Cambridge Homeless Population Counts and Demographics 2012-2025

Point-in-Time counts of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons in Cambridge, Massachusetts, collected annually on a single night in January from 2012 to 2025. The dataset includes demographic breakdowns and housing inventory data submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Homelessness Data Exchange. Data originates from the Homeless Management Information System for sheltered counts and street outreach for unsheltered counts.

Use Cases

• Analyze trends in total homeless populations by year using the 'PIT Date', 'Year', and 'Number of Persons' columns.
• Model demographic shifts within the homeless population using columns like 'Children under age 18', 'Persons age 18 to 24', 'Male', 'Female', and 'Transgender'.
• Assess housing capacity and needs by comparing 'Number of Persons' against 'Total Beds for Households with Children' and 'Total Beds for Households without Children'.
• Identify correlations between subpopulations, such as 'Chronically Homeless persons', 'Victims of Domestic Violence', and 'Adults with Substance Use Disorder'.
• Track racial and ethnic composition over time using columns like 'White', 'Black or African-American', 'Hispanic/Latino', and 'Asian'.

Strengths

• 14 years of consistent annual data from 2012 to 2025, enabling longitudinal analysis.
• Contains over 30 demographic and housing inventory columns for detailed breakdowns.
• Data follows a standardized HUD methodology, allowing for comparison with other CoC areas.

Limitations

• Counts represent a single night each year, which may not reflect seasonal or monthly variations in homelessness.
• Unsheltered demographic data is extrapolated from outreach worker assessments, not a complete census.
• Sample size is limited to one city, restricting generalizability to other geographic areas.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Homelessness Data Exchange (HDX), via data.cambridgema.gov.

Collection Method

Sheltered counts from Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) client records; unsheltered counts from a street census and extrapolated demographic assessments.

Time Range

2012 to 2025.

Freshness

Updated annually following the January count; last update recorded in July 2025.

Geography

Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.