States With the Highest Homelessness Rate 2025

What this chart shows. Homeless people per 10,000 residents in each state and the District of Columbia in 2025. The District had the highest rate, 74.1, followed by New York at 72.8 and Oregon at 63.7, against 21.8 for the country as a whole. Mississippi had the lowest, 4.2.

How the data is collected. The rate divides HUD's January 2025 Point-in-Time count for each state by its 2025 midyear population, a Census Bureau estimate published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. For the national rate, the 745,652 people counted, including the territories, are divided by the population of the 50 states and the District, 341,784,857.

Background. 11 of the 50 states had a rate above the national figure. The ranking differs from the raw count: Vermont, with 3,386 homeless people, had a rate of 52.5, the fourth highest, while Texas, fifth by number with 28,031, had just 8.8. California's rate was 46.2, below New York's even though California counted more people.

Limits. The count is taken in January and the population is a midyear figure, so the two refer to slightly different moments. States with large shelter systems may count more people, because sheltered people are easier to find than those sleeping outside; New York, where 96.0% of homeless people were in shelters, is the clearest example.