Within parent city
46
th percentile
Moderate
Census Tract · Ranked #6,289 of 84,120 nationally
Plainfield Eviction Risk: Elevated
Tract 34039039000 · Union County, NJ · pop 4,567
Plainfield in Union County is where census tract 34039039000 sits, home to 4,567 residents. Its landlord eviction-risk score is 7.4/10. That is riskier than about 98% of US census tracts.
55% of renter households here spend at least 30% of income on rent, a severe level, and 20% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average gross rent is $1,884 monthly, set against $75,227 in average yearly household income, roughly 30% of income at the averages. About 83% of occupied units are renter-occupied, a renter-majority tract.
Risk score
6.7
Elevated
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 45%
Stable renters 37%
Owners 18%
Tract context
Occupied units1,246
Renter share82.5%
SVI overall0.94
Poverty rate14.1%
Median income$75,227
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.Within county
75
th percentile
Elevated
Within state
80
th percentile
High
National
93
th percentile
Very High
Geographic context
Risk heat across Plainfield and the region
Centroid at 40.6239, -74.4119 · click any tract to drill in
Why Plainfield scores 6.7
9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendlyLocal political climate
Inherited from Plainfield
7.1
Regional political climate
2024 county presidential margin
6.8
State political climate
New Jersey legislature & governorship
6.8
Economic stress
14.1% poverty · this tract
3.5
Supply constraint
$1,884 rent vs county FMR
3.8
Rent control risk
Inherited from Plainfield
7.8
Eviction process difficulty
State law sets the calendar
6.7
Tenant organizing strength
Inherited from Plainfield
9.5
Housing court bias
Inherited from Plainfield
7.6
How Plainfield 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.
- 95%Socioeconomic
- 69%Household composition
- 97%Racial/ethnic minority
- 85%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
- 8%Grade C
- 64%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)
- 465Total filings over 4 yrs
- 13.52%Avg annual filing rate
- 18.6%Peak (2013)
- 127Filings in 2018 (latest validated)
Filings stayed roughly flat over the past 4 months.
Comparable tracts
Census tracts with similar eviction risk
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.
- 26.2%Housing insecurity
- 13.3%Utility-shutoff threat
- 30.5%Food insecurity
- 17.6%SNAP enrollment
- 14.0%Transit barriers
- 29.6%No health insurance
- 17.1%Frequent mental distress
- 31.1%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Plainfield
What moves this score most is tenant organizing strength at 9.5/10. 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 Plainfield eviction risk, while the economic and supply signals are measured at the tract level.
Set against its neighbors, this tract scores above the Union County average of 6.6 and above the New Jersey statewide average of 6.6. Within its own county it reads on the riskier side for landlords.
This tract overlaps land the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation redlined in the 1930s, a dominant grade of D ("Hazardous") across 64% of the tract. Redlining cut off mortgage credit to Black, immigrant, and working-class blocks, and those areas still tend to carry higher rent burden and eviction filings today.
In CDC survey modeling, about 26.2% of adults here said they could not pay rent or mortgage at some point in the past year, and 13.3% faced a utility shutoff threat, a common early warning before a filing.
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 34039039000
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 34039039000?
Census tract 34039039000 in Plainfield scores 6.7/10 (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 34039039000?
Median gross rent is $1,884/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 55% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 34039039000?
14.1% of residents in tract 34039039000 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 4,567.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 34039039000?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 94th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 95th, household 69th, minority 97th, housing 85th.
Q5
How many evictions are filed each year in tract 34039039000?
Princeton eviction risk Eviction Lab recorded 465 eviction filings across 4 validated years in tract 34039039000 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 13.52% of renter households, peaking at 18.6% in 2013. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q6
What share of households in tract 34039039000 struggle to pay rent?
About 26.2% 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. 13.3% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q7
How does tract 34039039000 compare to Plainfield overall?
Tract 34039039000 scores 6.7/10, lower than the parent city of Plainfield at 8.2/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Plainfield eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.
Q8
Was tract 34039039000 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. 64% 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 Plainfield
Top eight tracts in Plainfield ranked by composite eviction-risk score.
Tract · NJ
34039039302
8.3
/ 10 · High
Tract · NJ
34039039301
8.2
/ 10 · High
Tract · NJ
34039039600
7.1
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · NJ
34039039400
7
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · NJ
34039039200
7
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · NJ
34039039502
6.9
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · NJ
34039038800
6.7
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · NJ
34039038900
6.5
/ 10 · Elevated
Related