Within neighborhood
50
th percentile
Moderate
Neighborhood · Ranked #52,479 of 84,120 nationally
Colonial Lakes Eviction Risk: Lower , Mercerville
Tract 34021002902 · Mercer County, NJ · pop 4,766 · neighborhood within 1.3 mi
Census tract 34021002902 covers part of the Colonial Lakes area of Mercerville, NJ, and scores 3.8/10 on landlord eviction risk. 32% are severely burdened past the 50% mark. That cohort absorbs no shock: one repair bill or one cut shift converts straight into arrears.
Risk score
3.8
Lower
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 19%
Stable renters 16%
Owners 65%
Tract context
Occupied units1,756
Renter share35.6%
SVI overall0.63
Poverty rate3.9%
Median income$88,306
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.Within parent city
100
th percentile
Very High
Within county
21
th percentile
Low
Within state
14
th percentile
Very Low
Geographic context
Risk heat across Mercerville and the region
Centroid at 40.2363, -74.7184 · click any tract to drill in
Why Colonial Lakes scores 3.8
9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendlyLocal political climate
Inherited from Mercerville
7.3
Regional political climate
2024 county presidential margin
7.0
State political climate
New Jersey legislature & governorship
6.8
Economic stress
3.9% poverty · this tract
1.0
Supply constraint
$1,365 rent vs county FMR
1.7
Rent control risk
Inherited from Mercerville
4.2
Eviction process difficulty
State law sets the calendar
6.2
Tenant organizing strength
Inherited from Mercerville
3.9
Housing court bias
Inherited from Mercerville
3.2
How Colonial Lakes compares
Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.CDC Social Vulnerability Index
SVI percentile: 63
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
- 68%Socioeconomic
- 88%Household composition
- 68%Racial/ethnic minority
- 20%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
- 8%Grade B
- 24%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)
- 1,084Total filings over 6 yrs
- 22.55%Avg annual filing rate
- 24.0%Peak (2013)
- 189Filings in 2018 (latest validated)
Filings stayed roughly flat over the past 6 months.
Comparable tracts
Census tracts with similar eviction risk
Within Colonial Lakes. 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.
- 16.5%Housing insecurity
- 9.3%Utility-shutoff threat
- 18.1%Food insecurity
- 11.0%SNAP enrollment
- 9.2%Transit barriers
- 12.7%No health insurance
- 16.5%Frequent mental distress
- 24.4%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Colonial Lakes
The dominant input is court filing pressure at 9.3/10. On the softer side, economic stress reads 1/10. Against the Mercer County average of 5.7, this tract reads safer for landlords by 1.9 points.
Well under the midpoint, supply constraint reads 1.7/10. Against Mercer County at 46.5%, 54% of renters here are cost-burdened. At $1,365 a month, rents run 16% under what the rest of Mercerville commands.
Princeton eviction risk's Eviction Lab logged 1,084 filings here across 6 tracked years. Filings peaked in 2013 at 24.0% of renter households. This ground was mapped C ("Definitely Declining") on the 1930s HOLC security maps for Trenton. That grading determined who could get a mortgage, and its imprint on tenure and rent burden is still visible in the ACS data above.
In a typical year about 22.6% of renter households face a filing. That is riskier than roughly 38% of the 84,120 US census tracts in this model.
On the CDC Social Vulnerability Index the tract reads 6.6/10, which tracks how hard a shock lands on the households already here. Statewide the NJ average is 6.0, so this tract runs 2.2 points cooler.
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.
Frequently asked
About tract 34021002902
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 34021002902?
Census tract 34021002902 in the Colonial Lakes neighborhood scores 3.8/10 (Lower 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 34021002902?
Median gross rent is $1,365/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 54% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 34021002902?
3.9% of residents in tract 34021002902 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 4,766.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 34021002902?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 63th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 68th, household 88th, minority 68th, housing 20th.
Q5
Is tract 34021002902 considered part of Colonial Lakes?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 34021002902 fall within Colonial Lakes (neighborhood centroid within 1.3 miles, OSM data).
Q6
How many evictions are filed each year in tract 34021002902?
Princeton eviction risk Eviction Lab recorded 1,084 eviction filings across 6 validated years in tract 34021002902 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 22.55% of renter households, peaking at 24.0% in 2013. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7
What share of households in tract 34021002902 struggle to pay rent?
About 16.5% 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. 9.3% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q8
How does tract 34021002902 compare to Mercerville overall?
Tract 34021002902 scores 3.8/10, lower than the parent city of Mercerville at 4.3/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Mercerville; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.
Q9
Was tract 34021002902 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 Mercerville
Top eight tracts in Mercerville ranked by composite eviction-risk score.
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