Denver Has One of the Biggest Homeless Populations in the Nation

If you have driven through the Denver Metro Area in the past few years, You have probably seen the situation involving the homeless population in Colorado. Tents, carts, boxes, and other items can easily be seen from the interstate or any given street you drive on in Denver.

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You may or may not be surprised to know that Denver has one of the highest homeless populations in the United States. According to MoneyInc, the Mile High City is one of the worst when it comes to the homeless population and the numbers are quite staggering.

Denver's Homeless Population

MoneyInc attributes some of the reasons for the high homeless population in Denver to the housing crisis. The introduction of the COVID-19 pandemic increased the homeless population in Denver with a 13 percent increase in homelessness between the years of 2020 to 2022. Those experiencing homelessness for the first time doubled in Denver between 2020 and 2021.

An estimated 6,884 homeless people live in Denver, Colorado and the homelessness rate is approximately 9.7 people per 1,000 Denver residents. MoneyInc says that the homeless population will keep getting worse in Denver with no end in sight.

Overall, Denver ranked in 10th place for the worst cities for homeless populations in the United States. Cities that ranked higher on the list include the following:

• San Fransisco, California
• San Diego, California
• Phoenix, Arizona
• Sacramento, California
• Oakland, California
• San Jose, California
• Seattle, Washington
• New York City, New York
• Los Angeles, California

Essentially every major metropolitan area in the state of California has a higher population than Denver's. Los Angeles, California was the worst with 65,111 and approximately 16.9 people are homeless per 1,000 Los Angeles residents. See more on the worst cities for homeless populations in the United States at MoneyInc.com.