The entire city of Boston is homeless.
Or at least, the city’s population of around 650,000 people is comparable to the number of people who experienced homelessness in America on one night in early 2023, according to the latest release of the Annual Homelessness Assessment Report.
The report and its corresponding data inform funding decisions for Congress and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It estimates that on a single night in January of 2023, roughly 653,100 people were experiencing homelessness in the U.S. The report’s data relies on volunteers, who manually canvas communities each January to survey homeless populations, as well as local outreach staff and estimates from shelters and other homelessness services and facilities.
While imperfect, the report’s point-in-time estimate has provided a picture of the country’s homeless population annually since 2007. The 2023 point-in-time count found the highest number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in the U.S. since the survey began, with an increase of more than 12% over 2022’s estimate. That equates to an additional 70,650 people experiencing homelessness year over year.
The report shows major cities are home to large shares of people experiencing homelessness, with nearly 1 in 4 members of the country’s total homeless population found in either New York City or Los Angeles alone, based on the 2023 count.
Since 2020, which saw the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of unsheltered and chronic homelessness have risen most sharply, while the rate of homelessness for families with children grew by less, and the rate of homelessness among veterans decreased.
Chronic homelessness, in fact, has risen steadily since 2018, and increased nearly 30% between 2020 and 2023, which saw the highest number of individuals experiencing chronic patterns of homelessness – about 143,100 people – of any year since the survey began in 2007.
The majority of those experiencing chronic homelessness in 2023 also were unsheltered, according to the report, meaning they were sleeping in tents, on streets, in cars or other places “not meant for human habitation,” rather than in a shelter or other form of temporary housing.
Despite more beds becoming available due to the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions in shelters, 40% of those experiencing homelessness overall were unsheltered in 2023, according to the 2023 estimates. And more than half of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the U.S. were in major cities.
Many of the 25 major U.S. cities with the highest rates of homelessness have seen their homeless populations grow, though seven did have smaller homeless populations in 2023 than they did in 2020. Eight of the top 25 cities are in California, with several in Texas also making the list.
These are the 25 major U.S. cities with the largest homeless populations, according to the 2023 point-in-time estimates and based on the geographic area covered by a corresponding range of homelessness services. Estimates often include surrounding or nearby areas as well, and may at times only include homeless people in shelters.