How many homeless people are in the US?

America's homeless population rose 18% from 2023 to 2024

Around 23 out of every 10,000 Americans — 771,480 people — experienced homelessness in January 2024 according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) annual point-in-time report, which measures homelessness across the US on a single night each winter. That’s an 18% increase from the same report in 2023.

How is homelessness defined?

The HUD’s definition includes both sheltered and unsheltered people. Sheltered people are living in emergency shelters, transitional shelters, safe havens serving people with severe mental illness, or hotels/motels. Unsheltered people live outdoors, in cars, in abandoned buildings, or in other places unfit for human habitation.