Homelessness point-in-time counts (HUD)
The number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in late January, counted each year by every Continuum of Care and compiled by HUD for its Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress.
Figures
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Point-in-Time Counts of Homelessness. Data period 2025. Published .
| Measure | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| People experiencing homelessness on one night in January2025 | 2,697 | 2025 |
Pages built on this dataset
Publisher
- Organization
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Publisher’s dataset
- Point-in-Time Counts of Homelessness
- File or API used
- https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/xls/2007-2025-PIT-Counts-by-State.xlsb
- Methodology
- https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/hdx/pit-hic/
Coverage
- Geography
- Nation, all 50 states and DC; Idaho's two Continuums of Care
- Time coverage
- 2007-2025
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Published
- May 2026
- Retrieved
- October 16, 2026
- License of the records
- Public domain. U.S. federal government work.
- Rows
- 4,716 observations, 2007-2025
Measures
| Measure | What it measures | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| People experiencing homelessness on one night in January | People counted as homeless on a single night in late January: in emergency shelter, transitional housing or a Safe Haven, or sleeping in a place not meant for habitation. | people |
| People experiencing homelessness, by where they stayed | The January count by where people were found: emergency shelter, transitional housing, a Safe Haven (low-barrier housing for people with severe mental illness), or unsheltered. | people |
| People experiencing homelessness, by Continuum of Care | Idaho's January count by Continuum of Care, the local body that runs the count and HUD's homeless assistance grants: Boise/Ada County, and the Idaho Balance of State, which covers every other county. | people |
Caveats
- The count is of one night in the last ten days of January, not of everyone who is homeless at some point during the year.
- People sleeping outside are counted by volunteers who canvass on that night, and in rural areas the count misses people who are not found; sheltered people are counted from shelter records. Counts in different years and places can differ in effort and method.
- The count follows HUD's definition: people in emergency shelters, transitional housing, Safe Havens, or places not meant for habitation. People staying with family or friends ("doubled up") and in motels they pay for themselves are not counted, which is a narrower definition than the one Idaho's public schools use to count homeless students.
- Communities must count people sleeping outside only every other year; in a year a Continuum of Care counts only shelters, HUD carries its previous outdoor count forward.
- In January 2021 many Continuums of Care, including both of Idaho's, did not count or only partly counted people sleeping outside because of the pandemic. As in HUD's own report for that year, only the sheltered counts are shown for 2021.
- Idaho has two Continuums of Care: Boise/Ada County, and the Idaho Balance of State, which covers the other 43 counties and is coordinated by the Idaho Housing and Finance Association.
- The national figure includes Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the other territories that run a count.
How to cite
Understand Idaho, “Point-in-Time Counts of Homelessness”, compiled from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Point-in-Time Counts of Homelessness. Retrieved October 16, 2026. https://understandidaho.com/data/hud-pit/.
Cite U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development directly for the figures themselves.
This page was last updated .