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Data and Statistics on Homelessness

NCHE Resources

Student Homelessness in America: School Years 2019-20 to 2021-22
This December 2023 report provides a summary of demographic data collected by the McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Program. The report includes an examination of data collected for the 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22 school years. Information on the number of students experiencing homelessness, their primary nighttime residence, subgroups of students, and race/ethnicity of students experiencing homelessness is included.
Download Student Homelessness in America: School Years 2019-20 to 2021-22.
Federal Data Summary Reports from previous years
Addressing Homelessness in America: Serving Students with McKinney-Vento Funding, School Years 2017-18 to 2019-20

Using the most recently available data, this brief examines the number of school districts that receive McKinney-Vento subgrants and the number of students identified by those districts as children and youth who experienced homelessness.
Go to Addressing Homelessness in America: Serving Students with McKinney-Vento Funding, School Years 2017-18 to 2019-20.

Chronic Absenteeism Among Students Experiencing Homelessness in America: School Years 2016-17 to 2020-21

This brief discusses the number and rate of students who experienced homelessness using school- and district-level data from School Years 2016-17 through 2018-19. School Years 2019-20 and 2020-21 are provided in an appendix, along with a discussion of school district data that highlights differences in the rates of students who were homeless in rural, suburban, town, and urban districts.
Go to Chronic Absenteeism Among Students Experiencing Homelessness in America: School Years 2016-17 to 2020-21.

Graduation Rates of Students Who Experienced Homelessness in America: School Years 2017-18 to 2018-19

This brief discusses the four-, five-, and six-year adjusted cohort graduation rates of students who experienced homelessness using state-level data from School Years 2017-18 and 2018-19. Data for School Year 2019-20 is provided in an appendix, along with a discussion of school district data that highlights differences in the rates of students who were homeless in rural, suburban, town, and urban school districts.
Go to Graduation Rates of Students Who Experienced Homelessness in America: School Years 2017-18 to 2018-19.

LEA Summary Statistics and Notes for Homeless Students Enrolled Data: School Years 2013-14 to 2015-16
This NCHE resource includes summary statistics for publicly-released enrollment and demographic data on students experiencing homelessness who were identified by U.S. public schools during the 2013-2014, 2014-2015, and 2015-2016 school years. Data is collected by local educational agencies (LEAs, or school districts) and reported annually to the U.S. Department of Education through State educational agencies (SEAs). The data include information collected at the LEA level, and contain suppressed information for student counts equal to or less than two students.
Go to LEA Summary Statistics and Notes for Homeless Students Enrolled Data: School Years 2013-14 to 2015-16.

Other Resources

America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2017
This annual report by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics presents a comprehensive look at critical areas of child well-being, including key indicators in seven domains: family and social environment, economic circumstances, health care, physical environment and safety, behavior, education, and health.
Download America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2019.
Access reports from previous years (click on Past Reports in column on right side of page).
America’s Youngest Outcasts: A Report Card on Child Homelessness
This 2014 report from the National Center on Family Homelessness documents the number of homeless children in every state, their well-being, their risk for child homelessness, and state-level planning and policy efforts. Using findings from numerous sources that include well-established national data sets, as well as its own research, NCFH rank the states in four domains, and then develops a composite of these domains to rank the states from 1 (best) to 50 (worst). A page about the District of Columbia also is available.
Download America’s Youngest Outcasts: A Report Card on Child Homelessness.
Annie E Casey Foundation: KIDS COUNT Data Center
This website brings together data on the well-being of children collected by KIDS COUNT grantees from state and local sources. Users can access state-specific inventories of data from local sources, such as health departments, human services agencies, and schools. Users have access to raw data and can generate graphs, maps, rankings, and regional or state profiles.
Visit the KIDS COUNT Data Center website.
Child Trends DataBank
Child Trends Databank is the one-stop-shop for the latest national trends and research on over 80 key indicators of child and youth well-being. The DataBank includes statistics and information on such issues as social and emotional development, poverty and income, and education and skills.
Visit the Child Trends DataBank website.
Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC)
This U.S. Department of Education data collection reports data on key education and civil rights issues in our nation’s public schools on a biennial basis. The CRDC includes data on enrollment demographics, preschool, match and science courses, Advanced Placement (AP), SAT & ACT, discipline, school expenditures, and teacher experience. New data items for the 2015-16 CRDC include math and science classes taught by certified teachers, enrollment in Algebra I in Grade 7 and Geometry in Grade 8, offenses, pre-K discipline, days missed due to suspensions, and transfers to alternate schools.
Visit the CRDC webpage.
Falling Through the Cracks: Graduation and Dropout Rates among Michigan’s Homeless High School Students
This 2018 report from the University of Michigan explores high school dropout and graduation rates for Michigan students experiencing homelessness, as compared to students overall and other student subpopulations.
Download Falling Through the Cracks: Graduation and Dropout Rates among Michigan’s Homeless High School Students.
Identified Student Homelessness in Camden City Schools 2014-15 through 2018-19

Camden City School District is committed to identifying and serving students experiencing homelessness to ensure they receive a free, appropriate public education. This report considers data from students enrolled in district schools at the
conclusion of each of the 2014-15 to 2018-19 school years as well as publicly available data from other local education agencies in Camden. The hope is that this report offers insights into patterns of student homelessness. The ultimate goal is to innovate new ways of identifying and supporting students who experience homelessness.
Download Identified Student Homelessness in Camden City Schools.

National Center for Children in Poverty: 50-State Demographics Data Generator
This webpage from the National Center for Children in Poverty provides statistical information about low-income children focusing on various areas of interest, including family income level; parental presence, education, employment, and marital status; the child’s age and race-ethnicity; and family residential area and moves.
National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity responsible for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the United States.
Visit the National Center for Education Statistics website.
National Center for Education Statistics EDGE data tool
The NCES Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates (EDGE) program designs and develops information resources to help understand the social and spatial context of education in the U.S. It uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to create custom indicators of social, economic, and housing conditions for school-age children and their parents. It also uses spatial data collected by NCES and the Census Bureau to create geographic locale indicators, school point locations, school district boundaries, and other types of data to support spatial analysis.
Check out the NCES EDGE data tool.
The Colorado On-Time Graduation Rate
This webpage from the Colorado Department of Education provides statistics on the on-time graduation of students in Colorado. Visit the Graduates and Completers by District, and Instructional Program Service Type link to access graduation data disaggregated by various subgroups, including students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged students, and students experiencing homelessness.

Visit the Colorado On-Time Graduation Rate webpage.

The Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress

This U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) report is submitted to Congress each year in 2 parts. Part 1 outlines the key findings of the annual Point-In-Time (PIT) and Housing Inventory (HIC) counts conducted in January. Part 2 provides an estimate of the number of people who experienced sheltered or unsheltered homelessness over the course of the year based on Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data.

Download The 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress
U.S. Census Bureau School District Poverty Estimates
The U.S. Census Bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates program (SAIPE) produces annually updated school district poverty estimates to support the administration and allocation of Title I funding under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended. These data include estimates of total population, number of children ages 5 to 17, and number of related children ages 5 to 17 in families in poverty.
Visit the School Districts Poverty Estimates for 2019 webpage.