About 771,000 Americans experienced homelessness in January 2024 according to Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) point-in-time data, which measures homelessness across the US on a single night each winter. That’s an 18% increase from 2023.
Nationally, approximately 22.7 people out of every 10,000 experienced homelessness during the 2024 count. Mississippi had the lowest rate of homelessness, at 3.5 people per 10,000, while in Hawaii, the rate was more than 20 times that — 80.5 per 10,000.
In the District of Columbia, comprised entirely of the city of Washington, 80.0 people experienced homelessness for every 10,000.
In terms of raw numbers, more people experienced homelessness in California than in any other state: 187,084. New York had the nation’s second-most with 158,019. No other state had even 20% of that. (California is the most populous state in the US; New York is the fourth-most.)
Homelessness isn’t exclusive to urban or rural areas. Vermont is the nation’s most rural state — as of the 2020 census, 65% of its population lived in rural areas — and had one of the highest rates of homelessness, 53.3 per 10,000 people. California and Nevada have the highest percentages of residents living in urban areas, and their homelessness rates were also in the top 10.
People also experience homelessness differently in different areas; 3.6% of New York’s homeless population was unsheltered, compared to 66.3% of California’s.
Where have homelessness rates changed the most?
From 2019 to 2024, homelessness in Hawaii increased from 44.0 people per 10,000 to 80.5, the biggest increase in any state. Vermont’s and New York’s rates also increased by more than 30 people per 10,000.
Four states had decreases — Wyoming, Maryland, Mississippi, and Texas — though those decreases were comparably modest.
In Washington, DC, the homelessness rate dropped by 14.9 people per 10,000.
Why do some states have higher rates of homelessness?
According to a 2020 Government Accountability Office report, rent prices can play a role in homelessness rates. California, Washington, DC, and Hawaii had the nation’s highest rents in 2023 and were all among the six states with the highest rates of homelessness in 2024. Mississippi had both the country’s second-lowest rents and the lowest homelessness rate.
These figures are likely also affected by difficulties in counting the homeless population; rural states and states with lots of unsheltered homeless people face unique challenges in estimating their homeless populations.
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Read data analyses written by the USAFacts team.
Page sources and methodology
All of the data on the page was sourced directly from government agencies. The analysis and final review was performed by USAFacts.
Department of Housing and Urban Development
2024 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress
