Within neighborhood
50
th percentile
Moderate
Neighborhood · Ranked #29,578 of 84,120 nationally
Oak Square Eviction Risk: Moderate , Boston
Tract 25025000302 · Suffolk County, MA · pop 3,231 · neighborhood within 0.3 mi
How risky is the Oak Square neighborhood of Boston for landlords? Census tract 25025000302 scores 6.2/10, the Elevated tier. That is riskier than about 80% of US census tracts.
Rent eats 30% or more of income for 30% of renter households, a high level, and 11% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average rent runs $2,587 a month against an average household income of $116,793 a year, roughly 27% of income at the averages. About 55% of occupied units are renter-occupied, a renter-majority tract.
Risk score
4.7
Moderate
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 17%
Stable renters 39%
Owners 44%
Tract context
Occupied units1,359
Renter share55.4%
SVI overall0.15
Poverty rate10.1%
Median income$116,793
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.Within parent city
28
th percentile
Low
Within county
29
th percentile
Low
Within state
74
th percentile
Elevated
Geographic context
Risk heat across Boston and the region
Centroid at 42.3473, -71.1677 · click any tract to drill in
Why Oak Square scores 4.7
9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendlyLocal political climate
Inherited from Boston
8.5
Regional political climate
2024 county presidential margin
8.2
State political climate
Massachusetts legislature & governorship
6.2
Economic stress
10.1% poverty · this tract
2.5
Supply constraint
$2,587 rent vs county FMR
4.1
Rent control risk
Inherited from Boston
8.0
Eviction process difficulty
State law sets the calendar
8.0
Tenant organizing strength
Inherited from Boston
8.5
Housing court bias
Inherited from Boston
8.0
How Oak Square compares
Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.CDC Social Vulnerability Index
SVI percentile: 15
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
- 13%Socioeconomic
- 13%Household composition
- 56%Racial/ethnic minority
- 28%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
- 42%Grade B
- 56%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)
- 20Total filings over 5 yrs
- 0.72%Avg annual filing rate
- 0.9%Peak (2014)
- 3Filings in 2016 (latest validated)
Filings stayed roughly flat over the past 5 months.
Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)
- 5Total filings 2020-21
- 0.1Avg monthly (observed)
- 0.1Pre-pandemic baseline
- 0.83×Ratio to baseline
Pandemic filings ran below baseline. 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.
- 8.1%Housing insecurity
- 4.9%Utility-shutoff threat
- 8.2%Food insecurity
- 8.0%SNAP enrollment
- 6.2%Transit barriers
- 3.5%No health insurance
- 15.3%Frequent mental distress
- 18.7%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Oak Square
The score leans hardest on tenant organizing strength at 8.5/10. 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 Boston eviction risk, while the economic and supply signals are measured at the tract level.
Set against its neighbors, this tract scores below the Suffolk County average of 6.7 and in line with the Massachusetts statewide average of 5.9. Within its own county it reads on the safer side for landlords.
In CDC survey modeling, about 8.1% of adults here said they could not pay rent or mortgage at some point in the past year, and 4.9% faced a utility shutoff threat, a common early warning before a filing.
Princeton's Eviction Lab logged 20 eviction filings here over 5 tracked years, with about 0.7% of renter households facing a filing in a typical year. Filings peaked at 0.9% of renter households in 2014.
For a landlord, this is a tract where process discipline pays off. Clean paperwork and steady screening keep the elevated risk manageable.
Frequently asked
About tract 25025000302
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25025000302?
Census tract 25025000302 in the Oak Square neighborhood scores 4.7/10 (Moderate tier). The Eviction Risk Score blends state law, county filing rates, parent-city politics, and tract-specific rent-to-income ratios + poverty signals.
Q2
What is the average rent in tract 25025000302?
Median gross rent is $2,587/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 30% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 25025000302?
10.1% of residents in tract 25025000302 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 3,231.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 25025000302?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 15th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 13th, household 13th, minority 56th, housing 28th.
Q5
Is tract 25025000302 considered part of Oak Square?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25025000302 fall within Oak Square (neighborhood centroid within 0.3 miles, OSM data).
Q6
How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25025000302?
Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 20 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25025000302 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 0.72% of renter households, peaking at 0.9% in 2014. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7
Did eviction filings in tract 25025000302 drop during COVID?
Pandemic-era filings ran 0.83× the pre-COVID monthly baseline. Filings ran modestly below normal. Tracked by the Eviction Lab Eviction Tracking System (Boston eviction risk, MA), 2020-2021.
Q8
What share of households in tract 25025000302 struggle to pay rent?
About 8.1% 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. 4.9% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q9
How does tract 25025000302 compare to Boston overall?
Tract 25025000302 scores 4.7/10, lower than the parent city of Boston at 7.1/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Boston eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.
Q10
Was tract 25025000302 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 Boston
Top eight tracts in Boston ranked by composite eviction-risk score.
Tract · MA
Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
7.9
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
7.8
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
7.8
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Packard's Corner
7.8
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Mount Bowdoin
7.7
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Dorchester Heights
7.7
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
7.6
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Dorchester Heights
7.6
/ 10 · High
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