Seattle ranks 18^th in terms of population (755, 078) within the US, but it has the 3^rd biggest homeless population (16,385).

Chicago ranks 3^rd in terms of US population (2,664,452), but ranks 13^th in terms of its homeless population (6,139).

Houston ranks 4^th in terms of US population (2,314,157), but ranks 22^nd in terms of its homeless population.

What is going on here?

One theory is that a lot of homeless people choose Seattle due to their liberal policies and support services, but a 2019 study found that 84% of the Seattle homeless population lived in King County prior to becoming homeless, 11% lived in within Washington State at the time they became homeless (but not in King County), and only 5% travelled to Seattle from out of state.

So if that’s not the reason, then maybe people in Chicago or Houston just make more money than those in Seattle?

Hmm, salary doesn’t appear to be the reason either. Since mental illness can be a factor in homelessness, maybe Seattleites just has much worse mental health?

I’m confused – Seattle seems to compare pretty favorable to Chicago and Houston. What can possibly make it more difficult for people to afford housing in Seattle?

It certainly could not be this:

So to summarize:

	Median home price	Median income	Price / income
Chicago	$363,000	$71,673	5.06
Houston	$340,000	$69,483	4.89
Seattle	$885,000	$121,000	7.31

Seattle is just a really expensive place to live; hence, it’s easier for people to run into financial issues that put them on the street.

This is discussed in-depth in the 2022 book Homelessness is a Housing Problem by Clayton Page Aldern and Gregg Colburn. They found that mental illness and drug abuse are nationwide issues and effect all cities in similar ways, but the biggest variable was the actual housing cost. For example:

• Arkansas and West Virginia have high rates of opioid addiction, but very low housing prices. The result is low homelessness.
• Detroit is a very poor city, but its homeless population is 20% the size of Seattle.