In the United States, the number of homeless people on a given night in January 2023 was more than 650,000 according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Homelessness has increased in recent years, in large part due to an increasingly severe housing shortage and rising home prices in the United States.
Homeless woman in Washington, D.C.
Homeless man sleeping across the street from the Colorado State Capitol Building in Denver
The Bowery Mission at 36 Bowery in New York City, c. 1880s
Unemployed men outside a soup kitchen opened by Al Capone in Depression-era Chicago, Illinois, the US, 1931
Poverty in the United States
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In the United States, poverty has both social and political implications. In 2020, there were 37.2 million people in poverty. Some of the many causes include income inequality, inflation, unemployment, debt traps and poor education. The majority of adults living in poverty are employed and have at least a high school education. Although the US is a relatively wealthy country by international standards, it has a persistently high poverty rate compared to other developed countries due in part to a less generous welfare system.
Tents of the homeless in San Francisco, California, May 2020
Rally Poor Peoples Campaign Washington DC
The "Basic Seven", a food plan developed by the United States Department of Agriculture.
A neighborhood of poor white people, Chicago, 1974