Homelessness Jumps to Record Highs, But Not in Sonoma County

Accordingly to recently released federal data, every Bay Area county except Sonoma and Marin has seen homelessness increase since 2015.

Homelessness in California overall rose 3% to more than 187,000. The U.S. homeless population spiked 18% to more than 770,000 from 2023 to 2024, record highs for all three.

At a news conference in Oakland last month Governor Newsom reported that “Forty states saw larger increases than California. We’re making progress, but we have to continue to do more.”

Notably, although Californians make up just 11% of the total U.S. population nearly a quarter of all homeless people nationwide live in the state. California’s homeless population has swelled 16% during and the Bay Area’s homeless population has jumped 46% over the past decade.

The data indicates that in the Bay Area overall, homelessness increased by 20% in Contra Costa County, 15% in San Mateo County, and 10% in San Francisco. About two-thirds of homeless residents live on the street.

Of the Bay Area’s three major cities, Oakland now has the highest per-capita homelessness rate with 1,258 out of every 100,000 residents lacking housing. In San Francisco the rate is 1,028 per 100,000 residents, and an estimated homeless population of 8,323.A homelessness rate is 654 per 100,000, with 6,340 unhoused residents was reported for San Jose.