The U.S. Homeless Population Mapped

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In the U.S., there are over half a million people enduring homelessness.

Overall, 66.7% of the Americans’ whole homeless population is single people, with the leftover 33.3% being families. In recent years, homelessness has grown nationwide by almost 1%.

About 35% (just under 200 thousand) are found sleeping unsheltered on streets in places not meant for human habitation (abandoned houses, cars, sidewalks, parks). At the same time, above 350 thousand of sheltered homeless people are found in emergency shelters and transitional housing programs.

Homeless Population by State 2020

The state of California at present has the highest homeless population, with approximately 160 thousand homeless people. It is about 1/5 of all homeless people and 47% of all unsheltered homeless people in the U.S. (~4 times as high as their share of the overall U.S. population).

Amongst the 5 cities with the highest rates of unsheltered homelessness, 4 are in California (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Rosa, and San Jose), and the other is Seattle. The 3 cities with the highest sheltered homelessness rates are all found in the Northeast region: New York City, Boston, and Washington, D.C. The rate of sheltered homelessness in every one of these cities is over 2.7 times as high as in San Francisco, the city with the 4th highest sheltered homelessness rate. New York City alone has over 1/5 of all sheltered homeless people in the U.S.

At present, homelessness in NYC touched the highest levels since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Here are the 20 states with the most homeless people:

1. California – 151,278
2. New York – 92,091
3. Florida – 28,328
4. Texas – 25,848
5. Washington – 21,577
6. Massachusetts – 18,471
7. Oregon – 15,876
8. Pennsylvania -13,199
9. Georgia – 10,443
10. Ohio – 10,345
11. Illinois – 10,199
12. Arizona – 10,007
13. Colorado – 9,619
14. North Carolina – 9,314
15. New Jersey – 8,862
16. Michigan – 8,575
17. Minnesota – 7,977
18. Tennessee – 7,467
19. Nevada – 7,169
20. Maryland – 6,561

Number of homeless people per 10,000 residents

The U.S. States with the highest overall rates of homelessness per 10,000 are New York (47 homeless per 10,000 residents), Hawaii (45 homeless per 10,000 residents), California (38 homeless per 10,000 residents), and Oregon (37 homeless per 10,000 residents).

The density of the homeless population

The States with the highest density of the homeless population are Massachusetts (56.8 homeless per square mile) and New York (46.88 homeless per sq.mi.).