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Neighborhood · Ranked #675 of 84,120 nationally

Kensington Eviction Risk: High , Buffalo

Tract 36029003901 · Erie County, NY · pop 1,219 · neighborhood within 0.7 mi

Census tract 36029003901 runs through Kensington in Buffalo. With 1,219 residents, it scores 7.4/10 for landlords. That is riskier than about 98% of US census tracts.

About 75% of renters carry a rent burden of 30% of income or higher, a severe level, and 63% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average gross rent is about $833 a month. Renters make up 57% of occupied homes, a renter-majority tract.

Risk score
8.8
High
Confidence 85% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 42% Stable renters 14% Owners 44%
Tract context
Occupied units580
Renter share56.6%
SVI overall0.91
Poverty rate42.4%

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.
Within neighborhood
60 th percentile
Rank, 60th percentileLowHigh
#5 of 11 tracts In Kensington
Elevated
Within parent city
69 th percentile
Rank, 69th percentileLowHigh
#29 of 91 tracts In Buffalo
Elevated
Within county
88 th percentile
Rank, 88th percentileLowHigh
#33 of 260 tracts In Erie County
High
Within state
93 th percentile
Rank, 93rd percentileLowHigh
#365 of 5,394 tracts In New York
Very High
Geographic context

Risk heat across Buffalo and the region

Centroid at 42.9334, -78.8266 · click any tract to drill in

Why Kensington scores 8.8

9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly
Local political climate
Inherited from Buffalo
8.0
Regional political climate
2024 county presidential margin
5.7
State political climate
New York legislature & governorship
7.3
Economic stress
42.4% poverty · this tract
10.0
Supply constraint
$833 rent vs county FMR
2.1
Rent control risk
Inherited from Buffalo
7.5
Eviction process difficulty
State law sets the calendar
8.0
Tenant organizing strength
Inherited from Buffalo
7.5
Housing court bias
Inherited from Buffalo
7.5

How Kensington compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.
Kensington risk score vs. parent city / county / stateThis tract: 8.88.8This tracttract 003901Buffalo: 9.49.4Buffaloparent cityCounty: 6.06.0Countyavg tract in countyState: 5.95.9Stateavg tract in state
CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 91

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

Historical context · 1930s redlining

HOLC grade: B: Still Desirable

This tract sits within an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s. Grade B meant middle-class areas with mortgage access. 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.

Comparable tracts

Census tracts with similar eviction risk

Within Kensington. 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 Kensington

What moves this score most is economic stress at $1/10. That part is specific to this tract, computed from its own rent, income, and poverty figures. Statewide and court-level factors such as eviction-process speed and rent-control exposure are inherited from Buffalo eviction risk, while the economic and supply signals are measured at the tract level.

Set against its neighbors, this tract scores above the Erie County average of 6.1 and above the New York statewide average of 6.3. Within its own county it reads on the riskier side for landlords.

HOLC surveyors mapped this tract in the 1930s with a dominant grade of B ("Still Desirable"), above the redlined D tier. The grading still shaped decades of lending and development in the surrounding area.

The tract is predominantly Black and ranks around the 91st 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.

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 36029003901

Q1

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 36029003901?

Census tract 36029003901 in the Kensington neighborhood scores 8.8/10 (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 36029003901?

Median gross rent is $833/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 75% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3

What is the poverty rate in tract 36029003901?

42.4% of residents in tract 36029003901 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 1,219.
Q4

How socially vulnerable is tract 36029003901?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 91th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 82th, household 96th, minority 92th, housing 71th.
Q5

Is tract 36029003901 considered part of Kensington?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 36029003901 fall within Kensington (neighborhood centroid within 0.7 miles, OSM data).
Q6

What share of households in tract 36029003901 struggle to pay rent?

About 33.7% 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. 25.1% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q7

How does tract 36029003901 compare to Buffalo overall?

Tract 36029003901 scores 8.8/10, lower than the parent city of Buffalo at 9.4/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Buffalo eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.
Q8

Was tract 36029003901 historically redlined?

Yes. This tract sits inside an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s, with a dominant grade of B. 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 Buffalo

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

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