In 2023, there were about 653,104 homeless people estimated to be living in the United States, the highest number of homeless people recorded within the provided time period. In comparison, the second-highest number of homeless people living in the U.S. within this time period was in 2007, at 647,258. How is homelessness calculated? Calculating homelessness is complicated for several different reasons. For one, it is challenging to determine how many people are homeless as there is no direct definition for homelessness. Additionally, it is difficult to try and find every single homeless person that exists. Sometimes they cannot be reached, leaving people unaccounted for. In the United States, the Department of Housing and Urban Development calculates the homeless population by counting the number of people on the streets and the number of people in homeless shelters on one night each year. According to this count, Los Angeles City and New York City are the cities with the most homeless people in the United States. Homelessness in the United States Between 2022 and 2023, New Hampshire saw the highest increase in the number of homeless people. However, California was the state with the highest number of homeless people, followed by New York and Florida. The vast amount of homelessness in California is a result of multiple factors, one of them being the extreme high cost of living, as well as opposition to mandatory mental health counseling and drug addiction. However, the District of Columbia had the highest estimated rate of homelessness per 10,000 people in 2023. This was followed by New York, Vermont, and Oregon.

When analyzing the ratio of homelessness to state population, New York, Vermont, and Oregon had the highest rates in 2023. However, Washington, D.C. had an estimated 73 homeless individuals per 10,000 people, which was significantly higher than any of the 50 states. Homeless people by race The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development performs homeless counts at the end of January each year, which includes people in both sheltered and unsheltered locations. The estimated number of homeless people increased to 653,104 in 2023 – the highest level since 2007. However, the true figure is likely to be much higher, as some individuals prefer to stay with family or friends - making it challenging to count the actual number of homeless people living in the country. In 2023, nearly half of the people experiencing homelessness were white, while the number of Black homeless people exceeded 243,000. How many veterans are homeless in America? The  number of homeless veterans in the United States has halved since 2010. The state of California, which is currently suffering a homeless crisis, accounted for the highest number of homeless veterans in 2022. There are many causes of homelessness among veterans of the U.S. military, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse problems, and a lack of affordable housing.

In 2023, there were an estimated 324,854 white homeless people in the United States, the most out of any ethnicity. In comparison, there were around 243,624 Black or African American homeless people in the U.S. How homelessness is counted The actual number of homeless individuals in the U.S. is difficult to measure. The Department of Housing and Urban Development uses point-in-time estimates, where employees and volunteers count both sheltered and unsheltered homeless people during the last 10 days of January. However, it is very likely that the actual number of homeless individuals is much higher than the estimates, which makes it difficult to say just how many homeless there are in the United States. Unsheltered homeless in the United States California is well-known in the U.S. for having a high homeless population, and Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego all have high proportions of unsheltered homeless people. While in many states, the Department of Housing and Urban Development says that there are more sheltered homeless people than unsheltered, this estimate is most likely in relation to the method of estimation.

In 2023, about 68.4 percent of the estimated number of homeless individuals in the United States were male, compared to 30 percent who were female.

Table of homeless population by Year (for years 2009 through 2012)

"Ratio of Homeless Population to General Population in major US Cities in 2011. *This represents a list of large U.S. cities for which DHS was able to confirm a recent estimate of the unsheltered population. A 2011 result is available for Seattle, WA, Miami, FL, and Boston, MA.. 2011 results are not yet available for the other cities, and their 2009 data are displayed in this chart. General population figures are 2010 estimates in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, and 2009 estimates elsewhere."

This report displays the data communities reported to HUD about the nature of and amount of persons who are homeless as part of HUD's Point-in-Time (PIT) Count. This data is self-reported by communities to HUD as part of its competitive Continuum of Care application process. The website allows users to select PIT data from 2005 to present. Users can use filter by CoC, states, or the entire nation.

In 2023, the estimated number of homeless people in the United States was highest in California, with about 181,399 homeless people living in California in that year.

This report outlines the key findings of the annual Point-In-Time (PIT) count and Housing Inventory Count (HIC) conducted in January of each year. Specifically, this report provides estimates of homelessness self-reported, as well as estimates of chronically homeless persons, homeless veterans, and homeless children and youth.

Current link at the time of dataset creation: https://www.hudexchange.info/resource/4832/2015-ahar-part-1-pit-estimates-of-homelessness/

In the United States in 2023, 89.2 percent of the homeless population living in El Dorado County, California were unsheltered.

Between 2022 and 2023, New Hampshire had the highest positive percentage change in the estimated number of homeless people in the United States, with the number of homeless people living in New Hampshire increasing by 52.1 percent within this time period.

This report outlines the key findings of the 2014 Point-In-Time (PIT) and Housing Inventory (HIC) counts conducted in January 2014. Specifically, this report provides 2014 national, state, and CoC-level PIT and HIC estimates of homelessness, as well as estimates of chronically homeless persons, homeless veterans, and homeless children and youth.

This dataset displays demographics for the families and individuals residing in the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelter system.

This statistic shows the estimated number of chronically homeless people in the United States in 2020, by state. In 2020, there were about 51,785 chronically homeless people living in California.

Analysis of ‘Directory Of Unsheltered Street Homeless To General Population Ratio 2012’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/3938b01a-ab66-4fd1-967a-478702f97b87 on 27 January 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

"Ratio of Homeless Population to General Population in major US Cities in 2012. *This represents a list of large U.S. cities for which DHS was able to confirm a recent estimate of the unsheltered population. Unsheltered estimates are from 2011 except for Seattle and New York City (2012) and Chicago (2009). All General Population figures are from the 2010 U.S. Census enumeration."

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

Abstract (en): The DC Metropolitan Area Drug Study (DC*MADS) was conducted in 1991, and included special analyses of homeless and transient populations and of women delivering live births in the DC hospitals. DC*MADS was undertaken to assess the full extent of the drug problem in one metropolitan area. The study was comprised of 16 separate studies that focused on different sub-groups, many of which are typically not included or are underrepresented in household surveys. The Homeless and Transient Population study examines the prevalence of illicit drug, alcohol, and tobacco use among members of the homeless and transient population aged 12 and older in the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Statistical Area (DC MSA). The sample frame included respondents from shelters, soup kitchens and food banks, major cluster encampments, and literally homeless people. Data from the questionnaires include history of homelessness, living arrangements and population movement, tobacco, drug, and alcohol use, consequences of use, treatment history, illegal behavior and arrest, emergency room treatment and hospital stays, physical and mental health, pregnancy, insurance, employment and finances, and demographics. Drug specific data include age at first use, route of administration, needle use, withdrawal symptoms, polysubstance use, and perceived risk. ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: Performed consistency checks.; Created variable labels and/or value labels.; Standardized missing values.; Created online analysis version with question text.; Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.. Response Rates: The institutional response rate (i.e., for shelters and soup kitchens) was 82.6 percent. The individual interview response rate was 86.1 percent. The overall response rate was 71 percent. Persons aged 12 and older in the DC MSA who were either literally homeless or at imminent risk of becoming homeless, including persons who spent the previous night in an emergency shelter, in a nondomicile (e.g., vacant building, city park, car, or on the street) or who were using soup kitchens or emergency food banks. The Homeless and Transient Population study consisted of 908 interviews from four overlapping sampling frames: 477 interviews with residents in 93 shelters, 224 interviews with patrons of 31 soup kitchens and food banks, 143 interviews with "literally homeless" people from 18 major cluster encampments, and 64 interviews with literally homeless people from an area probability sample of 432 census blocks in the MSA. People who were cognitively impaired and could not complete the interview were excluded from the survey. Impairment was defined as extreme intoxification or scoring more than nine on the Short Blessed Exam (Katzman, Brown, Fuld, Peck, Schecter, and Schimmel, 1983). 2008-07-24 New files were added. These files included one or more of the following: Stata setup, SAS transport (CPORT), SPSS system, Stata system, SAS supplemental syntax, and Stata supplemental syntax files, and a tab-delimited ASCII data file. Also, the CASEID variable has been added to the dataset.2005-11-04 On 2005-03-14 new files were added to one or more datasets. These files included additional setup files as well as one or more of the following: SAS program, SAS transport, SPSS portable, and Stata system files. The metadata record was revised 2005-11-04 to reflect these additions. Funding insitution(s): United States Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Produced by Research Triangle Institute in Research Triangle Park, NC.

The purpose of the San Mateo County Homeless Census and Survey is to gather and analyze information to help us understand who is homeless in our community, why they are homeless and what interventions they need to end their homelessness. This data forms the basis for effective planning to solve this complex and longstanding problem. The San Mateo County Human Services Agency’s Center on Homelessness the San Mateo County Continuum of Care Steering Committee were responsible for overseeing this data collection effort, with assistance from a broad group of community partners, including non-profit social service providers, city and town governments, and homeless and formerly homeless individuals. The Census and Survey was designed to meet two related sets of data needs. The first is the requirement of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that communities applying for McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance funds (also known as Continuum of Care or “CoC” funds) must conduct a point-in-time count of homeless people a minimum of every two years. These counts are required to take place in the last ten days of January.

These are the measures adopted by the Heading Home Ramsey Governing Board for tracking top level changes in homeless population and outcomes in the homeless services system. This data is used in the Heading Home Ramsey Community Dashboard Measures https://data.ramseycounty.us/stories/s/wwpp-7i2j. Except for the total county population and housing bed counts, all of the data are derived from the homeless management information system, known as HMIS. Not all homeless persons are served by agencies that use HMIS and therefore these measures do not necessarily cover all homeless persons.

Many of the measures separate housing project types (shelter, rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing) because of the different lengths of service and types of interventions. For definitions of standard project types for homeless services and other terms, see these descriptions at https://www.unitedtoendhomelessness.org/blog/types-of-housing-support-for-the-homeless .

For more information about other homeless data and special reports visit Heading Home Ramsey's visit https://www.headinghomeramsey.org/stats-data.

Data extraction sheet. (XLSX 56Â kb)