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Neighborhood · Ranked #3,157 of 84,120 nationally

Chinatown Eviction Risk: Elevated , Seattle

Tract 53033009100 · King County, WA · pop 2,762 · neighborhood within 0.2 mi

With a score of 6.8/10, tract 53033009100 in Chinatown in Seattle ranks in the Elevated tier for landlord eviction risk. The tract is home to 2,762 residents. It lands near the 91st percentile nationally for landlord eviction risk.

Rent eats 30% or more of income for 53% of renter households, a severe level, and 28% are severely burdened at 50% or more. Average gross rent is $1,197 monthly, set against $37,793 in average yearly household income, roughly 38% of income at the averages. About 96% of occupied units are renter-occupied, a renter-majority tract.

Risk score
7.5
Elevated
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 51% Stable renters 45% Owners 4%
Tract context
Occupied units2,011
Renter share96.5%
SVI overall0.95
Poverty rate29.9%
Median income$37,793

Percentile rank

Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.
Within neighborhood
50 th percentile
Rank, 50th percentileLowHigh
#1 of 1 tracts In Chinatown
Moderate
Within parent city
96 th percentile
Rank, 96th percentileLowHigh
#9 of 177 tracts In Seattle
Very High
Within county
99 th percentile
Rank, 99th percentileLowHigh
#8 of 494 tracts In King County
Very High
Within state
97 th percentile
Rank, 97th percentileLowHigh
#49 of 1,772 tracts In Washington
Very High
Geographic context

Risk heat across Seattle and the region

Centroid at 47.5984, -122.3217 · click any tract to drill in

Why Chinatown scores 7.5

9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendly
Local political climate
Inherited from Seattle
9.5
Regional political climate
2024 county presidential margin
7.6
State political climate
Washington legislature & governorship
6.0
Economic stress
29.9% poverty · this tract
7.5
Supply constraint
$1,197 rent vs county FMR
1.0
Rent control risk
Inherited from Seattle
9.0
Eviction process difficulty
State law sets the calendar
8.5
Tenant organizing strength
Inherited from Seattle
9.0
Housing court bias
Inherited from Seattle
8.5

How Chinatown compares

Risk score vs. parent city, county, state.
Chinatown risk score vs. parent city / county / stateThis tract: 7.57.5This tracttract 009100Seattle: 7.97.9Seattleparent cityCounty: 4.04.0Countyavg tract in countyState: 4.54.5Stateavg tract in state
CDC Social Vulnerability Index

SVI percentile: 95

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

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.

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)

  • 85Total filings over 10 yrs
  • 0.68%Avg annual filing rate
  • 0.8%Peak (2013)
  • 11Filings in 2013 (latest validated)
Filings by year 2004 to 2013
Year-by-year eviction filings in tract 530330091002004: 4 filings (0.42/100 renter HHs)2005: 7 filings (0.58/100 renter HHs)2006: 10 filings (0.83/100 renter HHs)2007: 10 filings (0.83/100 renter HHs)2008: 9 filings (0.74/100 renter HHs)2009: 10 filings (0.83/100 renter HHs)2010: 8 filings (0.57/100 renter HHs)2011: 9 filings (0.68/100 renter HHs)2012: 7 filings (0.53/100 renter HHs)2013: 11 filings (0.83/100 renter HHs)
Filings climbed 175% over the past 10 months.
Analysis

What drives eviction risk in Chinatown

What moves this score most is rent-control risk 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 Seattle eviction risk, while the economic and supply signals are measured at the tract level.

Set against its neighbors, this tract scores above the King County average of 5.5 and above the Washington statewide average of 5.2. Within its own county it reads on the riskier side for landlords.

The tract is Asian and White and ranks around the 95th 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.

This tract overlaps land the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation redlined in the 1930s, a dominant grade of D ("Hazardous") across 13% 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.

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 53033009100

Q1

What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 53033009100?

Census tract 53033009100 in the Chinatown neighborhood scores 7.5/10 (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 53033009100?

Median gross rent is $1,197/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 53% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3

What is the poverty rate in tract 53033009100?

29.9% of residents in tract 53033009100 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 2,762.
Q4

How socially vulnerable is tract 53033009100?

CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 95th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 84th, household 92th, minority 83th, housing 95th.
Q5

Is tract 53033009100 considered part of Chinatown?

Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 53033009100 fall within Chinatown (neighborhood centroid within 0.2 miles, OSM data).
Q6

How many evictions are filed each year in tract 53033009100?

Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 85 eviction filings across 10 validated years in tract 53033009100 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 0.68% of renter households, peaking at 0.8% in 2013. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7

How does tract 53033009100 compare to Seattle overall?

Tract 53033009100 scores 7.5/10, lower than the parent city of Seattle at 7.9/10. City-scale signals (state law, local rent controls, court bias) are inherited from Seattle eviction risk; what makes this tract different are its tract-specific economic stress and supply-constraint sub-scores.
Q8

Was tract 53033009100 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. 13% 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 Seattle

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

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