Frederick Douglass Square Historic District Eviction Risk: High , Boston
Tract 25025080601 ·
Suffolk County, MA · pop 3,572 · neighborhood within 0.3 mi
How risky is the Frederick Douglass Square Historic District area of Boston for landlords? Census tract 25025080601 scores 7.6/10, the Elevated tier. That is riskier than roughly 99% of the 84,120 US census tracts we score.
Rent eats 30% or more of income for 66% of renter households, a severe level, and 45% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average gross rent is $973 monthly, set against $23,693 in average yearly household income, roughly 49% of income at the averages. Renters make up 75% of occupied homes, a renter-majority tract.
Risk score
8.2
High
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 49%Stable renters 26%Owners 25%
Tract context
Occupied units656
Renter share75.0%
SVI overall0.84
Poverty rate55.9%
Median income$23,693
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.
Within neighborhood
89th percentile
#3 of 19 tracts In Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
High
Within parent city
99th percentile
#3 of 206 tracts In Boston
Very High
Within county
99th percentile
#4 of 234 tracts In Suffolk County
Very High
Within state
100th percentile
#2 of 1,613 tracts In Massachusetts
Very High
Geographic context
Risk heat across Boston and the region
Centroid at 42.3334, -71.0880 · click any tract to drill in
Why Frederick Douglass Square Historic District scores 8.2
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
55.9% poverty · this tract
10.0
Supply constraint
$973 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 Frederick Douglass Square Historic District compares
Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.
CDC Social Vulnerability Index
SVI percentile: 84
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
93%Socioeconomic
33%Household composition
78%Racial/ethnic minority
78%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
100%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)
192Total filings over 5 yrs
4.60%Avg annual filing rate
5.1%Peak (2012)
40Filings in 2016 (latest validated)
Filings by year2012 to 2016
Filings stayed roughly flat over the past 5 months.
Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)
98Total filings 2020-21
2.1Avg monthly (observed)
3.1Pre-pandemic baseline
0.67×Ratio to baseline
Monthly filings 2020–20212020-01-01 to 2023-11-01
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 Frederick Douglass Square Historic District. Closest by Eviction Risk Score.
Crude prevalence of conditions linked to housing loss. Source: CDC PLACES (cwsq-ngmh), 2023 model-based small-area estimates.
22.4%Housing insecurity
16.0%Utility-shutoff threat
34.1%Food insecurity
38.5%SNAP enrollment
22.8%Transit barriers
7.5%No health insurance
26.8%Frequent mental distress
35.3%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
The score leans hardest on economic stress at $1/10. That part is specific to this tract, computed from its own rent, income, and poverty figures. 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 above the Suffolk County average of 6.7 and above the Massachusetts statewide average of 5.9. Within its own county it reads on the riskier side for landlords.
This tract overlaps land the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation redlined in the 1930s, a dominant grade of D ("Hazardous") across 100% of the tract. Redlining cut off mortgage credit to Black, immigrant, and working-class blocks, and those areas still tend to carry higher rent burden and eviction filings today.
The tract is White and Asian and ranks around the 84th percentile nationally on the CDC Social Vulnerability Index, a measure of how exposed residents are to housing and economic shocks. High vulnerability tends to track with higher eviction-filing rates when rents climb.
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 25025080601
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25025080601?
Census tract 25025080601 in the Frederick Douglass Square Historic District neighborhood scores 8.2/10 (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 25025080601?
Median gross rent is $973/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 66% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 25025080601?
55.9% of residents in tract 25025080601 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 3,572.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 25025080601?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 84th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 93th, household 33th, minority 78th, housing 78th.
Q5
Is tract 25025080601 considered part of Frederick Douglass Square Historic District?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25025080601 fall within Frederick Douglass Square Historic District (neighborhood centroid within 0.3 miles, OSM data).
Q6
How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25025080601?
Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 192 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25025080601 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 4.60% of renter households, peaking at 5.1% in 2012. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7
Did eviction filings in tract 25025080601 drop during COVID?
Pandemic-era filings ran 0.67× 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 25025080601 struggle to pay rent?
About 22.4% 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. 16.0% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q9
How does tract 25025080601 compare to Boston overall?
Tract 25025080601 scores 8.2/10, higher 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 25025080601 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. 100% 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.