Within neighborhood
85
th percentile
High
Neighborhood · Ranked #3,797 of 84,120 nationally
Dorchester Heights Eviction Risk: High , Boston
Tract 25025061000 · Suffolk County, MA · pop 2,860 · neighborhood within 0.3 mi
With a score of 9.1/10, tract 25025061000 in the Dorchester Heights area of Boston, MA reads high for landlord eviction risk. Population here is 2,860. Average gross rent is $1,154, 46% below the Boston average.
Risk score
9.1
High
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 25%
Stable renters 40%
Owners 35%
Tract context
Occupied units1,155
Renter share64.8%
SVI overall0.44
Poverty rate24.9%
Median income$84,176
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.Within parent city
69
th percentile
Elevated
Within county
71
th percentile
Elevated
Within state
95
th percentile
Very High
Geographic context
Risk heat across Boston and the region
Centroid at 42.3317, -71.0499 · click any tract to drill in
Why Dorchester Heights scores 9.1
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
24.9% poverty · this tract
6.2
Supply constraint
$1,154 rent vs county FMR
1.0
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.CDC Social Vulnerability Index
SVI percentile: 44
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
- 33%Socioeconomic
- 46%Household composition
- 60%Racial/ethnic minority
- 52%Housing & transportation
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.
- 0%Grade A
- 0%Grade B
- 0%Grade C
- 98%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)
- 121Total filings over 5 yrs
- 2.21%Avg annual filing rate
- 3.7%Peak (2016)
- 42Filings in 2016 (latest validated)
Filings climbed 75% over the past 5 months.
Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)
- 27Total filings 2020-21
- 0.6Avg monthly (observed)
- 2.1Pre-pandemic baseline
- 0.27×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.
- 17.6%Housing insecurity
- 11.8%Utility-shutoff threat
- 20.7%Food insecurity
- 24.7%SNAP enrollment
- 12.5%Transit barriers
- 7.6%No health insurance
- 19.3%Frequent mental distress
- 27.4%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Dorchester Heights
Pulling hardest the other way is supply constraint at 1/10. Sitting well above the midpoint, local political climate reads 8.5/10. Running hot, tenant-organizing strength reads 8.5/10.
Against Suffolk County at 47.0%, 38% of renters here are cost-burdened. The severe-burden share is 17%, and it is the single best predictor in this model of a filing that actually reaches judgment.
The poverty rate is 25%. Judgments in high-poverty tracts are collectible far less often than filing counts suggest. It sits 1.2 points above the Suffolk County average of 7.9.
SNAP participation runs 24.7% against 15.2% nationally. The filing record is not thin: 121 evictions over 5 years of observation. Filings peaked in 2016 at 3.7% of renter households.
This ground was mapped D ("Hazardous") on the 1930s HOLC security maps for Boston. That grading determined who could get a mortgage, and its imprint on tenure and rent burden is still visible in the ACS data above. In a typical year about 2.2% of renter households face a filing.
That is riskier than roughly 95% of the 84,120 US census tracts in this model.
All figures here are ACS 5-year estimates for this tract, refreshed as the underlying releases land.
Frequently asked
About tract 25025061000
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25025061000?
Census tract 25025061000 in the Dorchester Heights neighborhood scores 9.1/10 (High 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 25025061000?
Median gross rent is $1,154/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 38% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 25025061000?
24.9% of residents in tract 25025061000 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 2,860.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 25025061000?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 44th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 33th, household 46th, minority 60th, housing 52th.
Q5
Is tract 25025061000 considered part of Dorchester Heights?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25025061000 fall within Dorchester Heights (neighborhood centroid within 0.3 miles, OSM data).
Q6
How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25025061000?
Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 121 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25025061000 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 2.21% of renter households, peaking at 3.7% in 2016. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7
Did eviction filings in tract 25025061000 drop during COVID?
Pandemic-era filings ran 0.27× 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 25025061000 struggle to pay rent?
About 17.6% 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. 11.8% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q9
How does tract 25025061000 compare to Boston overall?
Tract 25025061000 scores 9.1/10, higher 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 25025061000 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. 98% 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
Mount Bowdoin
9.5
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Audubon Circle
9.5
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
9.5
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Grove Hall
9.5
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
9.5
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Mount Bowdoin
9.5
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Audubon Circle
9.5
/ 10 · Very High
Tract · MA
Church Green
9.5
/ 10 · Very High
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