Neighborhood · Ranked #9,878 of 84,120 nationally

Park Square Eviction Risk: Elevated , Chelsea

Tract 25025160200 · Suffolk County, MA · pop 4,545 · neighborhood within 0.1 mi

Here is how census tract 25025160200, in the Park Square area of Chelsea eviction risk, looks to a landlord: a 7.2/10 eviction-risk score (Elevated tier) across a population of 4,545. That is riskier than roughly 97% of the 84,120 US census tracts we score.

Rent eats 30% or more of income for 57% of renter households, a severe level, and 24% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average rent runs $2,097 a month against an average household income of $73,889 a year, roughly 34% of income at the averages. About 90% of occupied units are renter-occupied, a renter-majority tract.

Risk score

6.2

Elevated

Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale

Household mix · 100 hh

Burdened renters 51% Stable renters 39% Owners 10%

Tract context

Occupied units1,196

Renter share89.7%

SVI overall0.94

Poverty rate28.6%

Median income$73,889

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.

Geographic context

Risk heat across Chelsea and the region

Centroid at 42.3898, -71.0358 · click any tract to drill in

Why Park Square scores 6.2

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

28.6% poverty · this tract

7.1

Supply constraint

$2,097 rent vs county FMR

2.4

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 Park Square compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.

CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 94

CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.

96%Socioeconomic
76%Household composition
92%Racial/ethnic minority
84%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
16%Grade C
83%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)

188Total filings over 5 yrs
3.48%Avg annual filing rate
4.3%Peak (2015)
40Filings in 2016 (latest validated)

Filings by year 2012 to 2016

Filings climbed 60% over the past 5 months.

Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)

95Total filings 2020-21
2.0Avg monthly (observed)
3.0Pre-pandemic baseline
0.67×Ratio to baseline

Monthly filings 2020–2021 2020-01-01 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.

37.2%Housing insecurity
22.3%Utility-shutoff threat
46.0%Food insecurity
48.6%SNAP enrollment
23.5%Transit barriers
26.0%No health insurance
21.3%Frequent mental distress
40.3%Any disability

Analysis

What drives eviction risk in Park Square

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 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.

In CDC survey modeling, about 37.2% of adults here said they could not pay rent or mortgage at some point in the past year, and 22.3% faced a utility shutoff threat, a common early warning before a filing.

During 2020 and 2021, eviction filings here ran at about 0.67x the pre-COVID monthly baseline, well below the pre-pandemic norm, the signature of an eviction moratorium at work.

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 25025160200

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25025160200?

Census tract 25025160200 in the Park Square neighborhood scores 6.2/10 (Elevated tier). The Eviction Risk Score blends state law, county filing rates, parent-city politics, and tract-specific rent-to-income ratios + poverty signals.

What is the average rent in tract 25025160200?

Median gross rent is $2,097/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 57% of renter households are cost-burdened.

What is the poverty rate in tract 25025160200?

28.6% of residents in tract 25025160200 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 4,545.

How socially vulnerable is tract 25025160200?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 94th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 96th, household 76th, minority 92th, housing 84th.

Is tract 25025160200 considered part of Park Square?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25025160200 fall within Park Square (neighborhood centroid within 0.1 miles, OSM data).

How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25025160200?

Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 188 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25025160200 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 3.48% of renter households, peaking at 4.3% in 2015. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.

Did eviction filings in tract 25025160200 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.

What share of households in tract 25025160200 struggle to pay rent?

About 37.2% 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. 22.3% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.

How does tract 25025160200 compare to Chelsea overall?

Tract 25025160200 scores 6.2/10, right in line with 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.

Q10

Was tract 25025160200 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. 83% 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.

Eviction Lab tract-level court records (2000-2018) and Eviction Tracking System, Princeton University. Open Data Commons Attribution license. evictionlab.org