Within neighborhood
100
th percentile
Very High
Neighborhood · Ranked #1 of 84,120 nationally
Central Square Eviction Risk: High , Cambridge
Tract 25017353101 · Middlesex County, MA · pop 3,560 · neighborhood within 0.3 mi
Tract 25017353101 sits in the Central Square area of Cambridge eviction risk, MA, carrying an eviction-risk score of 9.9/10. It is home to 3,560 residents. It sits 3.6 points above the Middlesex County average of 6.3.
Risk score
9.9
High
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 51%
Stable renters 43%
Owners 6%
Tract context
Occupied units1,761
Renter share94.1%
SVI overall0.64
Poverty rate27.4%
Median income$73,558
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.Within parent city
75
th percentile
High
Within county
99
th percentile
Very High
Within state
100
th percentile
Very High
Geographic context
Risk heat across Cambridge and the region
Centroid at 42.3625, -71.0991 · click any tract to drill in
Why Central Square scores 9.9
9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendlyLocal political climate
Inherited from Cambridge
9.0
Regional political climate
2024 county presidential margin
7.3
State political climate
Massachusetts legislature & governorship
6.2
Economic stress
27.4% poverty · this tract
6.9
Supply constraint
$2,602 rent vs county FMR
4.2
Rent control risk
Inherited from Cambridge
8.5
Eviction process difficulty
State law sets the calendar
8.5
Tenant organizing strength
Inherited from Cambridge
8.5
Housing court bias
Inherited from Cambridge
8.0
How Central Square compares
Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.CDC Social Vulnerability Index
SVI percentile: 64
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
- 56%Socioeconomic
- 11%Household composition
- 71%Racial/ethnic minority
- 92%Housing & transportation
Historical context · 1930s redlining
HOLC grade: D: Hazardous (Redlined)
This tract sits within an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s. Grade D meant Black, immigrant, and poor neighborhoods systematically denied mortgage credit. 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
- 0%Grade C
- 47%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)
- 178Total filings over 5 yrs
- 4.71%Avg annual filing rate
- 6.6%Peak (2013)
- 28Filings in 2016 (latest validated)
Filings dropped 30% 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
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 Central Square. 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.
- 12.7%Housing insecurity
- 7.9%Utility-shutoff threat
- 15.2%Food insecurity
- 16.8%SNAP enrollment
- 10.3%Transit barriers
- 5.2%No health insurance
- 17.6%Frequent mental distress
- 25.0%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Central Square
The severe-burden share is 32%, and it is the single best predictor in this model of a filing that actually reaches judgment. This is renter territory: 94% of occupied units are tenant-occupied. Annualized rent equals 42% of average household income of $73,558, past the 30% affordability line, which thins the margin any screening standard has to work with.
What pushes it up most is local political climate at 9/10. 54% of renter households cross the 30%-of-income line, well above the Middlesex County average of 43.0%.
Sitting well above the midpoint, rent-regulation exposure reads 8.5/10. On the high side, eviction-process difficulty reads 8.5/10. The poverty rate is 27%. Judgments in high-poverty tracts are collectible far less often than filing counts suggest.
Court records carry 178 eviction filings across 5 observed years. The worst year on record was 2013, when 6.6% of renter households were served. In the 1930s the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation graded this ground D ("Hazardous"). 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 4.7% of renter households face a filing.
These are ACS 5-year estimates; the score moves when the ACS, court-record, or statute inputs behind it move.
Frequently asked
About tract 25017353101
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25017353101?
Census tract 25017353101 in the Central Square neighborhood scores 9.9/10 (High 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 25017353101?
Median gross rent is $2,602/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 54% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 25017353101?
27.4% of residents in tract 25017353101 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 3,560.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 25017353101?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 64th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 56th, household 11th, minority 71th, housing 92th.
Q5
Is tract 25017353101 considered part of Central Square?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25017353101 fall within Central Square (neighborhood centroid within 0.3 miles, OSM data).
Q6
How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25017353101?
Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 178 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25017353101 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 4.71% of renter households, peaking at 6.6% in 2013. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7
Did eviction filings in tract 25017353101 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 25017353101 struggle to pay rent?
About 12.7% 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. 7.9% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q9
How does tract 25017353101 compare to Cambridge overall?
Tract 25017353101 scores 9.9/10, higher than the parent city of Cambridge at 8.9/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Cambridge eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.
Q10
Was tract 25017353101 historically redlined?
Yes. This tract sits inside an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s, with a dominant grade of D. 47% 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 Cambridge
Top eight tracts in Cambridge ranked by composite eviction-risk score.
Tract · MA
Inman Square
9.9
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Huron Village
9.9
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Harlow Square
9.9
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
West Somerville
9.9
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Harvard Yard
9.9
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Harvard Yard
9.9
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Brickbottom
9.9
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Old Cambridge
9.9
/ 10 · Very High
Related