Eviction Lab Research

Last Updated: July 10, 2023

The Eviction Lab aims to analyze the prevalence, causes, and consequences of eviction in America. This page highlights key findings from our research and provides links to more detailed summaries, reports, and academic articles.

The Prevalence, Concentration, and Geography of Eviction

One of our key goals is to offer an accurate picture of how common eviction is across the United States. We developed the first nationwide estimates of the prevalence of eviction, allowing us to describe how these cases are unevenly distributed both between and within states.

Key Findings

Nationwide, 3.6 million evictions were filed in 2018 against 2.7 million unique households.

Every year, 7.6 million individual renters are threatened with eviction, many of them children.

Nearly one-third of all evictions filed in 2014 were repeated cases against the same household at the same address.

In many cities, a small set of landlords are consistently responsible for a large share of evictions.

We have analyzed eviction risk in suburban communities, showing how, in most cases, eviction rates in these communities have increased over time.

People at Risk of Eviction

Certain renters are at greater risk of eviction than others. Our research has explored these disparities, particularly as they pertain to race, ethnicity, gender, and household composition.

Key Findings

Black renters face far higher eviction rates than any other racial/ethnic group.

Nearly 40% of all individuals facing the threat of eviction are children. Households with children are at high risk of eviction.

Women face a disproportionate share of eviction filings and judgments.

Victims of domestic violence can be targeted for eviction, an unintended consequence of nuisance ordinances.

Public housing authorities are responsible for a large number of eviction cases. They are also significantly more likely to file repeated, serial eviction cases.

Consequences of Eviction

Eviction cases—even those that don’t result in displacement—can affect households in a wide variety of ways. They also have repercussions for communities, undermining stability and collective efficacy. Our research has explored a number of these consequences.

Key Findings

Paying more of your income toward rent is associated with increased risk of death, and evictions raise this risk even more.The risk of death following eviction was twice as high during the COVID-19 pandemi.

Eviction cases are associated with increases in assaults, robberies, and burglaries.

Being evicted when pregnant harms infant health and development.

Eviction reduces the likelihood that people vote, depressing voter turnout in the 2016 Presidential election.

Serial eviction filings can increase housing costs by 20%, burdening households that are already struggling to pay rent.

Tools to Address the Eviction Crisis

What can be done to reduce eviction rates? Our research highlights a number of policies and tools that can help. These include interventions that directly affect the eviction process, but also steps that can be taken to address underlying causes and increase the supply of safe, affordable housing.

Key Findings

Increasing the fee that landlords pay to file an eviction case can significantly reduce eviction rates.

States where landlords are required to provide notice to tenants of their intention to evict have lower eviction filing rates.

Addressing local residential instability requires understanding where eviction hotspots are located.

Eviction moratoria established during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced eviction filing rates.

Increasing the supply of affordable housing requires zoning reform, and the first step in that process is understanding the full range of land ordinances currently in place.

Eviction and Eviction Protections during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Massive spikes in unemployment at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to cause a surge in eviction filings. Instead, thanks to robust federal, state, and local interventions, the number of eviction cases being filed fell to historic lows. We have documented these trends, described the protections that were enacted, and evaluated policies.

Key Findings

Eviction filings were cut by more than half between the start of the pandemic and the end of 2021.

During the pandemic, those facing eviction filings saw higher-than-normal rates of death.

We described eviction moratoria that were enacted across the U.S. during the first year of the pandemic and demonstrated their effect in reducing eviction filings.

Renters reported that eviction moratoria offered critical protections and time to catch up on back rent, but also fell short in an important ways.

We showed that neighborhoods with the highest eviction filing rates were also the places with lowest levels of COVID-19 vaccination.

Landlords and Rental Markets

Our research has also explored landlord behavior, property management, and the operation of rental markets. This work sheds light on the scale of landlord property holdings, the profitability of rental housing, and the ways that landlords engage with the eviction process.

Key Findings

Because property values and tax burdens are low but rents are relatively high, rental profits are largest in poor communities.

Large landlords file eviction cases more often than small landlords, and the difference cannot be explained by the characteristics of their tenants.

Extractive landlord strategies create crime hot spots.

Where it is fast and cheap, landlords often use eviction filings as a rent collection tool rather than a means of removing tenants.

Neighborhood gentrification is not associated with increases in evictions.

Eviction, Housing, and Zoning Data

The process of building and conducting research with the national eviction database has provided insights into the potential and the challenges of working with administrative data from the courts, as well as publicly available parcel, zoning, and land use resources.

Key Findings

We developed new ways of measuring and mapping local land use and zoning policies.

Eviction court records contain inaccuracies that can affect how rates can be calculated and compared.

Surveys offer an alternative method for measuring eviction prevalence, but one has its own set of challenges and drawbacks.