Within neighborhood
60
th percentile
Elevated
Neighborhood · Ranked #8,138 of 84,120 nationally
Dorchester Center Eviction Risk: Elevated , Boston
Tract 25025100500 · Suffolk County, MA · pop 7,627 · neighborhood within 0.3 mi
The Dorchester Center area of Boston is where census tract 25025100500 sits, home to 7,627 residents. Its landlord eviction-risk score is $1/10. It lands near the 95th percentile nationally for landlord eviction risk.
49% of renter households here spend at least 30% of income on rent, a severe level, and 31% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average rent runs $1,729 a month against an average household income of $66,944 a year, roughly 31% of income at the averages. Renters make up 62% of occupied homes, a renter-majority tract.
Risk score
6.4
Elevated
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 30%
Stable renters 32%
Owners 38%
Tract context
Occupied units2,868
Renter share62.2%
SVI overall0.87
Poverty rate20.6%
Median income$66,944
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.Within parent city
70
th percentile
Elevated
Within county
74
th percentile
Elevated
Within state
93
th percentile
Very High
Geographic context
Risk heat across Boston and the region
Centroid at 42.2882, -71.0707 · click any tract to drill in
Why Dorchester Center scores 6.4
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
20.6% poverty · this tract
5.2
Supply constraint
$1,729 rent vs county FMR
1.1
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 Center compares
Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.CDC Social Vulnerability Index
SVI percentile: 87
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
- 77%Socioeconomic
- 75%Household composition
- 87%Racial/ethnic minority
- 86%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
- 100%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)
- 474Total filings over 5 yrs
- 6.34%Avg annual filing rate
- 8.5%Peak (2016)
- 113Filings in 2016 (latest validated)
Filings climbed 36% over the past 5 months.
Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)
- 171Total filings 2020-21
- 3.6Avg monthly (observed)
- 11.3Pre-pandemic baseline
- 0.32×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 Center. 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.
- 21.8%Housing insecurity
- 15.1%Utility-shutoff threat
- 24.8%Food insecurity
- 29.3%SNAP enrollment
- 14.3%Transit barriers
- 7.4%No health insurance
- 18.0%Frequent mental distress
- 29.2%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Dorchester Center
What moves this score most 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 about the same as 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.
The tract is racially mixed and ranks around the 87th 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.
HOLC surveyors mapped this tract in the 1930s with a dominant grade of C ("Declining"), above the redlined D tier. The grading still shaped decades of lending and development in the surrounding area.
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 25025100500
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25025100500?
Census tract 25025100500 in the Dorchester Center neighborhood scores 6.4/10 (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 25025100500?
Median gross rent is $1,729/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 49% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 25025100500?
20.6% of residents in tract 25025100500 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 7,627.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 25025100500?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 87th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 77th, household 75th, minority 87th, housing 86th.
Q5
Is tract 25025100500 considered part of Dorchester Center?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25025100500 fall within Dorchester Center (neighborhood centroid within 0.3 miles, OSM data).
Q6
How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25025100500?
Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 474 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25025100500 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 6.34% of renter households, peaking at 8.5% in 2016. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7
Did eviction filings in tract 25025100500 drop during COVID?
Pandemic-era filings ran 0.32× 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 25025100500 struggle to pay rent?
About 21.8% 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. 15.1% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q9
How does tract 25025100500 compare to Boston overall?
Tract 25025100500 scores 6.4/10, 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 25025100500 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.
Tract · MA
Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
7.9
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Packard's Corner
7.8
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
7.8
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Frederick Douglass Square Historic District
7.8
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Mount Bowdoin
7.7
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Dorchester Heights
7.7
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Nubian Square
7.6
/ 10 · High
Tract · MA
Nubian Square
7.6
/ 10 · High
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