Within neighborhood
8
th percentile
Very Low
Neighborhood · Ranked #14,308 of 84,120 nationally
Dorchester Heights Eviction Risk: Elevated , Boston
Tract 25025060200 · Suffolk County, MA · pop 2,282 · neighborhood within 0.6 mi
Census tract 25025060200 covers part of the Dorchester Heights area of Boston, MA, and scores 6.7/10 on landlord eviction risk. Population here is 2,282. Average gross rent is $3,385, 58% above the Boston average.
Risk score
6.7
Elevated
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 17%
Stable renters 39%
Owners 44%
Tract context
Occupied units968
Renter share55.9%
SVI overall0.04
Poverty rate6.2%
Median income$178,063
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.Within parent city
12
th percentile
Very Low
Within county
19
th percentile
Very Low
Within state
63
th percentile
Elevated
Geographic context
Risk heat across Boston and the region
Centroid at 42.3326, -71.0327 · click any tract to drill in
Why Dorchester Heights scores 6.7
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
6.2% poverty · this tract
1.5
Supply constraint
$3,385 rent vs county FMR
6.9
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.CDC Social Vulnerability Index
SVI percentile: 4
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
- 12%Socioeconomic
- 2%Household composition
- 8%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
- 0%Grade B
- 96%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)
- 11Total filings over 4 yrs
- 0.60%Avg annual filing rate
- 1.3%Peak (2013)
- 1Filings in 2016 (latest validated)
Filings dropped 67% over the past 5 months.
Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)
- 3Total filings 2020-21
- 0.1Avg monthly (observed)
- 0.2Pre-pandemic baseline
- 0.29×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 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.
- 6.6%Housing insecurity
- 4.2%Utility-shutoff threat
- 5.8%Food insecurity
- 6.1%SNAP enrollment
- 5.0%Transit barriers
- 2.6%No health insurance
- 16.0%Frequent mental distress
- 16.3%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Dorchester Heights
31% of renter households cross the 30%-of-income line, well below the Suffolk County average of 47.0%. What pushes it up most is local political climate at 8.5/10. Sitting well above the midpoint, tenant-organizing strength reads 8.5/10.
Well under the midpoint, economic stress reads 1.5/10. Severe burden reaches 13%. Those are renters paying half their income or more, and that is where non-payment filings originate.
The voucher gap is 19.3%: households holding assistance that local rents will not absorb, which surfaces as churn rather than arrears. It sits 1.2 points below the Suffolk County average of 7.9. SNAP participation runs 6.1% against 15.2% nationally.
Adults with no health insurance runs 2.6% against 11.3% nationally. Court records carry 11 eviction filings across 4 observed years.
The worst year on record was 2013, when 1.3% of renter households were served. 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.
All figures here are ACS 5-year estimates for this tract, refreshed as the underlying releases land.
Frequently asked
About tract 25025060200
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25025060200?
Census tract 25025060200 in the Dorchester Heights neighborhood scores 6.7/10 (Elevated 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 25025060200?
Median gross rent is $3,385/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 31% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 25025060200?
6.2% of residents in tract 25025060200 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 2,282.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 25025060200?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 4th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 12th, household 2th, minority 8th, housing 28th.
Q5
Is tract 25025060200 considered part of Dorchester Heights?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25025060200 fall within Dorchester Heights (neighborhood centroid within 0.6 miles, OSM data).
Q6
How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25025060200?
Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 11 eviction filings across 4 validated years in tract 25025060200 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 0.60% of renter households, peaking at 1.3% in 2013. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7
Did eviction filings in tract 25025060200 drop during COVID?
Pandemic-era filings ran 0.29× 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 25025060200 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. 4.2% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q9
How does tract 25025060200 compare to Boston overall?
Tract 25025060200 scores 6.7/10, lower than the parent city of Boston at 8.1/10. 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 25025060200 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.
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Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
9.5
/ 10 · Very High
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Nubian Square
9.5
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Packard's Corner
9.5
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
9.5
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Nubian Square
9.5
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Nubian Square
9.5
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Uphams Corner
9.5
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Packard's Corner
9.5
/ 10 · Very High
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