Dorchester Center Eviction Risk: High , Boston

33% are severely burdened past the 50% mark. That cohort absorbs no shock: one repair bill or one cut shift converts straight into arrears. At $1,297 a month, rents run 40% under what the rest of Boston commands.

The clearest offset is supply constraint at 1/10. Against Suffolk County at 47.0%, 60% of renters here are cost-burdened.

Set annual rent against average income of $42,269 and the ratio lands at 37%, above the conventional 30% ceiling. 79% of occupied units are rented, so comparables are plentiful and vacancy risk is low, but a mispriced renewal loses the tenant to a building nearby.

On the high side, local political climate reads 8.5/10. Inability to pay a utility bill runs 24.9% against 9.2% nationally. Utility arrears usually lead rent arrears by a month or two. Running hot, tenant-organizing strength reads 8.5/10.

Against the Suffolk County average of 7.9, this tract reads riskier for landlords by 1.6 points. The poverty rate is 24%, which in this model reads as reduced rent-recovery odds after a judgment. Court records carry 498 eviction filings across 5 observed years.

Filings peaked in 2015 at 7.6% of renter households. This ground was mapped C ("Definitely Declining") 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.

Tract-level figures come from the ACS 5-year release and are rebuilt whenever that, the court-record feed, or the statutory ledger behind the score changes.