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Neighborhood · Ranked #45,641 of 84,120 nationally

Dorchester Heights Eviction Risk: Moderate , Boston

Tract 25025060101 · Suffolk County, MA · pop 3,587 · neighborhood within 0.8 mi

Landlord eviction risk in census tract 25025060101 (the Dorchester Heights area of Boston, Massachusetts) comes in at $1/10, the Elevated tier. It lands near the 75th percentile nationally for landlord eviction risk.

27% of renter households here spend at least 30% of income on rent, a moderate level, and 7% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average rent runs $2,846 a month against an average household income of $167,250 a year, roughly 20% of income at the averages. About 48% of occupied units are renter-occupied.

Risk score
4.3
Moderate
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 13% Stable renters 35% Owners 52%
Tract context
Occupied units1,797
Renter share48.4%
SVI overall0.07
Poverty rate2.3%
Median income$167,250

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.
Within neighborhood
0 th percentile
Rank, 0th percentileLowHigh
#14 of 14 tracts In Dorchester Heights
Very Low
Within parent city
2 th percentile
Rank, 2nd percentileLowHigh
#202 of 206 tracts In Boston
Very Low
Within county
3 th percentile
Rank, 3rd percentileLowHigh
#226 of 234 tracts In Suffolk County
Very Low
Within state
37 th percentile
Rank, 37th percentileLowHigh
#1,025 of 1,613 tracts In Massachusetts
Low
Geographic context

Risk heat across Boston and the region

Centroid at 42.3348, -71.0279 · click any tract to drill in

Why Dorchester Heights scores 4.3

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
2.3% poverty · this tract
1.0
Supply constraint
$2,846 rent vs county FMR
5.0
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 Dorchester Heights compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.
Dorchester Heights risk score vs. parent city / county / stateThis tract: 4.34.3This tracttract 060101Boston: 7.17.1Bostonparent cityCounty: 6.06.0Countyavg tract in countyState: 5.05.0Stateavg tract in state
CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 7

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

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.

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)

  • 23Total filings over 5 yrs
  • 0.52%Avg annual filing rate
  • 1.0%Peak (2012)
  • 5Filings in 2016 (latest validated)
Filings by year 2012 to 2016
Year-by-year eviction filings in tract 250250601012012: 9 filings (1.01/100 renter HHs)2013: 1 filings (0.11/100 renter HHs)2014: 2 filings (0.22/100 renter HHs)2015: 6 filings (0.67/100 renter HHs)2016: 5 filings (0.60/100 renter HHs)
Filings dropped 44% over the past 5 months.

Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)

  • 6Total filings 2020-21
  • 0.1Avg monthly (observed)
  • 0.4Pre-pandemic baseline
  • 0.30×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: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2020-03-01: 1 filings (1.33× baseline)2020-04-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2020-05-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2020-06-01: 1 filings (0.80× 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: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2021-05-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2021-06-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2021-07-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2021-08-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2021-09-01: 0 filings (0.00× baseline)2021-10-01: 1 filings (4.00× baseline)2021-11-01: 0 filings (0.00× 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: 1 filings (1.00× 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: 0 filings (0.00× 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: 1 filings (10.00× 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: 1 filings (2.00× 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 Dorchester Heights. 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 Dorchester Heights

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.

Part of this tract, about 12% of its area, sat in the redlined grade-D zone on 1930s HOLC maps, though its dominant grade was C ("Declining"). That lending history still correlates with present-day rent burden.

The tract is predominantly White and ranks around the 7th 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.

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 25025060101

Q1

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25025060101?

Census tract 25025060101 in the Dorchester Heights neighborhood scores 4.3/10 (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 25025060101?

Median gross rent is $2,846/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 27% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3

What is the poverty rate in tract 25025060101?

2.3% of residents in tract 25025060101 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 3,587.
Q4

How socially vulnerable is tract 25025060101?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 7th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 2th, household 4th, minority 6th, housing 66th.
Q5

Is tract 25025060101 considered part of Dorchester Heights?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25025060101 fall within Dorchester Heights (neighborhood centroid within 0.8 miles, OSM data).
Q6

How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25025060101?

Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 23 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25025060101 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 0.52% of renter households, peaking at 1.0% in 2012. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7

Did eviction filings in tract 25025060101 drop during COVID?

Pandemic-era filings ran 0.30× 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 25025060101 struggle to pay rent?

About 6.7% 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 25025060101 compare to Boston overall?

Tract 25025060101 scores 4.3/10, 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 25025060101 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. 12% 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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