tract to drill in

Why Old Ship Street Historic District scores 5.7

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

9.7% poverty · this tract

2.4

Supply constraint

$2,590 rent vs county FMR

4.1

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 Old Ship Street Historic District compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.

CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 38

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

20%Socioeconomic
49%Household composition
61%Racial/ethnic minority
56%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
0%Grade B
28%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)

155Total filings over 5 yrs
3.26%Avg annual filing rate
4.1%Peak (2015)
32Filings 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)
2.7Pre-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.

Comparable tracts

Census tracts with similar eviction risk

Within Old Ship Street Historic District. Closest by Eviction Risk Score.

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.

12.6%Housing insecurity
8.0%Utility-shutoff threat
13.5%Food insecurity
15.7%SNAP enrollment
9.0%Transit barriers
4.6%No health insurance
17.0%Frequent mental distress
26.2%Any disability

Analysis

What drives eviction risk in Old Ship Street Historic District

The score leans hardest on 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 safer 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.

The tract is racially mixed and ranks around the 38th percentile nationally on the CDC Social Vulnerability Index, a measure of how exposed residents are to housing and economic shocks. That is a relatively low-vulnerability reading.

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

Frequently asked

About tract 25017339802

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25017339802?

Census tract 25017339802 in the Old Ship Street Historic District neighborhood scores 5.7/10 (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 25017339802?

Median gross rent is $2,590/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 35% of renter households are cost-burdened.

What is the poverty rate in tract 25017339802?

9.7% of residents in tract 25017339802 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 5,137.

How socially vulnerable is tract 25017339802?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 38th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 20th, household 49th, minority 61th, housing 56th.

Is tract 25017339802 considered part of Old Ship Street Historic District?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25017339802 fall within Old Ship Street Historic District (neighborhood centroid within 0.7 miles, OSM data).

How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25017339802?

Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 155 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25017339802 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 3.26% of renter households, peaking at 4.1% in 2015. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.

Did eviction filings in tract 25017339802 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 25017339802 struggle to pay rent?

About 12.6% 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. 8.0% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.

How does tract 25017339802 compare to Medford overall?

Tract 25017339802 scores 5.7/10, 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 25017339802 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.