Which states have the highest and lowest rates of homelessness?
New York and Oregon have the highest US homelessness rates. Over five years, rates rose in all but four states and Washington, DC.
About 746,000 people experienced homelessness in January 2025 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 a 3.3% decrease from 2024.
Approximately 21.8 people out of every 10,000 experienced homelessness nationwide in 2025, but the homelessness rate varies substantially by state. Mississippi had the lowest rate, at 4.2 people per 10,000, while New York’s rate was more than 17 times that — 72.8 per 10,000.
In the District of Columbia, comprised entirely of the city of Washington, 74.1 people experienced homelessness for every 10,000.
New York and Oregon have the nation’s highest homelessness rates among states.
Homeless population per 10,000 people, 2025
In terms of raw number of people more Californians experienced homelessness than residents of any other state: 181,934 people. New York had the second-most with 145,560. No other state had even a quarter of that. (California is the most populous state in the US; New York is the fourth-most.)
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Homelessness isn’t an exclusively urban or rural issue. 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, 52.5 per 10,000 people. California and Nevada have the highest percentages of residents living in urban areas, and their homelessness rates were also among the ten highest.
People also experienced homelessness differently in different areas; 4.0% of New York’s homeless population was unsheltered (the lowest rate), compared to 63.5% of California’s (the highest).
Where have homelessness rates changed the most?
From 2020 to 2025, homelessness in Vermont went from 17.3 people per 10,000 to 52.5, the biggest rate increase in any state. Rates in Oregon and New York each increased by more than 25 people per 10,000.
Homelessness rose in all but four states and DC from 2020 to 2025.
Change in number of homeless people per 10,000 residents
Four states had rate decreases: Wyoming, Florida, Texas, and South Carolina. Wyoming’s was the biggest, dropping 1.5 people per 10,000.
In Washington, DC, the homelessness rate dropped by 21.0 per 10,000.
Why do some states have higher rates of homelessness?
According to a report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), rent prices can play a role in homelessness. California, Hawaii, and Washington, DC, had the nation’s highest rents in 2024 and were among the seven states/DC with the highest homelessness rates. Mississippi had both the country’s fifth-lowest rents and the lowest homelessness rate.
States with more expensive rent tend to have higher homelessness rates.
Homeless population per 10,000 people (2025) and median gross rent (2024) for each state and Washington, DC
Homelessness numbers may not be completely accurate because of difficulties inherent in counting the homeless population; rural states and states with lots of unsheltered homeless people face unique challenges in estimating their homeless populations.
Where does this data come from?
Where does this data come from?
Data in this article comes from an annual report that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides congress on homelessness and housing. Numbers are based on point-in-time counts in January each year. Data is collected by local planning bodies (known as “Continuums of Care” or CoCs) that train people to physically survey their communities in all 50 states, Washington, DC, and US territories.
The count includes sheltered people in emergency shelters, transitional housing programs, safe havens (a form of supportive housing for people with severe mental illness) and unsheltered people staying in cars, on the street, or in encampments. The count does not include all people without homes, such as people temporarily staying with family or friends or in other unstable housing situations. It also excludes previously unsheltered people now living in permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing, and other permanent housing programs.
Because of the difficulty of locating people in some of these situations and differences in local capacity to conduct the unsheltered count, the actual number of unsheltered homeless persons could be larger than reported.
Read more about difficulties counting homeless populations, learn about the federal poverty level, and get the facts every week by signing up for our newsletter.
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