How Many Houses Are in the US? Homelessness vs Housing Availability

Vacant homes include properties available for rent, available for sale, or used seasonally and recreationally. Rental units are significantly more likely to be vacant than the homeowner inventory.

Sixteen million homes sat vacant across the U.S. in 2024, accounting for roughly 10% of the country’s total housing inventory.

Vacant homes peaked at nearly 19 million following the 2008 housing crisis and have declined by more than 20% between 2009 and 2024.

For many Americans, finding affordable housing continues to be a challenge, whether you’re renting or buying. In today’s real estate market, many overpriced homes sit vacant while populations experiencing homelessness continue to grow. In this study, we took a closer look at data from the U.S. Census and the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) to compare the number of people experiencing homelessness to the number of vacant housing units in 100 major cities across the country. Continue reading to learn more about which cities have the highest risk of homelessness in America.

Unhoused vs Homeless: Which Term Is Preferred and Why

While both terms, “homeless” and “unhoused,” are often used interchangeably, the discussion around unhoused vs homeless highlights an important shift in language. The preference often lies with “unhoused” because it emphasizes a temporary circumstance rather than defining an individual by their lack of shelter. This terminology seeks to humanize the experience and underscore the systemic issues contributing to housing instability, fostering a more compassionate and respectful discourse. Ultimately, language choice can vary among individuals and communities, but the shared goal remains to address homelessness in America with empathy and understanding.

Key Findings on Homelessness in America and Housing Availability

• Despite how many houses are in the US, over 580,000 Americans are experiencing homelessness. There are currently 28 vacant homes for every one person experiencing homelessness in the U.S.
• While cities like New York City, Los Angeles and Seattle have some of the largest unhoused populations in the country, Detroit has the most vacant homes per unhoused person–116 empty homes per unhoused person. 
• Syracuse, New York has the second-most vacant homes per unhoused person–110 vacant homes per unhoused person.
• San Jose, California has the highest population of Gen-Z youth experiencing homelessness with nearly 85 unhoused Gen-Zers for every 100,000 residents.
• Pacific Islander and Black Americans are the populations most at risk to experience homelessness.

Analyzing the Number of Vacant Houses Per Unhoused Person by US City

Sixteen million homes sat vacant across the U.S. in 2024, accounting for roughly 10% of the country’s total housing inventory.

According to USAFacts, which cites the Census Bureau, there were around 15.1 million vacant homes nationwide in 2024, accounting for approximately 10.3% of the country’s housing inventory.

Similarly, a LendingTree analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey found nearly 15 million empty homes, reflecting a national housing vacancy rate of approximately 10.4%.

More recent data from Macrotrends reports approximately 15.3 million vacant homes as of March 2026.

Despite this abundance of empty homes, millions remain without shelter while many vacant properties deteriorate due to lack of maintenance amid rising rents and home prices.

While cities like New York City, Los Angeles, and Seattle have some of the largest unhoused populations in the country, Detroit has the most vacant houses per unhoused person, with 116 empty homes for every person experiencing homelessness. This is a sobering insight given there are only four to five vacant homes per unhoused person in cities like Oakland, California, and Portland, Oregon. This disparity is not unique to Detroit, as many cities across the U.S. face high rates of US homelessness while large numbers of homes remain unoccupied.

Just a few hours from the Big Apple, Syracuse, New York has the second-most vacant homes per unhoused person–110 vacant properties per unhoused person. In the Syracuse metro area, over 68,000 homes are either uninhabited or on the market, but not yet sold or rented, according to the U.S. Census.

In the Midwest, there are over 50 vacant houses per unhoused person in Chicago, Illinois. Chicago has a total of 307,284 vacant houses, an increase of nearly 22,500 homes since the 2010 Census was conducted. Nearly 10% of roughly 3,000,000 homes in Chicago remain unoccupied, even as the number of people experiencing homelessness in the US continues to rise nationwide.

Cities With the Most Unhoused Young Adults

Hover over each plot point to find the number of youths without a house, 18 to 24 years old and under 18, in each US city.

San Jose, California has the highest population of unhoused Gen-Z youth (aged 18 to 24) in the country, with nearly 85 unhoused Gen-Zers for every 100,000 residents. San Jose has nearly 50 more persons experiencing homelessness aged 18 to 24 than the second-highest city on the list, New York City, highlighting the need for more effective solutions to address youth homelessness in this area, particularly for young people of color.

New York, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Seattle round out the top five cities for unhoused Gen-Zers per 100,000 residents.

The State of Homelessness and Housing Availability in the US

To round out our study, we took a deep dive into the current state of homelessness in the U.S. using HUD data. Here’s what we found: 

• Over 580,000 people currently experience homelessness in the U.S. and the unhoused population grew by nearly 5% between 2018 and 2020.
• The three U.S. cities with the largest unhoused populations include New York City (78,000), Los Angeles (64,000) and Seattle (12,000).
• The populations at greatest risk of homelessness are Pacific Islander and Black communities.

The white population is the largest in the U.S. with the largest unhoused population (280,612 homeless), but when we position each race’s population experiencing homelessness against their overall population, we can see that the Pacific Islander and Black communities are the racial groups hit hardest by homelessness.

Explore the Full Housing Data

Interested in diving deeper into the number of houses in America vs the number of homeless, or wanting to see how your city stacks up?

We’ve compiled our full data study for all 100 U.S. cities analyzed into the interactive data table below. The table below compares vacant housing units and homelessness data across 100 major U.S. cities. Data can be sorted by city, vacant housing units, homelessness population, and vacant homes per unhoused person. Search for the city you call home or click on the heading of each column to sort by that category.

Possible solutions to fight the disparity between the two include increasing funding for affordable housing and homeless services, implementing policies that address discrimination and systemic barriers, and finding innovative solutions to repurpose vacant homes to provide housing for those in need. Read an impact story about a community member struggling with being unhoused and how assistance programs were able to support them.

United Way NCA’s ALICE Lives Here initiative addresses inequities related to housing, along with employment, education, health, food access, and financial stability in the National Capital Area. The program raises awareness about the everyday struggles faced by households above the Federal Poverty Line who still cannot afford necessities such as housing, food, health care, and child care. By highlighting these challenges, the initiative connects local housing insecurity to broader questions around how many Americans are homeless and works toward a more equitable community for all residents.

United Way NCA also hosts Project Community Connect, an outreach program in the DC area that aims to connect ALICE community members with essential services through resource fairs and street outreach. Its goal is to achieve equity for all of our community members, regardless of race, gender, income and ability.

Our Methodology for Analyzing Housing Data

To determine the number of vacant homes per unhoused person in 100 of America’s largest cities, we pulled the most updated number of people experiencing homelessness in each city from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the number of vacant housing units in each city from the U.S. Census’s American Community Survey. We then divided the number of vacant units by the number of unhoused people in each city to find the number of vacant homes per person experiencing homelessness.  We found all homelessness statistics by race, age and geography using data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.