Research · Statistics
Homelessness statistics — US & Canada
Citable numbers for school projects, papers, and research, each with a link to the primary source. Always cite the primary source in your bibliography — this page is a starting index, not a replacement for HUD AHAR, PIT counts, or peer-reviewed work.
Headline figures
~653,100
People experiencing homelessness on a single night in the US (Jan 2023 Point-in-Time count)
Up ~12% from 2022; the largest annual increase since AHAR reporting began.
~235,000
People experiencing homelessness in Canada in a year (national prevalence estimate)
Point-in-time counts capture only a fraction; the annual prevalence is several times the single-night count.
Source: State of Homelessness in Canada (Canadian Observatory on Homelessness) ↗
~35,500
US veterans experiencing homelessness on a single night (2023)
Down from over 75,000 in 2009 — the largest sustained reduction in any subpopulation.
Chart
US homelessness, single-night PIT count
The 2023 single-year increase is the largest since AHAR reporting began.
Chart
US veteran homelessness, single-night PIT count
The largest sustained reduction in any homeless subpopulation in modern history.
By population
~35%
Share of the US homeless population that is families with children (2023)
~30%
Share of US homeless adults experiencing chronic homelessness (year+ or 4+ episodes with disabling condition)
Despite being a minority, chronic cases consume an outsized share of emergency services costs.
~28%
Share of unsheltered adults reporting a serious mental illness (multi-study average)
Most homelessness is not driven by mental illness — but it is meaningfully overrepresented vs. the general population (~5%).
~30%
Share of homeless population in Canada that is Indigenous (vs. ~5% of the general population)
Source: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness — State of Homelessness ↗
~40%
Estimated share of homeless youth (under 25) who identify as LGBTQ+
Compared to ~7% of all under-25s. Family rejection after coming out is the largest single cause.
Source: Voices of Youth Count — Chapin Hall, University of Chicago ↗
~50%
Share of US homeless adults now over age 50 (versus ~11% in 1990)
The 'graying' of the homeless population is the most dramatic demographic shift of the last 30 years.
Chart
Homeless population by group (US, 2023)
Single-night PIT count totals by major subpopulation. Chronic and veteran subgroups overlap with individuals.
Source: HUD AHAR Part 1, 2023 ↗
Housing supply and costs
0
US states where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a 1-bedroom apartment at fair-market rent
The single most important structural driver of homelessness is the gap between wages and housing costs.
~7M
US shortfall of homes affordable and available to extremely low-income renters
80–90%
12-month housing retention rate in Housing First programs
Versus 30–50% in treatment-first / staircase programs.
75%
Share of follow-up time spent housed by chronically homeless mentally ill participants in Canada's At Home/Chez Soi Housing First trial
Compared to ~40% in treatment-as-usual. Five-city RCT, n=2,148.
Source: At Home/Chez Soi Final Report, Mental Health Commission of Canada ↗
Chart
Hours of minimum-wage work required to afford a 1-bedroom at FMR
Per week, in selected US states. 40 hours = affordable; anything higher means a single minimum-wage job can't cover rent.
Source: NLIHC Out of Reach 2024 ↗
Program outcomes — what works at scale
>50%
Reduction in US veteran homelessness between 2009 and 2022
Funded scale-up of Housing First through HUD-VASH vouchers.
~60%
Reduction in unsheltered homelessness in Houston, 2011–2022, via coordinated Housing First system
Houston is the largest U.S. metro to have achieved sustained reductions through Built-for-Zero methodology.
<50
Chronically homeless population in Helsinki, Finland (metro pop. ~1.5M)
Finland is the only EU country where homelessness has consistently fallen. Universal Housing First plus substantial public investment in low-rent units.
Chart
12-month housing retention rate: Housing First vs treatment-first
Across multiple RCTs and meta-analyses, Housing First produces dramatically higher retention than the staircase / treatment-first model.
A note on uncertainty
Most figures on this page are point-in-time counts — a single-night snapshot. They systematically undercount:
- People sleeping in cars, RVs, and on private land
- People couch-surfing or doubled up with friends/family
- People in domestic-violence shelters (often counted separately)
- Rural homelessness, which is hard to enumerate
- Youth-specific homelessness, much of which is hidden
Researchers typically estimate the annual prevalence of homelessness as 2–4 times the single-night count. When citing figures, name whether they are point-in-time or annual prevalence — they are very different numbers and conflating them is the most common error in student work.
Primary sources to cite
- HUD AHAR — Annual Homeless Assessment Report ↗
- HUD HDX (Homelessness Data Exchange) ↗
- NLIHC Out of Reach (US housing-wage gap) ↗
- National Alliance to End Homelessness — State of Homelessness ↗
- Canadian Observatory on Homelessness — Homeless Hub ↗
- Statistics Canada — Homelessness Data Tables ↗
- At Home/Chez Soi Final Report ↗
- VA Homeless Programs & HUD-VASH ↗
- Voices of Youth Count (Chapin Hall, U Chicago) ↗
- Benioff Homelessness & Housing Initiative (UCSF, Kushel et al.) ↗
Use the data directly
You can download our shelter and resource dataset (CSV or JSON) for analysis or visualizations in your school project. See /data for the files and a CC-BY-4.0 license.
How to cite this page
For school papers and academic work. Click any citation to copy.
Citing primary sources is generally preferred to citing us. Where this article references specific studies (e.g. At Home/Chez Soi, HUD AHAR, point-in-time counts), use those sources directly in your bibliography when possible. Our Research hub links to the primary documents.