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Neighborhood · Ranked #32,842 of 84,120 nationally

Oak Square Eviction Risk: Moderate , Newton

Tract 25017373500 · Middlesex County, MA · pop 6,117 · neighborhood within 0.9 mi

25017373500 is a census tract in the Oak Square area of Newton, MA. It scores 5/10 for landlords. Against Middlesex County at 43.0%, 10% of renters here are cost-burdened.

Risk score
5
Moderate
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 1% Stable renters 8% Owners 91%
Tract context
Occupied units1,925
Renter share9.4%
SVI overall0.12
Poverty rate3.9%
Median income$250,001

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.
Within neighborhood
0 th percentile
Rank, 0th percentileLowHigh
#3 of 3 tracts In Oak Square
Very Low
Within parent city
17 th percentile
Rank, 17th percentileLowHigh
#16 of 19 tracts In Newton
Very Low
Within county
21 th percentile
Rank, 21st percentileLowHigh
#284 of 357 tracts In Middlesex County
Low
Within state
32 th percentile
Rank, 32nd percentileLowHigh
#1,097 of 1,613 tracts In Massachusetts
Low
Geographic context

Risk heat across Newton and the region

Centroid at 42.3440, -71.1835 · click any tract to drill in

Why Oak Square scores 5

9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly
Local political climate
Inherited from Newton
7.1
Regional political climate
2024 county presidential margin
7.3
State political climate
Massachusetts legislature & governorship
6.2
Economic stress
3.9% poverty · this tract
1.0
Supply constraint
$2,938 rent vs county FMR
5.4
Rent control risk
Inherited from Newton
4.8
Eviction process difficulty
State law sets the calendar
5.9
Tenant organizing strength
Inherited from Newton
6.3
Housing court bias
Inherited from Newton
3.9

How Oak Square compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.
Oak Square risk score vs. parent city / county / state5.0This tracttract 3735005.9Newtonparent city6.3Countyavg tract in county6.2Stateavg tract in state
CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 12

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

Historical context · 1930s redlining

HOLC grade: B: Still Desirable

This tract sits within an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s. Grade B meant middle-class areas with mortgage access. These designations suppressed minority homeownership for generations and remain a documented predictor of present-day eviction filings and rent burden.

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)

  • 5Total filings over 3 yrs
  • 0.58%Avg annual filing rate
  • 0.7%Peak (2012)
  • 2Filings in 2016 (latest validated)
Filings by year 2012 to 2016
Year-by-year eviction filings in tract 25017373500
Filings stayed roughly flat over the past 5 months.

Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)

  • 0Total filings 2020-21
  • 0.0Avg monthly (observed)
  • 0.1Pre-pandemic baseline
  • 0.00×Ratio to baseline
Monthly filings 2020–2021 2020-01-01 to 2023-11-01
Monthly eviction filings vs pre-pandemic 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 Oak 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.

Analysis

What drives eviction risk in Oak Square

The clearest offset is economic stress at 1/10. At $2,938 a month, rents run 24% over what the rest of Newton commands. Food insecurity runs 5.3% against 17.8% nationally.

It sits 1.3 points below the Middlesex County average of 6.3. Well under the midpoint, court filing pressure reads 2.5/10.

SNAP participation runs 5.2% against 15.2% nationally. Sitting well above the midpoint, regional political climate reads 7.3/10. Court records carry 5 eviction filings across 3 observed years.

The worst year on record was 2012, when 0.7% of renter households were served. In the 1930s the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation graded this ground B ("Still Desirable"). 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 0.6% of renter households face a filing.

All figures here are ACS 5-year estimates for this tract, refreshed as the underlying releases land.

Frequently asked

About tract 25017373500

Q1

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25017373500?

Census tract 25017373500 in the Oak Square neighborhood scores 5/10 (Moderate tier). The Eviction Risk Score blends state law, county filing rates, parent-city politics, and tract-specific rent-to-income ratios + poverty signals.
Q2

What is the average rent in tract 25017373500?

Median gross rent is $2,938/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 10% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3

What is the poverty rate in tract 25017373500?

3.9% of residents in tract 25017373500 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 6,117.
Q4

How socially vulnerable is tract 25017373500?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 12th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 3th, household 24th, minority 31th, housing 39th.
Q5

Is tract 25017373500 considered part of Oak Square?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25017373500 fall within Oak Square (neighborhood centroid within 0.9 miles, OSM data).
Q6

How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25017373500?

Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 5 eviction filings across 3 validated years in tract 25017373500 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 0.58% of renter households, peaking at 0.7% in 2012. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7

Did eviction filings in tract 25017373500 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 25017373500 struggle to pay rent?

About 5.4% 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. 3.3% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q9

How does tract 25017373500 compare to Newton overall?

Tract 25017373500 scores 5/10, lower than the parent city of Newton at 5.9/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Newton eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.
Q10

Was tract 25017373500 historically redlined?

Yes. This tract sits inside an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s, with a dominant grade of B. 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 Newton

Top eight tracts in Newton ranked by composite eviction-risk score.

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