Neighborhood · Ranked #67,219 of 84,120 nationally
Downer Avenue Eviction Risk: Lower , Milwaukee
Tract 55079007400 ·
Milwaukee County, WI · pop 3,706 · neighborhood within 0.9 mi
With a score of 3/10, tract 55079007400 in the Downer Avenue area of Milwaukee, WI reads lower for landlord eviction risk. It is home to 3,706 residents. Average gross rent is $1,816, 71% above the Milwaukee average.
Risk score
3
Lower
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 15%Stable renters 13%Owners 72%
Tract context
Occupied units549
Renter share28.4%
SVI overall0.09
Poverty rate18.6%
Median income$149,115
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.
Within neighborhood
14th percentile
#7 of 8 tracts In Downer Avenue
Very Low
Within parent city
4th percentile
#202 of 210 tracts In Milwaukee
Very Low
Within county
15th percentile
#255 of 301 tracts In Milwaukee County
Very Low
Within state
29th percentile
#1,083 of 1,528 tracts In Wisconsin
Low
Geographic context
Risk heat across Milwaukee and the region
Centroid at 43.0777, -87.8705 · click any tract to drill in
Why Downer Avenue scores 3
9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly
Local political climate
Inherited from Milwaukee
7.5
Regional political climate
2024 county presidential margin
7.0
State political climate
Wisconsin legislature & governorship
2.9
Economic stress
18.6% poverty · this tract
4.6
Supply constraint
$1,816 rent vs county FMR
9.4
Rent control risk
Inherited from Milwaukee
2.5
Eviction process difficulty
State law sets the calendar
5.5
Tenant organizing strength
Inherited from Milwaukee
6.0
Housing court bias
Inherited from Milwaukee
5.5
How Downer Avenue compares
Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.
CDC Social Vulnerability Index
SVI percentile: 9
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
22%Socioeconomic
0%Household composition
34%Racial/ethnic minority
53%Housing & transportation
Historical context · 1930s redlining
HOLC grade: A: Best
This tract sits within an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s. Grade A meant wealthy, predominantly white neighborhoods favored for lending. These designations suppressed minority homeownership for generations and remain a documented predictor of present-day eviction filings and rent burden.
38%Grade A
31%Grade B
0%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)
8Total filings over 7 yrs
0.61%Avg annual filing rate
1.0%Peak (2003)
1Filings in 2015 (latest validated)
Filings by year2003 to 2017
Filings dropped 100% over the past 13 months.
Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)
1Total filings 2020-21
0.0Avg monthly (observed)
0.0Pre-pandemic baseline
0.42×Ratio to baseline
Monthly filings 2020–20212020-01-01 to 2026-05-01
Pandemic filings ran far below baseline (moratorium effect). Eviction Lab tracked Milwaukee, WI as part of its 34-metro Eviction Tracking System.
Comparable tracts
Census tracts with similar eviction risk
Within Downer Avenue. Closest by Eviction Risk Score.
Crude prevalence of conditions linked to housing loss. Source: CDC PLACES (cwsq-ngmh), 2023 model-based small-area estimates.
8.4%Housing insecurity
4.6%Utility-shutoff threat
11.7%Food insecurity
9.8%SNAP enrollment
9.2%Transit barriers
6.2%No health insurance
22.4%Frequent mental distress
26.3%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Downer Avenue
The voucher gap is 44.5%: households holding assistance that local rents will not absorb, which surfaces as churn rather than arrears. The severe-burden share is 31%, and it is the single best predictor in this model of a filing that actually reaches judgment.
The score leans hardest on supply constraint at 9.4/10. Running hot, court filing pressure reads 8.1/10. Against the Milwaukee County average of 4.5, this tract reads safer for landlords by 1.5 points.
Cost burden runs 53% here against 45.8% across Milwaukee County. On the high side, local political climate reads 7.5/10. The poverty rate is 19%. Judgments in high-poverty tracts are collectible far less often than filing counts suggest.
The filing record is not thin: 8 evictions over 7 years of observation. Filings peaked in 2003 at 1.0% of renter households. In the 1930s the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation graded this ground A ("Best"). 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.
All figures here are ACS 5-year estimates for this tract, refreshed as the underlying releases land.
Frequently asked
About tract 55079007400
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 55079007400?
Census tract 55079007400 in the Downer Avenue neighborhood scores 3/10 (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 55079007400?
Median gross rent is $1,816/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 53% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 55079007400?
18.6% of residents in tract 55079007400 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 3,706.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 55079007400?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 9th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 22th, household 0th, minority 34th, housing 53th.
Q5
Is tract 55079007400 considered part of Downer Avenue?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 55079007400 fall within Downer Avenue (neighborhood centroid within 0.9 miles, OSM data).
Q6
How many evictions are filed each year in tract 55079007400?
Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 8 eviction filings across 7 validated years in tract 55079007400 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 0.61% of renter households, peaking at 1.0% in 2003. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7
Did eviction filings in tract 55079007400 drop during COVID?
Pandemic-era filings ran 0.42× the pre-COVID monthly baseline. Filings dropped sharply, likely a moratorium effect. Tracked by the Eviction Lab Eviction Tracking System (Milwaukee eviction risk, WI), 2020-2021.
Q8
What share of households in tract 55079007400 struggle to pay rent?
About 8.4% 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. 4.6% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q9
How does tract 55079007400 compare to Milwaukee overall?
Tract 55079007400 scores 3/10, lower than the parent city of Milwaukee at 4.4/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Milwaukee eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.
Q10
Was tract 55079007400 historically redlined?
Yes. This tract sits inside an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s, with a dominant grade of A. 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 Milwaukee
Top eight tracts in Milwaukee ranked by composite eviction-risk score.