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

Yearly statewide and by-Continuum of Care total counts of individuals receiving homeless response services by age group, race, gender, veteran status, and disability status.

This data comes from the Homelessness Data Integration System (HDIS), a statewide data warehouse which compiles and processes data from all 44 California Continuums of Care (CoC)—regional homelessness service coordination and planning bodies. Each CoC collects data about the people it serves through its programs, such as homelessness prevention services, street outreach services, permanent housing interventions and a range of other strategies aligned with California’s Housing First objectives.

The dataset uploaded reflects the 2024 HUD Data Standard Changes. Previously, Race and Ethnicity are separate files but are now combined.

Information updated as of 2/06/2025.

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.

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, 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.

Updated every Thursday People experiencing homelessness are at risk for infection through community spread of COVID-19. The data below describes impacts of COVID-19 on individuals who are experiencing homelessness, whether they are able to access a congregate shelter or unsheltered (sleeping outside or in places not meant for human habitation). For COVID-19 investigation purposes, people experiencing homelessness are defined as those who have lived on the streets or stayed in a shelter, vehicle, abandoned building, encampment, tiny house village/tent city, or supportive housing program (transitional or permanent supportive) at any time during the 12 months prior to COVID-19 testing, without evidence that they were otherwise permanently housed. Public Health, the Department of Community and Human Services, homeless service providers, healthcare providers, and the City of Seattle have partnered for increased testing in this community.

This dataset represents the number of persons who successfully exit from homelessness in a given fiscal year in the Austin/Travis County Continuum of Care (CoC). This measure is comprised of Metric 7b1 and 7b2 from the HUD System Performance Measures.

Data Source: The data for this measure was reported to the City of Austin by the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO). Each year, ECHO, as the homeless Continuum of Care Lead Agency (CoC Lead), aggregates and reports community wide data (including this measure) to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This data is referred to as System Performance Measures as they are designed to examine how well a community is responding to homelessness at a system level.

View more details and insights related to this data set on the story page: https://data.austintexas.gov/stories/s/xtip-he7k

Homelessness data Official homelessness data is produced by local authorities through the Pathway Accommodation and Support System (PASS). PASS was rolled-out nationally during the course of 2013. The Department’s official homelessness statistics are published on a monthly basis and refer to the number of homeless persons accommodated in emergency accommodation funded and overseen by housing authorities during a specific count week, typically the last full week of the month. The reports are produced through the Pathway Accommodation & Support System (PASS), collated on a regional basis and compiled and published by the Department. Homelessness reporting commenced in this format in 2014. The format of the data may change or vary over time due to administrative and/or technology changes and improvements. The administration of homeless services is organised across nine administrative regions, with one local authority in each of the regions, “the lead authority”, having overall responsibility for the disbursement of Exchequer funding. In each region a Joint Homelessness Consultative Forum exists which includes representation from the relevant State and non-governmental organisations involved in the delivery of homeless services in a particular region. Delegated arrangements are governed by an annually agreed protocol between the Department and the lead authority in each region. These protocols set out the arrangements, responsibilities and financial/performance data reporting requirements for the delegation of funding from the Department. Under Sections 38 and 39 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 a statutory Management Group exists for each regional forum. This is comprised of representatives from the relevant housing authorities and the Health Service Executive, and it is the responsibility of the Management Group to consider issues around the need for homeless services and to plan for the implementation, funding and co-ordination of such services. In relation to the terms used in the report for the accommodation types see explanation below: PEA - Private Emergency Accommodation: this may include hotels, B&Bs and other residential facilities that are used on an emergency basis. Supports are provided to services users on a visiting supports basis. STA - Supported Temporary Accommodation: accommodation, including family hubs, hostels, with onsite professional support. TEA - Temporary Emergency Accommodation: emergency accommodation with no (or minimal) support.

Homelessness Report February 2025. Published by Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage. Available under the license Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 (CC-BY-SA-4.0).Homelessness data Official homelessness data is produced by local authorities through the Pathway Accommodation and Support System (PASS). PASS was rolled-out nationally during the course of 2013. The Department’s official homelessness statistics are published on a monthly basis and refer to the number of homeless persons accommodated in emergency accommodation funded and overseen by housing authorities during a specific count week, typically the last full week of the month. The reports are produced through the Pathway Accommodation & Support System (PASS), collated on a regional basis and compiled and published by the Department. Homelessness reporting commenced in this format in 2014. The format of the data may change or vary over time due to administrative and/or technology changes and improvements. The administration of homeless services is organised across nine administrative regions, with one local authority in each of the regions, “the lead authority”, having overall responsibility for the disbursement of Exchequer funding. In each region a Joint Homelessness Consultative Forum exists which includes representation from the relevant State and non-governmental organisations involved in the delivery of homeless services in a particular region. Delegated arrangements are governed by an annually agreed protocol between the Department and the lead authority in each region. These protocols set out the arrangements, responsibilities and financial/performance data reporting requirements for the delegation of funding from the Department. Under Sections 38 and 39 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 a statutory Management Group exists for each regional forum. This is comprised of representatives from the relevant housing authorities and the Health Service Executive, and it is the responsibility of the Management Group to consider issues around the need for homeless services and to plan for the implementation, funding and co-ordination of such services. In relation to the terms used in the report for the accommodation types see explanation below: PEA - Private Emergency Accommodation: this may include hotels, B&Bs and other residential facilities that are used on an emergency basis. Supports are provided to services users on a visiting supports basis. STA - Supported Temporary Accommodation: accommodation, including family hubs, hostels, with onsite professional support. TEA - Temporary Emergency Accommodation: emergency accommodation with no (or minimal) support....

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.

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/

Each year, homeless coalitions across the country conduct a Point in Time Count (PIT) during the same 24-hour period in January to estimate the number of persons experiencing homelessness living in their region. The PIT count includes those living in emergency shelters, transitional housing programs, and those living unsheltered on the street. The PIT count does not include homeless families and youth who are doubled up with family or friends, or those at imminent risk of becoming homeless. The numbers are a “snapshot” on a single day rather than a definitive count. Despite these limitations, the count helps communities plan for programs and services, identifies gaps in the homeless system, and provides demographic information about populations who experience homelessness.

This dataset includes key measures that have been counted during each PIT since 2019. This dataset will be updated annually.

Survey on Homeless Persons: Homeless persons by place of birth and absolute value and percentage. National.

The dataset contains locations and attributes of Homeless Shelters, created as part of the DC Geographic Information System (DC GIS) for the D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) and participating D.C. government agencies. A database provided by the Department of Human Services identified Homeless Shelter locations.

Expert industry market research on the Community Housing & Homeless Shelters in the US (2005-2030). Make better business decisions, faster with IBISWorld's industry market research reports, statistics, analysis, data, trends and forecasts.

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.

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.