Within neighborhood
50
th percentile
Moderate
Neighborhood · Ranked #15,522 of 84,120 nationally
Chelsea Square Eviction Risk: Moderate
Tract 25025160400 · Suffolk County, MA · pop 3,281 · neighborhood within 0.4 mi
Census tract 25025160400 belongs to Chelsea Square in Chelsea, Massachusetts. It is home to 3,281 residents and scores 6.8/10, an elevated reading for landlords. It lands near the 92nd percentile nationally for landlord eviction risk.
Rent eats 30% or more of income for 45% of renter households, a severe level, and 26% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average gross rent is $1,871 monthly, set against $74,329 in average yearly household income, roughly 30% of income at the averages. About 90% 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 40%
Stable renters 50%
Owners 10%
Tract context
Occupied units1,555
Renter share90.2%
SVI overall0.81
Poverty rate22.3%
Median income$74,329
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.Within parent city
63
th percentile
Elevated
Within county
58
th percentile
Elevated
Within state
87
th percentile
High
Geographic context
Risk heat across Chelsea and the region
Centroid at 42.3953, -71.0425 · click any tract to drill in
Why Chelsea Square scores 5.7
9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendlyLocal 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
22.3% poverty · this tract
5.6
Supply constraint
$1,871 rent vs county FMR
1.6
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 Chelsea Square compares
Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.CDC Social Vulnerability Index
SVI percentile: 81
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
- 88%Socioeconomic
- 48%Household composition
- 80%Racial/ethnic minority
- 69%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
- 3%Grade C
- 37%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)
- 234Total filings over 5 yrs
- 4.77%Avg annual filing rate
- 4.3%Peak (2016)
- 55Filings in 2016 (latest validated)
Filings climbed 53% over the past 5 months.
Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)
- 166Total filings 2020-21
- 3.5Avg monthly (observed)
- 4.3Pre-pandemic baseline
- 0.83×Ratio to baseline
Pandemic filings ran below baseline. 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.
- 23.1%Housing insecurity
- 13.5%Utility-shutoff threat
- 26.1%Food insecurity
- 27.1%SNAP enrollment
- 14.6%Transit barriers
- 13.4%No health insurance
- 18.7%Frequent mental distress
- 28.9%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Chelsea Square
The heaviest input here 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.
The tract is Hispanic or Latino and White and ranks around the 81st 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.
Princeton's Eviction Lab logged 234 eviction filings here over 5 tracked years, with about 4.8% of renter households facing a filing in a typical year. Filings peaked at 4.3% of renter households in 2016.
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 25025160400
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 25025160400?
Census tract 25025160400 in the Chelsea Square 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 25025160400?
Median gross rent is $1,871/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 45% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 25025160400?
22.3% of residents in tract 25025160400 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 3,281.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 25025160400?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 81th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 88th, household 48th, minority 80th, housing 69th.
Q5
Is tract 25025160400 considered part of Chelsea Square?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 25025160400 fall within Chelsea Square (neighborhood centroid within 0.4 miles, OSM data).
Q6
How many evictions are filed each year in tract 25025160400?
Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 234 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 25025160400 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 4.77% of renter households, peaking at 4.3% in 2016. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7
Did eviction filings in tract 25025160400 drop during COVID?
Pandemic-era filings ran 0.83× the pre-COVID monthly baseline. Filings ran modestly below normal. Tracked by the Eviction Lab Eviction Tracking System (Boston eviction risk, MA), 2020-2021.
Q8
What share of households in tract 25025160400 struggle to pay rent?
About 23.1% 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. 13.5% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q9
How does tract 25025160400 compare to Chelsea overall?
Tract 25025160400 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.
Q10
Was tract 25025160400 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. 37% 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.
Tract · MA
Mill Hill
6.6
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · MA
Park Square
6.2
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · MA
Bellingham Hill
6.1
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · MA
Bellingham Square Historic District
5.7
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · MA
Cary Square
5.5
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · MA
Prattville
5.2
/ 10 · Moderate
Tract · MA
Admirals Hill
5
/ 10 · Moderate
Tract · MA
Cary Square
4.1
/ 10 · Moderate
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