Neighborhood · Ranked #15,522 of 84,120 nationally
Bellingham Square Historic District Eviction Risk: Moderate , Chelsea
Tract 25025160103 ·
Suffolk County, MA · pop 4,845 · neighborhood within 0.2 mi
Eviction risk in the Bellingham Square Historic District neighborhood of Chelsea centers on tract 25025160103, which scores $1/10 (Elevated tier) and is home to 4,845 residents. That is riskier than about 94% of US census tracts.
About 62% of renters carry a rent burden of 30% of income or higher, a severe level, and 45% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average gross rent is $1,940 monthly, set against $80,573 in average yearly household income, roughly 29% of income at the averages. About 54% of occupied units are renter-occupied, a renter-majority tract.
Risk score
5.7
Moderate
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 33%Stable renters 21%Owners 46%
Tract context
Occupied units1,230
Renter share53.7%
SVI overall0.96
Poverty rate23.8%
Median income$80,573
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.
Within neighborhood
50th percentile
#1 of 1 tracts In Bellingham Square Historic District
Moderate
Within parent city
63th percentile
#4 of 9 tracts In Chelsea
Elevated
Within county
58th percentile
#100 of 234 tracts In Suffolk County
Elevated
Within state
87th percentile
#219 of 1,613 tracts In Massachusetts
High
Geographic context
Risk heat across Chelsea and the region
Centroid at 42.3877, -71.0289 · click any tract to drill in
Why Bellingham Square Historic District scores 5.7
9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly
Local political climate
Inherited from Chelsea
8.3
Regional political climate
2024 county presidential margin
8.2
State political climate
Massachusetts legislature & governorship
6.2
Economic stress
23.8% poverty · this tract
5.9
Supply constraint
$1,940 rent vs county FMR
1.8
Rent control risk
Inherited from Chelsea
7.7
Eviction process difficulty
State law sets the calendar
5.9
Tenant organizing strength
Inherited from Chelsea
9.8
Housing court bias
Inherited from Chelsea
7.9
How Bellingham Square Historic District compares
Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.
CDC Social Vulnerability Index
SVI percentile: 96
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
91%Socioeconomic
78%Household composition
89%Racial/ethnic minority
95%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
72%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
Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)
50Total filings 2020-21
1.1Avg monthly (observed)
2.3Pre-pandemic baseline
0.47×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.
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.
29.6%Housing insecurity
16.8%Utility-shutoff threat
35.5%Food insecurity
36.2%SNAP enrollment
18.2%Transit barriers
20.6%No health insurance
19.3%Frequent mental distress
36.7%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Bellingham Square Historic District
What moves this score most is tenant organizing strength at 9.8/10. 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 Chelsea 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.
In CDC survey modeling, about 29.6% of adults here said they could not pay rent or mortgage at some point in the past year, and 16.8% faced a utility shutoff threat, a common early warning before a filing.
The tract is predominantly Hispanic or Latino and ranks around the 96th 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 25025160103
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25025160103?
Census tract 25025160103 in the Bellingham Square Historic District neighborhood scores 5.7/10 (Moderate 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 25025160103?
Median gross rent is $1,940/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 62% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 25025160103?
23.8% of residents in tract 25025160103 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 4,845.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 25025160103?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 96th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 91th, household 78th, minority 89th, housing 95th.
Q5
Is tract 25025160103 considered part of Bellingham Square Historic District?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25025160103 fall within Bellingham Square Historic District (neighborhood centroid within 0.2 miles, OSM data).
Q6
Did eviction filings in tract 25025160103 drop during COVID?
Pandemic-era filings ran 0.47× 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.
Q7
What share of households in tract 25025160103 struggle to pay rent?
About 29.6% 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. 16.8% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q8
How does tract 25025160103 compare to Chelsea overall?
Tract 25025160103 scores 5.7/10, lower than the parent city of Chelsea at 6.4/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Chelsea eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.
Q9
Was tract 25025160103 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. 72% 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 Chelsea
Top eight tracts in Chelsea ranked by composite eviction-risk score.