Skip to content
Neighborhood · Seattle, WA

Japantown Eviction Risk: High

2 census tracts · pop 7,444 · pop-weighted Eviction Risk Score 9.3/10 · range 9.3–9.3

Japantown is a 2-tract neighborhood of Seattle, WA and houses 7,444 people. Scored across those inputs it reaches 9.3/10, placing it in the High tier. Against a Seattle baseline of 27.4%, 43% of renters here cross the 30%-of-income line.

92% of occupied units are rented, so comparables are plentiful and vacancy risk is low, but a mispriced renewal loses the tenant to a building two streets over. The strongest single driver of the headline number is rent-regulation exposure at 9/10.

Sitting well above the midpoint is tenant-organizing strength at 9/10. The poverty rate is 33%, which shows up in this model as reduced rent-recovery odds after a judgment.

Set annual rent against average household income of $56,521 and the ratio lands at 33%, above the conventional 30% ceiling. On the softer side is supply constraint, at 1.3/10. The severe-burden share is 18%. Those renters are past the 50% mark, and they miss rent for reasons that have nothing to do with willingness to pay.

At $1,543 a month, rents sit 24% under what the rest of Seattle commands. Court records carry 525 eviction filings across its 2 observed tracts.

The worst year on record was 2006, when filings touched 3.0% of renter households. The most recent observed rate, 1.1% in 2013, is well off that peak. Among the 65 mapped neighborhoods of Seattle, it ranks #1 by risk, the upper third.

The closest comparables inside the same city are Chinatown and NewHolly. Social vulnerability runs high at 8.9/10, concentrating the disaster- and displacement-exposure this model treats as a lagging risk input.

The 2 tracts here are tightly clustered, 0 points apart at the extremes.

With little internal variation, 9.3/10 is a fair proxy for any address inside the boundary. Scores move when the ACS release, the court-record feed, or the statute ledger behind them moves.

Risk score
9.3
High
2 tracts · population-weighted
Japantown vs Seattle How this neighborhood stacks against the citywide average
% of income on rent
43.2% +58%
Seattle: 27.4%
Average gross rent
$1,543 -24%
Seattle: $2,030
Average HH income
$56,521 -54%
Seattle: $121,984
Poverty rate
33.2% +236%
Seattle: 9.9%
Renter share
92.4% +64%
Seattle: 56.3%
Peer neighborhoods

Neighborhoods with similar eviction risk

Same county, closest by Eviction Risk Score.

Geographic context

Risk heat across Japantown and the region

Click any tract to drill in · 2 tracts span score 9.3–9.3

Why Japantown scores 9.3

9 axes · pop-weighted · 1 = landlord-friendly
State political climate
legislature & governorship · Range 6.0–6.0 across tracts
6.0
Regional political climate
County-level mix · 2024 presidential margin · Range 7.6–7.6 across tracts
7.6
Local political climate
Parent city governance · Range 9.5–9.5 across tracts
9.5
Rent control risk
43% of income on rent · Range 9.0–9.0 across tracts
9.0
Eviction process difficulty
State notice requirements & court backlog · Range 8.5–8.5 across tracts
8.5
Tenant organizing strength
92% renter households · Range 9.0–9.0 across tracts
9.0
Housing court bias
County bench composition · Range 8.5–8.5 across tracts
8.5
Economic stress
33.2% below poverty line · Range 7.9–8.8 across tracts
8.3
Supply constraint
Rent-to-FMR gap & zoning friction · Range 1.0–1.5 across tracts
1.3
Risk score comparison

Japantown vs. parent city, state, U.S.

Eviction Risk Score (0–10 scale).

Japantown score vs. parent city, state, U.S.Japantown: 9.39.3JapantownNeighborhoodParent city: 7.97.9Parent cityhost cityState: 6.16.1Stateavg in stateU.S.: 5.15.1U.S.national avgU.S. avg = 5.0
Census tracts

2 tracts in Japantown

Ranked highest-risk first. Click for per-tract detail.

Tract Score Pop % over 30% on rent Average rent
53033008500 9.3 4,314 37% $1,740
53033009200 9.3 3,130 52% $1,271
Social Vulnerability Index

CDC SVI percentile: 87

Pop-weighted across 2 tracts. Higher = more vulnerable to disaster, displacement, and rent shocks. Source: CDC/ATSDR SVI 2022.

Socioeconomic status 75%ile
Poverty, unemployment, no-HS-diploma, housing cost burden
Household characteristics 62%ile
Single-parent HH, disability, language barriers, age 17- / 65+
Racial/ethnic minority 65%ile
Hispanic + non-white share of population
Housing & transport 97%ile
Multi-unit structures, mobile homes, crowding, no vehicle
Eviction filings · Princeton Eviction Lab

Court-record eviction history in Japantown

Aggregated across 2 validated constituent tracts. Filing rate is filings per 100 renter households, pop-weighted.

Historic baseline (2000–2018)

  • 525Total filings (sum)
  • 1.71%Avg annual filing rate
  • 3.0%Peak year (2006)
  • 1.06%Latest filed (2013)
Frequently asked

About Japantown

Q1

What is the eviction-risk score for Japantown?

Japantown scores 9.3/10 (High tier) across 2 census tracts. The pop-weighted Eviction Risk Score blends state law, county filing rates, parent-city politics, and tract-specific rent-to-income and poverty signals.
Q2

How does Japantown compare to Seattle overall?

Japantown scores 1.4 points higher than Seattle overall (7.9/10). Renters spend 43% of income on rent vs 27% citywide. Average rent: $1,543 vs $2,030.
Q3

What is the average rent in Japantown?

Average gross rent in Japantown is $1,543/month (pop-weighted across 2 census tracts, ACS 5-year 2023). 43% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q4

What percentage of Japantown residents are renters?

92% of Japantown households are renter-occupied (vs 56% in Seattle). The neighborhood has 7,444 residents.
Q5

Is Japantown a high social-vulnerability area?

Japantown sits in the 87th percentile nationally on the CDC Social Vulnerability Index (highly vulnerable). The index combines poverty, unemployment, household composition, racial/ethnic minority share, and housing/transportation factors across all US census tracts.
Q6

Which tracts in Japantown have the highest eviction risk?

The highest-risk constituent tract in Japantown is census tract 53033008500 (score 9.3/10). Across the 2 tracts in this neighborhood the score ranges from 9.3 to 9.3, a spread of 0 points.
Q7

How safe is Japantown for landlords?

Japantown carries a high-tier eviction-risk profile for landlords (9.3/10). Pop-weighted across 2 constituent tracts, the score blends parent-city rent-control posture, county eviction-process timelines, and tract-specific rent-to-income / poverty signals. Compared to Seattle as a whole (7.9/10), this neighborhood is higher-risk.
Q8

What is the demographic breakdown of Japantown?

Japantown has 7,831 residents. Top groups: White (non-Hispanic) (46.9%), Asian (non-Hispanic) (23.7%), Black (non-Hispanic) (15.7%). Source: ACS 5-year 2023, table B03002.
Nearby

Other neighborhoods near Japantown

Sibling neighborhoods

Other neighborhoods inside Seattle

Same parent city, ranked by score similarity to Japantown.

Zoom out

Up the geography chain · or explore further