On a single night in 2020, roughly 580,000 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States. Six in ten (61%) were staying in sheltered locations—emergency shelters or transitional housing programs—and nearly four in ten (39%) were in unsheltered locations such as on the street, in abandoned buildings, or in other places not suitable for human habitation.

For the fourth consecutive year, homelessness increased nationwide. Between 2019 and 2020, the number of people experiencing homelessness increased by two percent. This increase reflects a seven percent increase in people staying outdoors, which more than offset the modest (0.6%) decline in people staying in sheltered locations.

Nearly 6 of every 10 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness did so in an urban area, with more than half of all unsheltered people counted in the Continuums of Care (CoCs) that encompass the nation’s 50 largest cities (53%). More than one in five people who experienced unsheltered homelessness was in a CoC with a largely suburban population (22%), and one in five was in a largely rural area (20%).

2020 marks the first time since data collection began that more individuals experiencing homelessness were unsheltered than were sheltered. Between 2019 and 2020, the number of unsheltered individuals increased by seven percent while the number of sheltered individuals remained largely unchanged. Increases in the unsheltered population occurred across all geographic categories.

The number of unsheltered people in families with children increased for the first time since data collection began. In 2020, just under 172,000 people in families with children were experiencing homelessness. While most people in families with children were in sheltered locations (90%), the number of unsheltered people in families increased by 13 percent. This increase offset a decline in sheltered people in families with children, so the overall level of family homelessness was essentially the same in 2020 as in 2019.