Homeless population by state: Changes in the last 10 years

Shayanne Gal/Business Insider

• The homeless
  population in the United States went down 14.4% from 2007 to
  2017, according to data from the Department of Housing and Urban
  Development.
• The change was more drastic in some states: Michigan led the
  nation by decreasing its homeless population by 68%.
• Meanwhile, North Dakota’s homeless population increased over
  the same time period by 71.2%.

There are more than 550,000 homeless
people in the US — a solid .17% of the entire US population.

But believe it or not, the homeless situation was much worse 10
years ago.

According to statistics from the Department of Housing and Urban
Development, the US homeless population has decreased 14.4%
between 2007 and 2017. In 2007, there were 647,258 homeless
Americans, compared to the 553,742 there are today.

The change in the homeless population is especially pronounced in
some states. Michigan led the nation by decreasing its homeless
population by 68% between 2007 and 2017. New Jersey and Kentucky
also both managed to post decreases of more than 50% over that
time period.

On the other end of the spectrum, there were 14 states (and
Washington, DC) that saw their homeless populations rise from
2007 to 2017. North Dakota fared worse than any other state, with
a rise in homelessness of 71.2%. South Dakota and Wyoming both
also posted increases of more than 60%.

Read more:

I spent the weekend with a homeless community in New York to see
what it’s really like to live on the streets

Note that the numbers only reflect the change in each state’s
homeless population, not the homeless population itself. If
you’re looking for the state with the most homeless people, it’s
California, with more than 134,000.

Meanwhile, the state with the highest percentage of homeless
people is Hawaii, where homeless people comprise .5% of the state
population. Washington, DC, fares even worse — more than 1% of
residents are homeless in the nation’s capital.