States With the Most Unsheltered Homeless People 2025

What this chart shows. People sleeping outside, in vehicles, in abandoned buildings or in other places not meant for human habitation on a night in January 2025, by state. California counted 115,583, 43.4% of the 266,320 unsheltered people nationwide. Washington had 17,033 and Oregon 16,500.

How the data is collected. Unsheltered people are counted by volunteers and outreach workers who walk or drive set areas on the night of the count, and some communities add interviews in the following days or statistical sampling for areas they cannot cover. HUD's unsheltered category excludes anyone in a shelter, transitional housing or a safe haven.

Background. 63.5% of California's homeless people were unsheltered, the highest share of any state, compared with 4.0% in New York, which is why New York, second by total count, ranks only 8th here. Nationally, the unsheltered count fell 2.9% from 2024, and it rose in 28 states while falling in 20.

Limits. Unsheltered counts are the least precise part of the Point-in-Time count: weather, the size of the area and the number of volunteers all affect how many people are found, and communities may use the previous year's unsheltered number when they skip a street count. Year-to-year changes in a single state should be read with that in mind.