2023 Homeless Count: Data and Insights

If you want to read more about improvements to the 2023 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, click here.

If you want to learn more about how government is coming together to address unsheltered homelessness, click here.

The 2023 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count showed what most Angelenos could see on a daily basis: homelessness is up across the county.

This year, we estimate that 75,518 people experience homelessness on any given night in Los Angeles County, and 46,260 people do so in the city of Los Angeles.

The rise in LA County’s homeless population coincides with increases in major cities across the United States. Chicago and Portland saw double-digit increases (+57% and +20% respectively), while several southern California experienced increases larger than Los Angelesas well, including San Bernadino (+26%), San Diego (+22%), Kern (+22%), and Riverside (+12%).

Last year, it appeared that the curve of homelessness growth started to flatten, but we’re back to seeing a trajectory that mirrored previous years.

By Service Planning Area (SPA), all regions saw an increase in people experiencing homelessness except SPA 6 — Metro Los Angeles — which saw an 11% decrease.

Thirty percent of our unhoused neighbors report experiencing substance abuse disorder. Also, 25% of our unhoused neighbors reported experiencing severe mental illness. In 2022, those percentages were 26% and 24%, respectively.

For our count of Transition-Aged Youth count, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development authorized LAHSA to collect surveys by phone in addition to in-person at count locations. This improved methodology has resulted in better data than last year. As a result, the total number of Transition-Aged Youth for this year’s Homeless Count is 3,801.

The effects of systemic racism continue to be felt by people experiencing homelessness. Black/African American homelessness continues to far exceed its proportion to of the Black population in LA County at 32%. Hispanic homelessness remains the largest demographic group at 43%.

In Part 3 of our series looking at the 2023 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, we’ll examine what course of action LAHSA and its partners intend to take to address unsheltered homelessness across LA County.