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 ** 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 ******* 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 *******. 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 about ******* 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 *******. 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.

The graph displays the top 15 states by an estimated number of homeless people in the United States for the year 2025. The x-axis represents U.S. states, while the y-axis shows the number of homeless individuals in each state. California has the highest homeless population with 187,084 individuals, followed by New York with 158,019, while Hawaii places last in this dataset with 11,637. This bar graph highlights significant differences across states, with some states like California and New York showing notably higher counts compared to others, indicating regional disparities in homelessness levels across the country.

In 2023, there were an estimated ******* white homeless people in the United States, the most out of any ethnicity. In comparison, there were around ******* 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.

This indicator presents available data at national level on the number of people reported by public authorities as homeless. Data are drawn from the OECD Questionnaire on Affordable and Social Housing (QuASH 2021, QuASH 2019, QuASH 2016) and other available sources. Overall, homelessness data are available for 36 countries (Table HC 3.1.1 in Annex I). Further discussion of homelessness can be found in the 2020 OECD Policy Brief, “Better data and policies to fight homelessness in the OECD”, available online (and in French). Discussion of national strategies to combat homelessness can be found in indicator HC3.2 National Strategies for combating homelessness. Comparing homeless estimates across countries is difficult, as countries do not define or count the homeless population in the same way. There is no internationally agreed definition of homelessness. Therefore, this indicator presents a collection of available statistics on homelessness in OECD, EU and key partner countries in line with definitions used in national surveys (comparability issues on the data are discussed below). Even within countries, different definitions of homelessness may co-exist. In this indicator, we refer only to the statistical definition used for data collection purposes. Detail on who is included in the number of homeless in each country, i.e. the definition used for statistical purposes, is presented in Table HC 3.1.2 at the end of this indicator. To facilitate comparison of the content of homeless statistics across countries, it is also indicated whether the definition includes the categories outlined in Box HC3.1, based on “ETHOS Light” (FEANTSA, 2018). Homelessness data from 2020, which are available for a handful of countries and cover at least part of the COVID-19 pandemic, add an additional layer of complexity to cross-country comparison. The homeless population estimate in this case depends heavily on the point in time at which the count took place in the year, the method to estimate the homeless (through a point-in-time count or administrative data, as discussed below), the existence, extent and duration of emergency supports introduced in different countries to provide shelter to the homeless and/or to prevent vulnerable households from becoming homeless (such as eviction bans). Where they are available, homeless data for 2020 are thus compared to data from the previous year in order to facilitate comparison with other countries.

In 2011, about 15 percent of the total population in India was homeless. Urban areas witnessed more homelessness in comparison to the rural areas of the country. Homelessness is a growing issue in India that leads to various other problems like violence and drug addiction among others.

In the period from 2012 to 2013, discoveries in shale oil and advances in drilling techniques created an oil boom in North Dakota. Migrant workers from across the continent flocked to the rural prairie state in search of plentiful and well-paying jobs. The state now boasts high economic indexes across the board, including the lowest unemployment rate in the country. But the boom has put a strain on North Dakota's infrastructure. As some cities nearly double their populations, housing has been unable to keep pace with the growth. Employed and healthy individuals are forced to brave the frigid northern conditions in cars and tents.The three maps in this web application paint a picture of the homeless problem in North Dakota by showing how the state's homeless counts, percentages, and change compare to the rest of the United States. While North Dakota's total homeless population is relatively low, the population is high for its size and growing at a tremendous rate.

The number of homeless people in Portugal continuously increased from 2018 to 2022. In the latter year, there were ****** homeless individuals in the country. Unsheltered individuals outnumbered the unhoused by more than a thousand homeless persons.

Nearly 11.3 thousand people in Russia were homeless, based on the population census data from 2021. The number of homeless residents decreased by 82 percent compared to 2010. The largest share of homeless people in the country lived in urban areas, at around 95 percent in 2021.

In 2022, there were an estimated 196,000 Germans who were homeless. There were significantly more non-Germans who were homeless, at 411,000.

This round of Eurobarometer surveys diverged from the Standard Eurobarometer measures and queried respondents on the following major areas of focus: (1) poverty and social exclusion, (2) social services, (3) climate change, and (4) the national economic situation and statistics. For the first major focus, poverty and social exclusion, respondents were queried about their own definition of poverty, the extent of poverty in their area, trends in the growth or decline of poverty in their area and in the world, social and personal causes of poverty and homelessness, and negative effects of poverty. Questions also included the risk of poverty for themselves and others, the importance of governmental wealth redistribution, social tension between groups, trust in individual people, trust in and reliability of institutions in fighting poverty, minimal acceptable living standards, and the level of homelessness in their area. In addition, respondents were queried on their ability to keep their job, the relationship between their job and their family, their own personal aid to help the poor, access to financial services, the respondents' satisfaction with life, and the respondents' own living conditions and income. For the second major focus, social services, respondents were asked about such services as long term care, childcare, public employment, social housing, and social assistance. Questions focused on how much they or others around them use social services, the quality and affordability of social services, preferences for elderly care and childcare, the prioritization of group assistance, and the financing of social services. For the third major focus, climate change, respondents were asked about the seriousness of climate change, governmental attempts to fight climate change, personal actions taken to fight climate change, and the relationship between environmental protection and economic growth. Finally, for the fourth major focus, the national economic situation and statistics, respondents were asked to estimate their country's official growth rate, inflation rate, and unemployment rate, and were asked to give their opinions on the importance and trustworthiness of economic statistics. Respondents were also queried on the employment and economic situations in their country. Demographic and other background information includes left-right political placement, occupation, age, gender, marital status, age at completion of full-time education, household composition, ownership of a fixed or a mobile telephone and other durable goods, internet usage, financial situation, level in society, minority group affiliation, region of residence, type and size of locality, and language of interview (in select countries).

According to a survey on regional homelessness conducted in September 2018, at around 43 percent, the majority of people living without a shelter in the Auckland region in New Zealand were of Māori ethnicity. In the same year, an estimated 16 percent of the entire population of the country were Māori.

In financial year 2023, the number of people who received assistance from a homelessness agency in Australia was around 274 thousand. This represented an increase from financial year 2014, when about 254 thousand people received services from a homelessness agency in the country.

Out of all OECD countries, Cost Rica had the highest poverty rate as of 2022, at over 20 percent. The country with the second highest poverty rate was the United States, with 18 percent. On the other end of the scale, Czechia had the lowest poverty rate at 6.4 percent, followed by Denmark.

The significance of the OECD

The OECD, or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, was founded in 1948 and is made up of 38 member countries. It seeks to improve the economic and social well-being of countries and their populations. The OECD looks at issues that impact people’s everyday lives and proposes policies that can help to improve the quality of life.

Poverty in the United States

In 2022, there were nearly 38 million people living below the poverty line in the U.S.. About one fourth of the Native American population lived in poverty in 2022, the most out of any ethnicity. In addition, the rate was higher among young women than young men. It is clear that poverty in the United States is a complex, multi-faceted issue that affects millions of people and is even more complex to solve.

In 2023/24, 3,645 people who were seen to be sleeping rough in London were aged between 36 and 45 years old, the most common age group in that year. In this same year, 1,126 people seen to be homeless were aged between 18 and 24, and a further 1,380 were aged over 55. By far, the least common age group for rough sleeping were those aged under 18, with just 13 rough sleepers in this reporting year. Demographics of London's homeless Overall, there were 10,053 people reported to be sleeping rough in London in 2022/23. Although this was fewer than in 2020/21, when the number of people sleeping rough reached 11,018, it was still much higher than in 2010/11, when this figure was 3,975 people. As of the most recent reporting year, 2,050 of London's rough sleepers were in the borough of Westminster, the most of any London borough. In terms of gender, the majority of rough sleepers in 2022/23 were male, with 8,172 men seen to be sleeping rough, compared with 1,642 women, and eleven non-binary people. Homelessness in the U.S. Homelessness is also an important social issue in several other countries. In the United States, for example, there were estimated to be approximately 582,562 people experiencing homelessness in 2022. This was a slight increase on the previous year, but a decrease when compared to 2007, when around 672,258 people were homeless. When looking at U.S. states, California had the highest homelessness rate, at 43.7 individuals per 10,000 population, followed by Vermont at 43.1

The majority of the people found sleeping rough in London in 2022/23 were from the United Kingdom, at 4,265 people. People from Romania were the next most common nationality at 1,031 rough sleepers.

In 2023, the resident population of California was ***** million. This is a slight decrease from the previous year, with ***** million people in 2022. This makes it the most populous state in the U.S. Californian demographics Along with an increase in population, California’s gross domestic product (GDP) has also been increasing, from *** trillion U.S. dollars in 2000 to **** trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. In the same time period, the per-capita personal income has almost doubled, from ****** U.S. dollars in 2000 to ****** U.S. dollars in 2022. In 2023, the majority of California’s resident population was Hispanic or Latino, although the number of white residents followed as a close second, with Asian residents making up the third-largest demographic in the state. The dark side of the Golden State While California is one of the most well-known states in the U.S., is home to Silicon Valley, and one of the states where personal income has been increasing over the past 20 years, not everyone in California is so lucky: In 2023, the poverty rate in California was about ** percent, and the state had the fifth-highest rate of homelessness in the country during that same year, with an estimated ** homeless people per 10,000 of the population.

In 2023, the around 11.1 percent of the population was living below the national poverty line in the United States. Poverty in the United StatesAs shown in the statistic above, the poverty rate among all people living in the United States has shifted within the last 15 years. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines poverty as follows: “Absolute poverty measures poverty in relation to the amount of money necessary to meet basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. The concept of absolute poverty is not concerned with broader quality of life issues or with the overall level of inequality in society.” The poverty rate in the United States varies widely across different ethnic groups. American Indians and Alaska Natives are the ethnic group with the most people living in poverty in 2022, with about 25 percent of the population earning an income below the poverty line. In comparison to that, only 8.6 percent of the White (non-Hispanic) population and the Asian population were living below the poverty line in 2022. Children are one of the most poverty endangered population groups in the U.S. between 1990 and 2022. Child poverty peaked in 1993 with 22.7 percent of children living in poverty in that year in the United States. Between 2000 and 2010, the child poverty rate in the United States was increasing every year; however,this rate was down to 15 percent in 2022. The number of people living in poverty in the U.S. varies from state to state. Compared to California, where about 4.44 million people were living in poverty in 2022, the state of Minnesota had about 429,000 people living in poverty.

Various state governments in India set-up shelter homes for those stranded by the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown implemented in late March, 2020. The southern state of Kerala topped the list with 15,141 shelter homes in April. This was nearly 70 percent of all government camps across the country. Uttar Pradesh followed with 2,230 camps and Maharashtra ranked third during the same time period.

The country went into lockdown on March 25, 2020, the largest in the world, restricting 1.3 billion people. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Fact and Figures page.

According to a survey on regional homelessness conducted in September 2018, at around 40 percent, the majority of people living in temporary accommodation in the Auckland region in New Zealand were of Māori origin. In the same year, an estimated 16 percent of the entire population of the country were Māori, while only eight percent had a Pacific background.