Child and Youth Homelessness in the United States: Data Profiles

Homelessness negatively impacts children and youth’s development, health, and education — impacts that are distinct from and worse than the effects of poverty more generally. From low birth weight to developmental delays, from chronic absence to lower high school graduation and college enrollment rates, homelessness is a unique and pernicious risk factor. Early care and education — from prenatal through postsecondary education — is among the most powerful antidotes to homelessness in the long-term, and is a source of immediate support and connection to housing and services, in the short term. Youth without a high school diploma are 4.5 times more likely to experience homelessness later in life, making the lack of a high school diploma/GED the single greatest risk factor for experiencing homelessness as a young adult.

All of the PreK-12 data in the profiles are reported to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) by state education agencies, and is publicly available on EdDataExpress.Ed.Gov. Federal financial aid data, state allocations of annual homeless education funding (McKinney-Vento), and state allocations of COVID-relief (American Rescue Plan – Homeless Children and Youth, or ARP-HCY) funding also are public data available from the U.S. Department of Education. 

In order to arrive at an estimate of the prevalence of homelessness among infants and toddlers, SHC and Poverty Solutions used the percentage of 1st graders identified as homeless in each state, and applied that percentage to Census age groups for 0, 1, 2, and 3 year olds. This yields a conservative estimate, since homelessness is still under-identified and under-reported by K12 school districts and early childhood development providers.

The most recent national data that has been made publicly available by the U.S. Department of Education is the 2022-2023 school year. Some state education agencies (SEAs) have posted their 2023-2024 school year homelessness data on their websites, so if you are looking for the most recent state data, it might be worth checking to see what is on the SEA website (either as part of the state report card/data system, or on the homelessness page).  

The U.S. Department of Education (ED)  typically publishes local educational agency (LEA) data on homelessness on EdDataExpress.Ed.Gov in late summer/early fall. We hope to update these profiles with the 2023-2024 school year data shortly after ED makes it available.

The data in the profiles are based on the federal education definition of homelessness in the McKinney-Vento Act. All public educational agencies — early childhood, K12, and higher education — are required to use this definition of homelessness. Under this definition, homelessness includes staying with others temporarily due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason, as well as staying in shelters, motels, and unsheltered situations. Lack of shelter, fear of having children removed from parental custody, and restrictive eligibility criteria for housing programs mean that most families and youth experiencing homelessness stay in places that are not easily identified. These families and youth move frequently and unpredictably between unstable and often unsafe settings. Early childhood programs and public schools are required to identify children and youth experiencing homelessness, no matter where they are staying, or how often they move.

Data from HUD only includes the number of people who are in shelter or transitional housing, or who are identified by volunteers during street counts (Point-in-Time counts). Most families and youth who are homeless do not stay in shelters, transitional housing, or on the streets. In fact, less than 15% of children and youth experiencing homelessness enrolled by public schools are in these situations when they are first identified as homeless. Shelters and transitional housing are often full, unable to serve families as a unit, closed to unaccompanied minor youth, or simply non-existent in too many communities.  When families and youth are not able to access shelter, they are much less likely to be included in HUD’s counts. Families experiencing homelessness also are less likely than single adults to stay on the streets and other outdoor locations where they might be included in Point-in-Time counts, often because they are afraid that their children will be removed from their custody. Unaccompanied youth also avoid living on the streets out of fears of interactions with authorities and exploitation by older adults. As a result of these circumstances, most children and youth experiencing homelessness stay in motels or temporarily with other people due to lack of alternatives; many move fluidly between these situations, which are often dangerous and highly insecure. This invisible and unstable homelessness is associated with educational and health harms that are comparable to HUD-defined homelessness, but is not included in HUD’s data.

While there is no one metric that can demonstrate for certain if students experiencing homelessness are being under-identified, one indicator of concern is when school districts have higher rates of child poverty, but lower rates of homelessness, compared to surrounding school districts.

School districts that are more likely to be under-identifying students experiencing homelessness appear in a deeper shade of red.

Note: A list of all schools that did not identify any students experiencing homelessness is provided on the right hand side of the screen.

Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago has published national estimates on unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness between the ages of 13-17, and 18-25 years old.

Federal data (the 2019-20 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:20) show that 8% of undergraduate students and 4.6% of graduate students report experiencing homelessness in the previous 30 days.

Federal law requires public schools and federally-funded early childhood programs to identify children and youth experiencing homelessness and remove barriers to their enrollment and success. Federal financial aid administrators have specific requirements for making determinations of unaccompanied homeless youth status for the purpose of financial aid, and college access programs also have requirements related to homelessness. Visit our early childhood page, our PreK-12 page, and our higher education page to learn more.

Examples of creative programming by state and local educational agencies may be found here, and training and awareness resources for educators may be found here. Exemplary state policies may be found here.

You can find a directory of state and local homeless education coordinators here. Please note that this contact information may change frequently due to staff turnover. If you have problems finding the right school district homeless liaison, please contact your state homeless education coordinator.