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.

This dataset contains estimates of homelessness, as well as estimates of chronically homeless persons, homeless veterans, and homeless children and youth provided by The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The estimates cover the period of years 2007-2017 and are at national, state and Continuums of Care (CoC) Point-In-Time (PIT) level.

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.

Context

This database contains the data reported in the Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (AHAR). It represents a point-In-time count (PIT) of homeless individuals, as well as a housing inventory count (HIC) conducted annually.

The data represent the most comprehensive national-level assessment of homelessness in America, including PIT and HIC estimates of homelessness, as well as estimates of chronically homeless persons, homeless veterans, and homeless children and youth.

These data can be trended over time and correlated with other metrics of housing availability and affordability, in order to better understand the particular type of housing resources that may be needed from a social determinants of health perspective.

HUD captures these data annually through the Continuum of Care (CoC) program. CoC-level reporting data have been crosswalked to county levels for purposes of analysis of this dataset.

Querying BigQuery tables

You can use the BigQuery Python client library to query tables in this dataset in Kernels. Note that methods available in Kernels are limited to querying data. Tables are at bigquery-public-data.sdoh_hud_pit_homelessness

Sample Query

What has been the change in the number of homeless veterans in the state of New York’s CoC Regions since 2012? Determine how the patterns of homeless veterans have changes across the state of New York

homeless_2018 AS ( SELECT Homeless_Veterans AS Vet18, CoC_Name
FROM bigquery-public-data.sdoh_hud_pit_homelessness.hud_pit_by_coc WHERE SUBSTR(CoC_Number,0,2) = "NY" AND Count_Year = 2018 ),

veterans_change AS ( SELECT homeless_2012.COC_Name, Vet12, Vet18, Vet18 - Vet12 AS VetChange FROM homeless_2018 JOIN homeless_2012 ON homeless_2018.CoC_Name = homeless_2012.CoC_Name )

SELECT * FROM veterans_change

Point in Time Count Numbers for 2007 to 2018 from HUD, which counts the number of people experiencing homelessness at the federal, state, and local level. https://www.hudexchange.info/resource/5783/2018-ahar-part-1-pit-estimates-of-homelessness-in-the-us/

This dataset includes the daily number of families and individuals residing in the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelter system and the daily number of families applying to the DHS shelter system.

This data tracks the number of beds available for runaway and homeless youth and young adults as well as the number and percent vacant. Data include Crisis Shelters, Crisis Shelters HYA (Homeless Young Adults), Transitional Independent Living, and Transitional Independent Living HYA. For more information about programs, visit https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dycd/services/services.page and https://discoverdycd.dycdconnect.nyc/home. For the RHY Data Collection, please follow this link.

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.

This dataset includes the daily number of families and individuals residing in the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelter system and the daily number of families applying to the DHS shelter system prior to 3/1/2021. For the latest records, please refer to https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Social-Services/DHS-Daily-Report/k46n-sa2m

This dataset includes Point-in-Time (PIT) data collected in Cambridge between 2012 and 2025. The PIT count is a count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons on a single night in January. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires that communities receiving funding through the Continuum of Care (CoC) Program conduct an annual count of homeless persons on a single night in the last 10 days of January, and these data contribute to national estimates of homelessness reported in the Annual Homeless Assessment Report to the U.S. Congress. This dataset is comprised of data submitted to, and stored in, HUD’s Homelessness Data Exchange (HDX).

This dataset includes basic counts and demographic information of persons experiencing homelessness on each PIT date from 2012-2025. The dataset contains three rows for each year, including one row for each housing type: Emergency Shelter, Transitional Housing, or Unsheltered. The dataset also includes housing inventory counts of the number of shelter and transitional housing units available on each of the PIT count dates.

Information about persons staying in emergency shelters and transitional housing units is exported from the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), which is the primary database for recording client-level service records. Information about persons in unsheltered situations is compiled by first conducting an overnight street count of persons observed sleeping outdoors on the PIT night to establish the total number of unsheltered persons. Demographic information for unsheltered persons is then extrapolated by utilizing assessment data collected by street outreach workers during the 7 days following the PIT count.

List of centers where homeless people are provided with hot meals, showers, medical help and a place to sleep

Presents the number of individuals for each shelter facility type by borough and community district

Content

This dataset includes the daily number of families and individuals residing in the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelter system and the daily number of families applying to the DHS shelter system.

Context

This is a dataset hosted by the City of New York. The city has an open data platform found here and they update their information according the amount of data that is brought in. Explore New York City using Kaggle and all of the data sources available through the City of New York organization page!

• Update Frequency: This dataset is updated daily.

Acknowledgements

This dataset is maintained using Socrata's API and Kaggle's API. Socrata has assisted countless organizations with hosting their open data and has been an integral part of the process of bringing more data to the public.

Cover photo by Matt Collamer on Unsplash
Unsplash Images are distributed under a unique Unsplash License.

This dataset includes the daily number of families and individuals residing in the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelter system and the daily number of families applying to the DHS shelter system.

this graph was created in PowerBi,R and Loocker studio:

https://www.googleapis.com/download/storage/v1/b/kaggle-user-content/o/inbox%2F16731800%2Ff21bb298c472dbc4bed21ef6dda71d5e%2Fgraph1.jpg?generation=1715375554075996&alt=media" alt="">

https://www.googleapis.com/download/storage/v1/b/kaggle-user-content/o/inbox%2F16731800%2Fea25ef2b4f987b1c37d85ce0b24180ce%2Fgraph2.jpg?generation=1715375559925771&alt=media" alt="">

https://www.googleapis.com/download/storage/v1/b/kaggle-user-content/o/inbox%2F16731800%2F69022bdb532b6b315c2ac7261d211868%2Fgraph3.png?generation=1715375565218326&alt=media" alt="">

This topic page studies available data and empirical evidence on homelessness, focusing specifically on how it affects people in high-income countries. Homeless people are among the most vulnerable groups in high-income countries.

You can read our topic page on Extreme Poverty if you are interested in a broader perspective on economic deprivation and a perspective beyond high-income countries.

Homeless people in the US What data is available? One of the most common ways to measure homelessness is through so-called 'point-in-time' counts of people who are sleeping in shelters or on the streets. These are figures that are intended to reflect the number of people who are homeless 'on any given night'.

The main source of point-in-time estimates in the US is the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which releases the Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (AHARC). They calculate 'point-in-time' estimates by counting homeless people in late January of each year.

The main underlying sources of data used to produce the figures published in the AHARC are (i) registries from shelters and (ii) counts and estimates of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons provided by care organizations, as part of their applications for government funding.

The counts from the care organizations (called 'Continuums of Care' in the US) come from active counts that are undertaken at the community level, by walking around the streets, using pre-established methodologies.1

In these figures, 'Sheltered Homelessness' refers to people who are staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing programs, or safe havens. 'Unsheltered Homelessness', on the other hand, refers to people whose primary nighttime residence is a public or private place not designated for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for people – for example, the streets, vehicles, or parks.2

According to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's definition, homelessness includes individuals and families who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. A homeless count provides a "snapshot in time" to quantify the size of the homeless population at a specific point during the year. Regardless of how successful outreach efforts are, an undercount of people experiencing homelessness is possible. Counts includes persons experiencing unsheltered and sheltered homelessness. Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count occurred in the nights of February 22, 23 and 24, 2022. Glendale's count occurred in the morning and evening of February 25, 2022. Long Beach's count occurred in the early morning of February 24, 2022. Pasadena's count occurred in the evening of February 22, 2022 and morning of February 23, 2022. Data not available for Los Angeles City neighborhoods and unincorporated Los Angeles County; LAHSA does not recommend aggregating census tract-level data to calculate numbers for other geographic levels.Housing affordability is a major concern for many Los Angeles County residents. Housing burden can increase the risk for homelessness. Individuals experiencing homelessness experience disproportionately higher rates of certain health conditions, such as tuberculosis, HIV infection, alcohol and drug abuse, and mental illness. Barriers to accessing care and limited access to resources contribute greatly to these observed disparities.For more information about the Community Health Profiles Data Initiative, please see the initiative homepage.

Individuals and families placed in HRA housing systems in pursuant to local law 19. For Local Law 19 of 1999 Report - Monthly Placements, follow this link. For Local Law 19 of 1999 - Annual Report DHS Shelter, follow this link.

The DC Metropolitan Area Drug Study (DCMADS) was
conducted in 1991, and included special analyses of homeless and
transient populations and of women delivering live births in the DC
hospitals. DCMADS 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.This study has 1 Data Set.

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

It is estimated that over a million young people run away or become homeless each year. These youth face increasingly complex issues, including substance abuse, physical and sexual abuse, and AIDS. The serious issues faced by these youths are coupled with funding constraints among almost all agencies providing services to this population. In 1974 the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) authorized funding to assist community based programs to serve youth who were not otherwise being served by traditional human service agencies. The funding was used for the operation of basic center programs which would provide support for runaway and homeless youth (RHY). The programs offered emergency shelter, crisis intervention services, and family reunification services. In 1988 the Transitional Living Program was introduced in order to provide services to older youth requiring assistance in becoming self-sufficient.While helping to support at-risk youth, the FYSB laws also mandate that certain data be regularly collected and reported. For example, FYSB supported agencies must report on the profile of the youth and families they serve, and provide an overview of the services which they deliver under their grant programs. In order to assist these grantees in their reporting responsibilities, FYSB funded the development of a Runaway and Homeless Youth Management Information System (RHY MIS). The RHY MIS was designed to provide comprehensive information on youth served, services provided, and programs which provide the services.The RHY MIS was designed, developed, and implemented by Information Technology International (ITI). Gradual implementation of the MIS began in 1992 with approximately 400 RHY grantee sites across the country. By 1995, virtually all existing grant programs had at least one staff member who had been trained and grantees were expected to use the MIS and submit data to FYSB on a quarterly basis.The fiscal year 1996 RHY MIS dataset contains data submitted during the federal fiscal year 1996. Data are included from participating agencies in 53 US States and Territories. The dataset includes three files. A demographics file contains 72540 observations and 153 variables. Two additional files contain 64100 observations and a combined 235 variables pertaining to youth problems and services provided.

Investigators: Papadopoulos, Helen & Diepenbrock, Elaine