Which US cities have the largest homeless populations?
Homelessness in the US surged by 12.1% from 2022–2023, hitting its highest point since at least 2007. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) counted 653,104 homeless Americans in Jan 2023. California had 181.4K people experiencing homelessness in 2023, nearly 30% of the total US homeless population.
Which cities had the largest homeless populations in 2023?
Out of HUD's "Continuums of Care" (CoC) regions containing the 50 largest cities, the largest homeless populations were in the CoCs containing New York (88,025) and Los Angeles (71,320), which were also the largest cities by total population. See the data tab for the full list of cities.
Of course, people experience homelessness differently in each location. For example, 27% of LA’s homeless population was sheltered, meaning people were living in an emergency shelter, transitional housing, or safe haven program. In New York, this figure was 95%. The five CoCs with the highest proportion of unsheltered homeless people were in California: San Jose/Santa Clara, Los Angeles, Oakland/Berkeley, Long Beach, and Sacramento. Boston, New York City, and Baltimore had the highest proportion of sheltered homeless people, each over 93%.
Dataset
| CoC Name | CoC Category | Count Types | Overall Homeless |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York, New York | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 88025 |
| Los Angeles, California | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 71320 |
| Seattle, Washington | Major City CoC | Sheltered-Only Count* | 14149 |
| San Diego, California | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 10264 |
| Denver, Colorado | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 10054 |
| San Jose, California | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 9903 |
| Oakland, California | Major City CoC | Sheltered-Only Count* | 9759 |
| Phoenix, Arizona | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 9642 |
| Sacramento, California | Major City CoC | Sheltered-Only Count* | 9281 |
| San Francisco, California | Major City CoC | Sheltered-Only Count* | 7582 |
| Las Vegas, Nevada | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 6566 |
| Portland, Oregon | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 6297 |
| Chicago, Illinois | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 6139 |
| Boston, Massachusetts | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 5202 |
| District of Columbia | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 4922 |
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 4725 |
| Fresno, California | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 4493 |
| Dallas, Texas | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 4244 |
| Miami, Florida | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 3657 |
| Long Beach, California | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 3447 |
| Minneapolis, Minnesota | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 3312 |
| Houston, Texas | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 3270 |
| San Antonio, Texas | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 3155 |
| Fort Worth, Texas | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 2776 |
| Atlanta, Georgia | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 2679 |
| Albuquerque, New Mexico | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 2394 |
| Austin, Texas | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 2374 |
| Columbus, Ohio | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 2337 |
| Tucson, Arizona | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 2209 |
| Nashville, Tennessee | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 2129 |
| Tampa, Florida | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 2040 |
| Kansas City, Missouri | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 1986 |
| Bakersfield, California | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 1948 |
| Charlotte, North Carolina | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 1916 |
| Baltimore, Maryland | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 1627 |
| Indianapolis, Indiana | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 1619 |
| Louisville, Kentucky | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 1605 |
| Detroit, Michigan | Major City CoC | Sheltered-Only Count* | 1482 |
| Omaha, Nebraska | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 1475 |
| Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 1436 |
| Colorado Springs, Colorado | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 1302 |
| Memphis, Tennessee | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 1292 |
| Jacksonville, Florida | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 1247 |
| Tulsa, Oklahoma | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 1133 |
| El Paso, Texas | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 1112 |
| Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 1056 |
| Raleigh, North Carolina | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 916 |
| Wichita, Kansas | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 702 |
| Virginia Beach, Virginia | Major City CoC | Sheltered and Unsheltered Count | 313 |
Data sources
CoC population sizes depend on the specific coverage areas. New York City CoC, for example, represents all 8.3 million people in the city, but Los Angeles City and County CoC includes 8.9 million people in 85 of the 88 cities in Los Angeles County. In 2022, New York City CoC had 106 homeless people per 10,000 residents, and the Los Angeles CoC had 78.
