Within neighborhood
86
th percentile
High
Neighborhood · Ranked #20,506 of 84,120 nationally
Downer Avenue Eviction Risk: Moderate , Milwaukee
Tract 55079007800 · Milwaukee County, WI · pop 2,844 · neighborhood within 0.6 mi
55079007800 is a census tract in the Downer Avenue area of Milwaukee, WI. It scores 5.8/10 for landlords. Population here is 2,844. Severe burden reaches 43%. Those are renters paying half their income or more, and that is where non-payment filings originate.
Risk score
5.8
Moderate
Confidence 100% · 1–10 scale
Household mix · 100 hh
Burdened renters 52%
Stable renters 34%
Owners 14%
Tract context
Occupied units1,335
Renter share85.9%
SVI overall0.29
Poverty rate47.3%
Median income$39,978
Percentile rank
Higher percentile = riskier than more peers.Within parent city
70
th percentile
Elevated
Within county
91
th percentile
Very High
Within state
98
th percentile
Very High
Geographic context
Risk heat across Milwaukee and the region
Centroid at 43.0705, -87.8885 · click any tract to drill in
Why Downer Avenue scores 5.8
9 axes · 1 = landlord-friendlyLocal 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
47.3% poverty · this tract
10.0
Supply constraint
$1,554 rent vs county FMR
7.4
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: 29
CDC/ATSDR 2022. Higher = more vulnerable. National percentile across 84k tracts.
- 70%Socioeconomic
- 1%Household composition
- 31%Racial/ethnic minority
- 41%Housing & transportation
Historical context · 1930s redlining
HOLC grade: C: Definitely Declining
This tract sits within an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s. Grade C meant mixed-race / working-class neighborhoods rated as risky. These designations suppressed minority homeownership for generations and remain a documented predictor of present-day eviction filings and rent burden.
- 0%Grade A
- 36%Grade B
- 39%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)
- 187Total filings over 13 yrs
- 1.33%Avg annual filing rate
- 2.5%Peak (2015)
- 15Filings in 2017 (latest validated)
Filings dropped 32% over the past 13 months.
Pandemic-era tracking (2020–2021)
- 95Total filings 2020-21
- 1.2Avg monthly (observed)
- 1.3Pre-pandemic baseline
- 0.97×Ratio to baseline
Pandemic filings ran below baseline. 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.
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.
- 13.3%Housing insecurity
- 8.5%Utility-shutoff threat
- 21.1%Food insecurity
- 23.2%SNAP enrollment
- 14.1%Transit barriers
- 9.5%No health insurance
- 23.9%Frequent mental distress
- 32.5%Any disability
Analysis
What drives eviction risk in Downer Avenue
The score leans hardest on economic stress at 10/10. At $1,554 a month, rents run 47% over what the rest of Milwaukee commands. The poverty rate is 47%. Judgments in high-poverty tracts are collectible far less often than filing counts suggest.
Set annual rent against average income of $39,978 and the ratio lands at 47%, above the conventional 30% ceiling. Cost burden runs 60% here against 45.8% across Milwaukee County. This is renter territory: 86% of occupied units are tenant-occupied.
On the high side, court filing pressure reads 8.1/10. The voucher gap is 23.6%: households holding assistance that local rents will not absorb, which surfaces as churn rather than arrears. Against the Milwaukee County average of 4.5, this tract reads riskier for landlords by 1.3 points.
Sitting well above the midpoint, local political climate reads 7.5/10. The filing record is not thin: 187 evictions over 13 years of observation.
SNAP participation runs 23.2% against 15.2% nationally.
All figures here are ACS 5-year estimates for this tract, refreshed as the underlying releases land.
Frequently asked
About tract 55079007800
Q1
What is the eviction-risk score for census tract 55079007800?
Census tract 55079007800 in the Downer Avenue neighborhood scores 5.8/10 (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 55079007800?
Median gross rent is $1,554/month (ACS 5-year 2023, table B25064). 60% of renter households are cost-burdened.
Q3
What is the poverty rate in tract 55079007800?
47.3% of residents in tract 55079007800 live below the federal poverty line (ACS B17001, 2023). Population: 2,844.
Q4
How socially vulnerable is tract 55079007800?
CDC Social Vulnerability Index ranks this tract in the 29th percentile nationally. Sub-themes: socioeconomic 70th, household 1th, minority 31th, housing 41th.
Q5
Is tract 55079007800 considered part of Downer Avenue?
Yes. Per Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files, the plurality of blocks in tract 55079007800 fall within Downer Avenue (neighborhood centroid within 0.6 miles, OSM data).
Q6
How many evictions are filed each year in tract 55079007800?
Princeton Eviction Lab recorded 187 eviction filings across 13 validated years in tract 55079007800 (2000-2018). The average annual filing rate is 1.33% of renter households, peaking at 2.5% in 2015. Source: Eviction Lab tract-validated 2024 release.
Q7
Did eviction filings in tract 55079007800 drop during COVID?
Pandemic-era filings ran 0.97× the pre-COVID monthly baseline. Filings ran modestly below normal. Tracked by the Eviction Lab Eviction Tracking System (Milwaukee eviction risk, WI), 2020-2021.
Q8
What share of households in tract 55079007800 struggle to pay rent?
About 13.3% 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. 8.5% also reported utility shutoff threats, a frequent precursor to eviction filings.
Q9
How does tract 55079007800 compare to Milwaukee overall?
Tract 55079007800 scores 5.8/10, higher 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 55079007800 historically redlined?
Yes. This tract sits inside an area graded by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930s, with a dominant grade of C. 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.
Tract · WI
Cesar E. Chavez Drive
5.8
/ 10 · Elevated
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Westlawn
5.8
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · WI
Cesar E. Chavez Drive
5.8
/ 10 · Elevated
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Rufus King
5.8
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · WI
Granville
5.8
/ 10 · Elevated
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Pabst Park
5.8
/ 10 · Elevated
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University Hill
5.8
/ 10 · Elevated
Tract · WI
Bronzeville
5.8
/ 10 · Elevated
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