Within neighborhood
20
th percentile
Low
Neighborhood · Ranked #6,330 of 84,120 nationally
Central Square Eviction Risk: High , Cambridge
Tract 25017353300 · Middlesex County, MA · pop 4,302 · neighborhood within 0.6 mi
Census tract 25017353300 covers part of the Central Square area of Cambridge, MA, and scores 8.3/10 on landlord eviction risk. Population here is 4,302. Against Middlesex County at 43.0%, 27% of renters here are cost-burdened.
Risk score
8.3
High
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 13%
Stable renters 34%
Owners 53%
Tract context
Occupied units1,869
Renter share47.0%
SVI overall0.13
Poverty rate6.6%
Median income$167,338
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.Within parent city
22
th percentile
Low
Within county
87
th percentile
High
Within state
90
th percentile
High
Geographic context
Risk heat across Cambridge and the region
Centroid at 42.3585, -71.1111 · click any tract to drill in
Why Central Square scores 8.3
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
6.6% poverty · this tract
1.7
Supply constraint
$2,832 rent vs county FMR
5.0
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: 13
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
- 5%Socioeconomic
- 3%Household composition
- 56%Racial/ethnic minority
- 65%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
- 13%Grade C
- 42%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)
- 47Total filings over 5 yrs
- 1.14%Avg annual filing rate
- 1.9%Peak (2013)
- 4Filings in 2016 (latest validated)
Filings dropped 56% over the past 5 months.
Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)
- 0Total filings 2020-21
- 0.0Avg monthly (observed)
- 0.8Pre-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.
- 6.6%Housing insecurity
- 4.1%Utility-shutoff threat
- 5.9%Food insecurity
- 6.1%SNAP enrollment
- 5.0%Transit barriers
- 2.5%No health insurance
- 13.8%Frequent mental distress
- 18.2%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Central Square
The score leans hardest on local political climate at 9/10. Against the Middlesex County average of 6.3, this tract reads riskier for landlords by 2.0 points. On the high side, rent-regulation exposure reads 8.5/10.
Running hot, eviction-process difficulty reads 8.5/10. SNAP participation runs 6.1% against 15.2% nationally. The filing record is not thin: 47 evictions over 5 years of observation.
Housing insecurity runs 6.6% against 14.2% nationally. The worst year on record was 2013, when 1.9% 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 1.1% of renter households face a filing.
Nationally it ranks #6,330 of 84,120 for landlord eviction difficulty. On the CDC Social Vulnerability Index the tract reads 2.2/10, which tracks how hard a shock lands on the households already here.
All figures here are ACS 5-year estimates for this tract, refreshed as the underlying releases land.
Frequently asked
About tract 25017353300
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25017353300?
Census tract 25017353300 in the Central Square neighborhood scores 8.3/10 (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 25017353300?
Median gross rent is $2,832/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 27% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 25017353300?
6.6% of residents in tract 25017353300 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 4,302.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 25017353300?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 13th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 5th, household 3th, minority 56th, housing 65th.
Q5
Is tract 25017353300 considered part of Central Square?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25017353300 fall within Central Square (neighborhood centroid within 0.6 miles, OSM data).
Q6
How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25017353300?
Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 47 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25017353300 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 1.14% of renter households, peaking at 1.9% in 2013. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7
Did eviction filings in tract 25017353300 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 25017353300 struggle to pay rent?
About 6.6% 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. 4.1% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q9
How does tract 25017353300 compare to Cambridge overall?
Tract 25017353300 scores 8.3/10, lower 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 25017353300 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. 42% 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
Central Square
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
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