Who are L.A. County's homeless?

The 2016 count of the homeless population, taken in January, revealed that our county has more than 43,000 people living on the street or in shelters. (Long Beach, Glendale and Pasadena were not included.)

It’s a diverse group of individuals. They’re not defined by one characteristic, but by many. Some homeless subpopulations grew in 2016, while others decreased.

Blacks are the largest racial or ethnic group

And they’re disproportionately represented. Only 8% of the county’s population is black.

Racial breakdown of Los Angeles County homeless population in 2016

Downtown has about 4,700 homeless

More homeless people (sheltered and unsheltered) live downtown than in any other neighborhood.

Venice has about 870

This Los Angeles neighborhood saw about a 23% drop in its homeless population from 2015. Once a haven for struggling artists, Venice is a stark example of the nation’s gulf between the haves and have-nots.

Most are working-age adults

More than 36,000 homeless people in the county are working-age adults.

Age breakdown of Los Angeles County homeless population in 2016

About a third are women

And about 500 are transgender, according to L.A. County's estimates.

Gender breakdown of Los Angeles County homeless population in 2016

Fewer veterans, families and those with HIV/AIDS

Los Angeles city officials pledged to end veteran homelessness last year. They didn’t. But the number of homeless veterans did drop in the city by 41%. The county also saw a drop in veterans, families and those estimated to have HIV/AIDS. These groups still represent small portions of the population.

Illustration showing percentage of homeless veterans, families members and individuals who have HIV/AIDS in Los Angeles County in 2016

How many homeless people were estimated to live in your neighborhood?

More than xxx live in ....

Note: Numbers are rounded. Dots are randomly positioned inside census tracts and do not reflect the actual location of individual people.

Sources: Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, Times reporting, Mapbox, OpenStreetMap

Leaflet | Map tiles by CartoDB, under CC BY 3.0. Data by OpenStreetMap, under ODbL., CartoDB attribution