Key figures
- Across the US the graphic counts 14,001,102 vacant housing units and 649,535 homeless people, or 21.56 vacant units per homeless person.
- Mississippi has the most, 187.31 vacant units per homeless person, about double second-placed Alabama (93.39).
- Louisiana (91.83), West Virginia (84.82) and South Carolina (77.13) complete the top five.
- California has the fewest, 5.86, despite 1,062,711 vacant units, because it counts 181,399 homeless people.
- Oregon (6.33), New York (7.96) and Washington (9.28) are the only other states below 10.
All figures are from the graphic, which cites the 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report and the US Census Bureau.
Vacant homes vs homeless people in every state
Title: Which U.S. States Have the Most Vacant Houses per Homeless Person? An illustration of boarded-up houses under a highway overpass heads the graphic. A map shades each state by Vacant Housing Units per Homeless Person, on a scale from 5.0 (blue) to 190.0 (red). National panel: United States, 21.56 vacant housing units per homeless person; estimated number of homeless people 649,535; number of vacant housing units 14,001,102.
Chart heading: States Ranked by the Number of Vacant Housing Units per Homeless Person. Legend: Estimated Number of Homeless People; Number of Vacant Housing Units. The axis runs 0, 50, 100, 200, with a break on Mississippi’s bar.
| Rank | State | Estimated homeless people | Vacant housing units | Vacant units per homeless person |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mississippi | 982 | 183,935 | 187.31 |
| 2 | Alabama | 3,304 | 308,575 | 93.39 |
| 3 | Louisiana | 3,169 | 291,015 | 91.83 |
| 4 | West Virginia | 1,416 | 120,112 | 84.82 |
| 5 | South Carolina | 4,053 | 312,594 | 77.13 |
| 6 | Arkansas | 2,609 | 176,233 | 67.55 |
| 7 | Wyoming | 532 | 32,751 | 61.56 |
| 8 | North Carolina | 9,754 | 586,508 | 60.13 |
| 9 | Wisconsin | 4,861 | 291,849 | 60.04 |
| 10 | Michigan | 8,997 | 535,148 | 59.48 |
| 11 | North Dakota | 784 | 40,065 | 51.10 |
| 12 | Florida | 30,756 | 1,485,421 | 48.30 |
| 13 | Delaware | 1,245 | 59,424 | 47.73 |
| 14 | Virginia | 6,761 | 314,955 | 46.58 |
| 15 | Oklahoma | 4,648 | 199,781 | 42.98 |
| 16 | Missouri | 6,708 | 288,169 | 42.96 |
| 17 | Kansas | 2,636 | 111,591 | 42.33 |
| 18 | Iowa | 2,653 | 111,493 | 42.03 |
| 19 | Texas | 27,377 | 1,134,164 | 41.43 |
| 20 | Indiana | 6,017 | 247,699 | 41.17 |
| 21 | Pennsylvania | 12,556 | 515,588 | 41.06 |
| 22 | Kentucky | 4,766 | 182,956 | 38.39 |
| 23 | Georgia | 12,294 | 460,368 | 37.45 |
| 24 | Idaho | 2,298 | 82,060 | 35.71 |
| 25 | Ohio | 11,386 | 399,825 | 35.12 |
| 26 | New Hampshire | 2,441 | 83,577 | 34.24 |
| 27 | Connecticut | 3,015 | 103,041 | 34.18 |
| 28 | Illinois | 11,947 | 399,439 | 33.43 |
| 29 | Tennessee | 9,215 | 305,944 | 33.20 |
| 30 | Maine | 4,258 | 141,339 | 33.19 |
| 31 | Maryland | 5,865 | 187,667 | 32.00 |
| 32 | South Dakota | 1,282 | 38,628 | 30.13 |
| 33 | Montana | 2,178 | 62,614 | 28.75 |
| 34 | New Mexico | 3,842 | 108,793 | 28.32 |
| 35 | Minnesota | 8,393 | 230,500 | 27.46 |
| 36 | New Jersey | 10,264 | 265,195 | 25.84 |
| 37 | Utah | 3,687 | 90,938 | 24.66 |
| 38 | Nebraska | 2,462 | 59,661 | 24.23 |
| 39 | Rhode Island | 1,810 | 43,147 | 23.84 |
| 40 | Arizona | 14,237 | 332,460 | 23.35 |
| 41 | Alaska | 2,614 | 52,829 | 20.21 |
| 42 | Vermont | 3,295 | 61,745 | 18.74 |
| 43 | Colorado | 14,439 | 209,832 | 14.53 |
| 44 | Nevada | 8,666 | 123,563 | 14.26 |
| 45 | Massachusetts | 19,141 | 244,883 | 12.79 |
| 46 | Hawaii | 6,223 | 78,144 | 12.56 |
| 47 | Washington | 28,036 | 260,296 | 9.28 |
| 48 | New York | 103,200 | 821,965 | 7.96 |
| 49 | Oregon | 20,142 | 127,460 | 6.33 |
| 50 | California | 181,399 | 1,062,711 | 5.86 |
Footer: Source: The 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR), huduser.gov; United States Census Bureau, data.census.gov.
Are there more vacant homes than homeless people?
On these figures, yes, in every state: even California has almost six vacant units for each homeless person. But a vacant home in Census terms is not the same as an empty home that could house someone. The Census Bureau counts a unit as vacant if no one is living in it at the time of the interview, including new units ready for occupancy, homes for rent or for sale, homes already rented or sold but not yet moved into, and units held for weekends or occasional use [3]. Seasonal homes are counted as vacant too [3].
The vacant homes also tend to be in different places from the homeless population. The states with the highest ratios have small homeless counts: Mississippi’s 982 is the lowest after Wyoming and North Dakota. More than half of all people experiencing homelessness in 2023 were in four states, California, New York, Florida and Washington [2].
Homelessness since the 2023 count
The homeless figures come from the point-in-time count taken on a single night in January 2023. HUD’s report for that year counted 653,104 people experiencing homelessness, about 20 of every 10,000 people in the US [2]. The 2024 count was 771,480, the highest ever recorded [4]. With the same vacant housing total, the 2024 count would give about 18 vacant units per homeless person (our arithmetic).
Notes on this infographic
- The national homeless figure (649,535) is the 50 states plus Washington, DC; the state rows add up to 644,613 (our sum). The publisher’s own table includes DC in 49th place with 4,922 homeless people, 32,452 vacant units and a ratio of 6.59, but the graphic leaves DC out [1].
- HUD’s national total for 2023 is 653,104 [2]; the difference from 649,535 is consistent with HUD’s figure including Puerto Rico and the US territories, which HUD’s state charts exclude [2].
- Every ratio on the chart equals vacant units divided by homeless people (our check of all 50 rows).
- The vacant unit counts include seasonal, for sale, for rent and recently sold units, so the ratio is not a count of homes available to house people [3].
Questions about vacant homes and homelessness
How many empty homes are there in America per homeless person?
About 21.56 vacant housing units per homeless person, using 14,001,102 vacant units and the 2023 count of 649,535 homeless people in the 50 states and DC [1].
Which state has the most vacant homes per homeless person?
Mississippi, with 187.31 vacant units per homeless person (183,935 vacant units and 982 homeless people) [1].
What qualifies as a vacant home?
For the Census Bureau, a housing unit is vacant if no one is living in it at the time of the interview, unless the occupants are only temporarily away. Units lived in only by people whose usual home is elsewhere also count as vacant [3].
Sources
- MortgageCalculator.org, Which U.S. States Have the Most Vacant Houses per Homeless Person?. The creator’s page with this graphic and its data table.
- US Department of Housing and Urban Development, The 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress, Part 1.
- US Census Bureau, Housing Vacancies and Homeownership, definitions.
- US Department of Housing and Urban Development, The 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress, Part 1.
Last reviewed 30 October 2026
