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Neighborhood · Ranked #37,643 of 84,120 nationally

Dock Square Eviction Risk: Moderate , Boston

Tract 25025030500 · Suffolk County, MA · pop 2,235 · neighborhood within 0.5 mi

Here is how census tract 25025030500, in the Dock Square neighborhood of Boston eviction risk, looks to a landlord: a 6.2/10 eviction-risk score (Elevated tier) across a population of 2,235. That is riskier than roughly 80% of the 84,120 US census tracts we score.

30% of renter households here spend at least 30% of income on rent, a high level, and 12% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average rent runs $2,935 a month against an average household income of $139,191 a year, roughly 25% of income at the averages. About 62% of occupied units are renter-occupied, a renter-majority tract.

Risk score
4.2
Moderate
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 19% Stable renters 43% Owners 38%
Tract context
Occupied units1,251
Renter share62.4%
SVI overall0.23
Poverty rate6.8%
Median income$139,191

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.
Within neighborhood
0 th percentile
Rank, 0th percentileLowHigh
#2 of 2 tracts In Dock Square
Very Low
Within parent city
14 th percentile
Rank, 14th percentileLowHigh
#177 of 206 tracts In Boston
Very Low
Within county
19 th percentile
Rank, 19th percentileLowHigh
#191 of 234 tracts In Suffolk County
Very Low
Within state
67 th percentile
Rank, 67th percentileLowHigh
#539 of 1,613 tracts In Massachusetts
Elevated
Geographic context

Risk heat across Boston and the region

Centroid at 42.3676, -71.0516 · click any tract to drill in

Why Dock Square scores 4.2

9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly
Local 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
6.8% poverty · this tract
1.7
Supply constraint
$2,935 rent vs county FMR
5.3
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 Dock Square compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.
Dock Square risk score vs. parent city / county / stateThis tract: 4.24.2This tracttract 030500Boston: 7.17.1Bostonparent cityCounty: 5.55.5Countyavg tract in countyState: 3.53.5Stateavg tract in state
CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 23

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

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.

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)

  • 19Total filings over 5 yrs
  • 0.43%Avg annual filing rate
  • 0.7%Peak (2012)
  • 3Filings in 2016 (latest validated)
Filings by year 2012 to 2016
Year-by-year eviction filings in tract 250250305002012: 6 filings (0.66/100 renter HHs)2013: 3 filings (0.33/100 renter HHs)2014: 5 filings (0.55/100 renter HHs)2015: 2 filings (0.22/100 renter HHs)2016: 3 filings (0.40/100 renter HHs)
Filings dropped 50% over the past 5 months.

Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)

  • 7Total filings 2020-21
  • 0.2Avg monthly (observed)
  • 0.3Pre-pandemic baseline
  • 0.48×Ratio to baseline
Monthly filings 2020–2021 2020-01-01 to 2023-11-01
Monthly eviction filings vs pre-pandemic baseline2020-01-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2020-02-01: 2 filings (20.00× baseline)2020-03-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2020-04-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2020-05-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2020-06-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2020-07-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2020-08-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2020-09-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2020-10-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2020-11-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2020-12-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2021-01-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2021-02-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2021-03-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2021-04-01: 1 filings (4.00× baseline)2021-05-01: 1 filings (4.00× baseline)2021-06-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2021-07-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2021-08-01: 1 filings (4.00× baseline)2021-09-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2021-10-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2021-11-01: 1 filings (4.00× baseline)2021-12-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2022-01-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2022-02-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2022-03-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2022-04-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2022-05-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2022-06-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2022-07-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2022-08-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2022-09-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2022-10-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2022-11-01: 1 filings (4.00× baseline)2022-12-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2023-01-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2023-02-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2023-03-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2023-04-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2023-05-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2023-06-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2023-07-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2023-08-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2023-09-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2023-10-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2023-11-01: 0 filings (0.00× 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 Dock 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 Dock Square

The heaviest input here is 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.

The tract is predominantly White and ranks around the 23rd percentile nationally on the CDC Social Vulnerability Index, a measure of how exposed residents are to housing and economic shocks. That is a relatively low-vulnerability reading.

In CDC survey modeling, about 6.2% of adults here said they could not pay rent or mortgage at some point in the past year, and 3.9% faced a utility shutoff threat, a common early warning before a filing.

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 25025030500

Q1

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25025030500?

Census tract 25025030500 in the Dock Square neighborhood scores 4.2/10 (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 25025030500?

Median gross rent is $2,935/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 30% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3

What is the poverty rate in tract 25025030500?

6.8% of residents in tract 25025030500 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 2,235.
Q4

How socially vulnerable is tract 25025030500?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 23th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 17th, household 2th, minority 21th, housing 90th.
Q5

Is tract 25025030500 considered part of Dock Square?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25025030500 fall within Dock Square (neighborhood centroid within 0.5 miles, OSM data).
Q6

How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25025030500?

Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 19 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25025030500 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 0.43% of renter households, peaking at 0.7% in 2012. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7

Did eviction filings in tract 25025030500 drop during COVID?

Pandemic-era filings ran 0.48× 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 25025030500 struggle to pay rent?

About 6.2% 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 25025030500 compare to Boston overall?

Tract 25025030500 scores 4.2/10, 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 25025030500 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. 23% 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.

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