Within neighborhood
50
th percentile
Moderate
Neighborhood · Ranked #39,389 of 84,120 nationally
Melrose Heights Eviction Risk: Moderate , Columbia
Tract 45079002200 · Richland County, SC · pop 1,065 · neighborhood within 0.1 mi
Tract 45079002200, home to 1,065 residents in the Melrose Heights area of Columbia, scores 5.6/10 for landlord eviction risk. On the national scale it ranks #34,094 of 84,120 for landlord eviction difficulty.
64% of renter households here spend at least 30% of income on rent, a severe level, and 24% are severely burdened at 50% or more. The typical renter pays about $1,111 a month while the average household earns $73,611 a year, roughly 18% of income at the averages. Renters make up 44% of occupied homes.
Risk score
4.1
Moderate
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 28%
Stable renters 16%
Owners 56%
Tract context
Occupied units566
Renter share44.3%
SVI overall0.23
Poverty rate14.3%
Median income$73,611
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.Within parent city
29
th percentile
Low
Within county
42
th percentile
Moderate
Within state
55
th percentile
Moderate
Geographic context
Risk heat across Columbia and the region
Centroid at 34.0062, -81.0008 · click any tract to drill in
Why Melrose Heights scores 4.1
9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendlyLocal political climate
Inherited from Columbia
5.0
Regional political climate
2024 county presidential margin
6.9
State political climate
South Carolina legislature & governorship
2.1
Economic stress
14.3% poverty · this tract
3.6
Supply constraint
$1,111 rent vs county FMR
3.6
Rent control risk
Inherited from Columbia
1.0
Eviction process difficulty
State law sets the calendar
3.0
Tenant organizing strength
Inherited from Columbia
4.0
Housing court bias
Inherited from Columbia
3.0
How Melrose Heights compares
Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.CDC Social Vulnerability Index
SVI percentile: 23
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
- 48%Socioeconomic
- 46%Household composition
- 27%Racial/ethnic minority
- 6%Housing & transportation
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.
- 0%Grade A
- 52%Grade B
- 39%Grade C
- 9%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)
- 146Total filings over 5 yrs
- 9.20%Avg annual filing rate
- 11.3%Peak (2010)
- 23Filings in 2014 (latest validated)
Filings dropped 32% over the past 5 months.
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.
- 7.9%Housing insecurity
- 5.4%Utility-shutoff threat
- 8.2%Food insecurity
- 4.7%SNAP enrollment
- 5.5%Transit barriers
- 6.8%No health insurance
- 14.5%Frequent mental distress
- 22.7%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Melrose Heights
What moves this score most is tenant organizing strength at $1/10. 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 Columbia 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 Richland County average of 5.8 and in line with the South Carolina statewide average of 5.5. Within its own county it reads on the safer side for landlords.
Princeton's Eviction Lab logged 146 eviction filings here over 5 tracked years, with about 9.2% of renter households facing a filing in a typical year. Filings peaked at 11.3% of renter households in 2010.
In CDC survey modeling, about 7.9% of adults here said they could not pay rent or mortgage at some point in the past year, and 5.4% faced a utility shutoff threat, a common early warning before a filing.
For a landlord, conditions here are middle-of-the-road. Standard screening and prompt, documented notices usually keep cases short.
Frequently asked
About tract 45079002200
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 45079002200?
Census tract 45079002200 in the Melrose Heights neighborhood scores 4.1/10 (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 45079002200?
Median gross rent is $1,111/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 64% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 45079002200?
14.3% of residents in tract 45079002200 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 1,065.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 45079002200?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 23th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 48th, household 46th, minority 27th, housing 6th.
Q5
Is tract 45079002200 considered part of Melrose Heights?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 45079002200 fall within Melrose Heights (neighborhood centroid within 0.1 miles, OSM data).
Q6
How many evictions are filed each year in tract 45079002200?
Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 146 eviction filings across 5 validated years in tract 45079002200 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 9.20% of renter households, peaking at 11.3% in 2010. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7
What share of households in tract 45079002200 struggle to pay rent?
About 7.9% 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. 5.4% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q8
How does tract 45079002200 compare to Columbia overall?
Tract 45079002200 scores 4.1/10, higher than the parent city of Columbia at 2.9/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Columbia eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.
Q9
Was tract 45079002200 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. 9% 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 Columbia
Top eight tracts in Columbia ranked by composite eviction-risk score.
Tract · SC
Hollywood-Rose Hill
6.3
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · SC
45079010408
6.2
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · SC
45079010900
6.1
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · SC
Hollywood-Rose Hill
6.1
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · SC
Governor's Hill
6
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · SC
BullStreet District
5.9
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · SC
Belmont
5.9
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · SC
Three Points
5.8
/ 10 · Elevated
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