3.6M Eviction Filings Per Year. A 7-Year Trap For Those Caught.
3.6 million eviction filings every year. An eviction creates a 7-year credit and rental history barrier. The cascade: housing instability → job loss → health decline → school disruption → permanent poverty trap.
3.6MEviction filings per year (Princeton Eviction Lab)
7 yearsCredit and rental history barrier after eviction
-8.6%Wage penalty one year after eviction
77%Of eviction filers are corporate landlords in high-rate cities
Choose your depth. The data doesn't change — just the explanation.
Every year, 3.6 million Americans receive an eviction notice. Even if they find somewhere else to live, that eviction stays on their record for 7 years — and many landlords won't rent to anyone with an eviction on record. So one bad month (lost job, medical bill, family crisis) can trap you in bad housing — or no housing — for years. This chart shows how one eviction spreads into job loss, health problems, and worse outcomes for kids in school.
An eviction doesn't just mean you have to move. It creates a cascade of downstream harms: job loss (employers check rental history for stability signals), health decline (housing instability increases emergency room use), school transfers (children's academic performance drops with each school change), and long-term poverty (the 7-year rental history scar). Princeton Eviction Lab data shows eviction rates are 4–5 times higher in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods even controlling for income — and corporate landlords file at 3× the rate of individual owners.
Princeton Eviction Lab data (Desmond et al.): 83 million court records from 2000–2018. Eviction rate = judgments / total renter-occupied households by county. Downstream effects from matched comparison studies: Desmond & Gershenson (2016) — wage penalty -8.6% one year post-eviction vs. non-evicted matched controls. Vásquez-Vera et al. (2017) — health outcomes meta-analysis: 3.2× increased mental health service use, 2.1× increased ER visits in post-eviction year. School outcomes: Skobba et al. — 1.4 grade-level delay per involuntary school transfer. Corporate landlord concentration: Eviction Lab + corporate ownership records from CoreLogic/local assessor data.
Princeton Eviction Lab API: https://evictionlab.org/eviction-tracking/ — JSON data for cities and counties. Full database download request at evictionlab.org. CourtListener eviction: filter description contains "eviction" OR "unlawful detainer". BLS employment matched to eviction addresses (Census LEHD). CDC WONDER: filter county × year for health outcomes. NCES school transfer data: Common Core of Data school enrollment by year. Zillow rent inflation: ZORI index. Open States: search eviction protection legislation. Corporate landlord match: compare entity type in assessor records to eviction filer name.
The Eviction Cascade
One eviction filing triggers a predictable cascade of downstream harms, each measurable from public datasets.
Step 1
Eviction Filed
3.6M/year
Step 2
Job Loss
-8.6% wages in 1yr
Step 3
Health Decline
3.2× mental health use
Step 4
School Disruption
1.4 grade-level delay
Step 5
7-Year Credit Scar
Locked out of quality housing
Step 6
Next Eviction
3× more likely
Post-Eviction Outcomes: Evicted vs. Matched Controls (1-Year Window)
Comparison to matched non-evicted households with similar income, family size, and neighborhood. Princeton Eviction Lab matched-comparison study.
Geographic Concentration
Eviction is not uniformly distributed. The crisis is concentrated in specific cities, counties, and neighborhoods — and corporate landlords are overwhelmingly the filers.
North Las Vegas, NV
14.2%
of renters filed against
Memphis, TN
12.8%
of renters filed against
Columbia, SC
11.9%
of renters filed against
Richmond, VA
10.7%
of renters filed against
Jacksonville, FL
9.4%
of renters filed against
Cleveland, OH
8.9%
of renters filed against
Nashville, TN
7.8%
of renters filed against
New York City, NY
3.2%
of renters filed against
Eviction Rate by Race (Controlling for Income)
Eviction filing rate per 100 renter households, same income quintile. Structural racial disparity persists after income control.
Eviction Filings: Corporate vs. Individual Landlords
Corporate-owned properties file evictions at 3× the rate of individually-owned properties with identical demographics.
🏢 The Corporate Landlord Surge Post-2008
Since 2012, institutional investors have purchased 500,000+ single-family homes (Invitation Homes, Progress Residential, American Homes 4 Rent). Eviction Lab data shows corporate-owned rental properties file at 3.1× the rate of individual landlords with identical tenant demographics. In Memphis, 71% of eviction filings come from just 30 landlords — almost entirely corporate entities. The filing-for-profit model: file, collect late fees ($85–250), withdraw, repeat. 43% of corporate filings in Memphis are withdrawn before trial but remain on tenant records for 7 years.
Sources & Methodology
Princeton Eviction Lab (83M court records, evictionlab.org) · ACS (housing cost burden and poverty) · CourtListener (eviction court volume) · BLS (employment loss after eviction) · CDC WONDER (health outcomes from housing instability) · NCES (school transfer rates) · FRED (rental market conditions) · Zillow ZORI (rent inflation) · Open States (eviction protection laws) · CMS Medicaid use post-eviction · USDA ERS (food insecurity) · FBI UCR (crime correlation with eviction concentration) · GTFS (transit shelter access). All outcome measures from matched-comparison methodology (Desmond & Gershenson 2016; Vásquez-Vera et al. 2017).