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Census Tract · Ranked #5,153 of 84,120 nationally

Plainfield Eviction Risk: High

Tract 34039039200 · Union County, NJ · pop 6,057

Census tract 34039039200 covers part of Plainfield, NJ, and scores 8.6/10 on landlord eviction risk. It is home to 6,057 residents. around two-thirds of renter households cross the 30%-of-income line, far above the Union County average of 44.6%.

Risk score
8.6
High
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 38% Stable renters 19% Owners 43%
Tract context
Occupied units1,701
Renter share57.7%
SVI overall0.92
Poverty rate19.7%
Median income$81,287

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.
Within parent city
91 th percentile
Rank, 91st percentileLowHigh
#2 of 12 tracts In Plainfield
Very High
Within county
79 th percentile
Rank, 79th percentileLowHigh
#26 of 120 tracts In Union County
High
Within state
88 th percentile
Rank, 88th percentileLowHigh
#259 of 2,175 tracts In New Jersey
High
National
94 th percentile
Rank, 94th percentileLowHigh
#5,153 of 84,120 tracts In U.S.
Very High
Geographic context

Risk heat across Plainfield and the region

Centroid at 40.6179, -74.4086 · click any tract to drill in

Why Plainfield scores 8.6

9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly
Local 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
19.7% poverty · this tract
4.9
Supply constraint
$1,518 rent vs county FMR
2.1
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.
Plainfield risk score vs. parent city / county / state8.6This tracttract 0392007.2Plainfieldparent city6.6Countyavg tract in county6.0Stateavg tract in state
CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 92

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

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.

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)

  • 764Total filings over 4 yrs
  • 17.18%Avg annual filing rate
  • 21.8%Peak (2013)
  • 159Filings in 2018 (latest validated)
Filings by year 2013 to 2018
Year-by-year eviction filings in tract 34039039200
Filings dropped 34% 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.

Analysis

What drives eviction risk in Plainfield

The score leans hardest on tenant-organizing strength at 9.5/10. Severe burden reaches 25%. Those are renters paying half their income or more, and that is where non-payment filings originate.

Running hot, court filing pressure reads 8.9/10. It sits 2.0 points above the Union County average of 6.6. Adults with no health insurance runs 26.2% against 11.3% nationally.

On the softer side, supply constraint reads 2.1/10. The poverty rate is 20%. Judgments in high-poverty tracts are collectible far less often than filing counts suggest.

The filing record is not thin: 764 evictions over 4 years of observation. Inability to pay a utility bill runs 17.3% against 9.2% nationally. Utility arrears usually lead rent arrears by a month or two.

Average gross rent is $1,518, 14% below the Plainfield average. Filings peaked in 2013 at 21.8% of renter households. In the 1930s the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation graded this ground C ("Definitely Declining"). Redlining cut off mortgage credit to whole blocks for decades, and the areas graded D still carry measurably lower ownership and higher rent burden today.

These are ACS 5-year estimates; the score moves when the ACS, court-record, or statute inputs behind it move.

Frequently asked

About tract 34039039200

Q1

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 34039039200?

Census tract 34039039200 in Plainfield scores 8.6/10 (High 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 34039039200?

Median gross rent is $1,518/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 66% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3

What is the poverty rate in tract 34039039200?

19.7% of residents in tract 34039039200 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 6,057.
Q4

How socially vulnerable is tract 34039039200?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 92th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 97th, household 60th, minority 89th, housing 80th.
Q5

How many evictions are filed each year in tract 34039039200?

Princeton eviction risk Eviction Lab recorded 764 eviction filings across 4 validated years in tract 34039039200 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 17.18% of renter households, peaking at 21.8% in 2013. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q6

What share of households in tract 34039039200 struggle to pay rent?

About 28.7% 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. 17.3% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q7

How does tract 34039039200 compare to Plainfield overall?

Tract 34039039200 scores 8.6/10, higher than the parent city of Plainfield at 7.2/10. 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 34039039200 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 Plainfield

Top eight tracts in Plainfield ranked by composite eviction-risk score.

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