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.

Context

Disasters include all geophysical, meteorological and climate events including earthquakes, volcanic activity, landslides, drought, wildfires, storms, and flooding. Decadal figures are measured as the annual average over the subsequent ten-year period.

Content

Thanks to Our World in Data, you can explore death from natural disasters by country and by date.

Acknowledgements

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Inspiration

List of variables for inspiration: Number of deaths from drought Number of people injured from drought Number of people affected from drought Number of people left homeless from drought Number of total people affected by drought Reconstruction costs from drought Insured damages against drought Total economic damages from drought Death rates from drought Injury rates from drought Number of people affected by drought per 100,000 Homelessness rate from drought Total number of people affected by drought per 100,000 Number of deaths from earthquakes Number of people injured from earthquakes Number of people affected by earthquakes Number of people left homeless from earthquakes Number of total people affected by earthquakes Reconstruction costs from earthquakes Insured damages against earthquakes Total economic damages from earthquakes Death rates from earthquakes Injury rates from earthquakes Number of people affected by earthquakes per 100,000 Homelessness rate from earthquakes Total number of people affected by earthquakes per 100,000 Number of deaths from disasters Number of people injured from disasters Number of people affected by disasters Number of people left homeless from disasters Number of total people affected by disasters Reconstruction costs from disasters Insured damages against disasters Total economic damages from disasters Death rates from disasters Injury rates from disasters Number of people affected by disasters per 100,000 Homelessness rate from disasters Total number of people affected by disasters per 100,000 Number of deaths from volcanic activity Number of people injured from volcanic activity Number of people affected by volcanic activity Number of people left homeless from volcanic activity Number of total people affected by volcanic activity Reconstruction costs from volcanic activity Insured damages against volcanic activity Total economic damages from volcanic activity Death rates from volcanic activity Injury rates from volcanic activity Number of people affected by volcanic activity per 100,000 Homelessness rate from volcanic activity Total number of people affected by volcanic activity per 100,000 Number of deaths from floods Number of people injured from floods Number of people affected by floods Number of people left homeless from floods Number of total people affected by floods Reconstruction costs from floods Insured damages against floods Total economic damages from floods Death rates from floods Injury rates from floods Number of people affected by floods per 100,000 Homelessness rate from floods Total number of people affected by floods per 100,000 Number of deaths from mass movements Number of people injured from mass movements Number of people affected by mass movements Number of people left homeless from mass movements Number of total people affected by mass movements Reconstruction costs from mass movements Insured damages against mass movements Total economic damages from mass movements Death rates from mass movements Injury rates from mass movements Number of people affected by mass movements per 100,000 Homelessness rate from mass movements Total number of people affected by mass movements per 100,000 Number of deaths from storms Number of people injured from storms Number of people affected by storms Number of people left homeless from storms Number of total people affected by storms Reconstruction costs from storms Insured damages against storms Total economic damages from storms Death rates from storms Injury rates from storms Number of people affected by storms per 100,000 Homelessness rate from storms Total number of people affected by storms per 100,000 Number of deaths from landslides Number of people injured from landslides Number of people affected by landslides Number of people left homeless from landslides Number of total people affected by landslides Reconstruction costs from landslides Insured damages against landslides Total economic damages from landslides Death rates from landslides Injury rates from landslides Number of people affected by landslides per 100,000 Homelessness rate from landslides Total number of people affected by landslides per 100,000 Number of deaths from fog Number of people injured from fog Number of people affected by fog Number of people left homel...

Data published by Our World in Data based on EM-DAT, CRED / UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium – www.emdat.be (D. Guha-Sapir)

Variable time span 1900 – 2010

This dataset has been calculated and compiled by Our World in Data based on raw disaster data published by EM-DAT, CRED / UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium – www.emdat.be (D. Guha-Sapir). EM-DAT publishes comprehensive, global data on each individual disaster event – estimating the number of deaths; people affected; and economic damages, from UN reports; government records; expert opinion; and additional sources. Our World in Data has calculated annual aggregates, and decadal averages, for each country based on this raw event-by-event dataset. Decadal figures are measured as the annual average over the subsequent ten-year period. This means figures for ‘1900’ represent the average from 1900 to 1909; ‘1910’ is the average from 1910 to 1919 etc. We have calculated per capita rates using population figures from Gapminder (gapminder.org) and the UN World Population Prospects (https://population.un.org/wpp/). Economic damages data is provided by EM-DAT in concurrent US$. We have calculated this as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) using the World Bank’s GDP figures (also in current US$) (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator). Definitions of specific metrics are as follows: – ‘All disasters’ includes all geophysical, meteorological, and climate events including earthquakes, volcanic activity, landslides, drought, wildfires, storms, and flooding. – People affected are those requiring immediate assistance during an emergency situation. – The total number of people affected is the sum of injured, affected, and homeless.Link www.emdat.be