Within neighborhood
0
th percentile
Very Low
Neighborhood · Ranked #4,888 of 84,120 nationally
Harvard Yard Eviction Risk: High , Cambridge
Tract 25017353800 · Middlesex County, MA · pop 4,138 · neighborhood within 0.4 mi
With a score of 8.7/10, tract 25017353800 in the Harvard Yard area of Cambridge, MA reads high for landlord eviction risk. Population here is 4,138. 28% of renter households cross the 30%-of-income line, well below the Middlesex County average of 43.0%.
Risk score
8.7
High
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 17%
Stable renters 45%
Owners 38%
Tract context
Occupied units2,410
Renter share62.0%
SVI overall0.21
Poverty rate8.6%
Median income$127,803
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.Within parent city
44
th percentile
Moderate
Within county
92
th percentile
Very High
Within state
93
th percentile
Very High
Geographic context
Risk heat across Cambridge and the region
Centroid at 42.3708, -71.1096 · click any tract to drill in
Why Harvard Yard scores 8.7
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
8.6% poverty · this tract
2.2
Supply constraint
$2,883 rent vs county FMR
5.2
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 Harvard Yard compares
Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.CDC Social Vulnerability Index
SVI percentile: 21
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
- 10%Socioeconomic
- 2%Household composition
- 61%Racial/ethnic minority
- 85%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
- 91%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)
- 57Total filings over 5 yrs
- 0.66%Avg annual filing rate
- 1.0%Peak (2015)
- 11Filings in 2016 (latest validated)
Filings climbed 57% over the past 5 months.
Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)
- 0Total filings 2020-21
- 0.0Avg monthly (observed)
- 1.1Pre-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 Harvard Yard. 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
- 3.9%Utility-shutoff threat
- 6.0%Food insecurity
- 5.9%SNAP enrollment
- 5.1%Transit barriers
- 2.8%No health insurance
- 13.8%Frequent mental distress
- 17.5%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Harvard Yard
Against the Middlesex County average of 6.3, this tract reads riskier for landlords by 2.4 points. The score leans hardest on local political climate at 9/10. Running hot, rent-regulation exposure reads 8.5/10.
On the high side, eviction-process difficulty reads 8.5/10. Disability prevalence runs 17.5% against 31.5% nationally. Court records carry 57 eviction filings across 5 observed years.
Severe burden reaches 9%. Those are renters paying half their income or more, and that is where non-payment filings originate. Housing insecurity runs 6.6% against 14.2% nationally. Filings peaked in 2015 at 1.0% of renter households.
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 0.7% of renter households face a filing. That is riskier than roughly 94% of the 84,120 US census tracts in this model.
Social vulnerability reads 2.9/10 on the CDC index, a measure of exposure to housing and economic shocks. Statewide the MA average is 6.2, so this tract runs 2.5 points hotter.
Of its three components the household composition measure is the least pressured.
These are ACS 5-year estimates; the score moves when the ACS, court-record, or statute inputs behind it move.
Frequently asked
About tract 25017353800
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25017353800?
Census tract 25017353800 in the Harvard Yard neighborhood scores 8.7/10 (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 25017353800?
Median gross rent is $2,883/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 28% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 25017353800?
8.6% of residents in tract 25017353800 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 4,138.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 25017353800?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 21th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 10th, household 2th, minority 61th, housing 85th.
Q5
Is tract 25017353800 considered part of Harvard Yard?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25017353800 fall within Harvard Yard (neighborhood centroid within 0.4 miles, OSM data).
Q6
How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25017353800?
Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 57 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25017353800 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 0.66% of renter households, peaking at 1.0% in 2015. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7
Did eviction filings in tract 25017353800 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 25017353800 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. 3.9% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q9
How does tract 25017353800 compare to Cambridge overall?
Tract 25017353800 scores 8.7/10, right in line with 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 25017353800 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 Cambridge
Top eight tracts in Cambridge ranked by composite eviction-risk score.
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
Old Cambridge
9.9
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Brickbottom
9.9
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Harlow Square
9.9
/ 10 · Very High
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