How many sex offenders are homeless?
An estimated 5.7% of US registered sex offenders with a known housing status are homeless or have no fixed address, as of August 2026. The figure is a national sample estimate from 6,668 records in our index — status was determinable for 5,574 of them — and no other public source computes it, because registries each state housing in their own way.
Housing status, national sample
From 6,668 sampled records, August 2026; status unknown for 1,094 and excluded from the shares.
| Housing status | Records | Share of known |
|---|---|---|
| Housed (a residential address on record) | 4,859 | 87.2% |
| Homeless / no fixed address | 319 | 5.7% |
| Incarcerated | 396 | 7.1% |
A sample-based estimate of our continuously updated index, not a census of the registry. Registry data is not a consumer report, and decisions made on it are regulated in that use.
About the estimate
What percentage of registered sex offenders are homeless?
An estimated 5.7% of US registered sex offenders with a known housing status are homeless or have no fixed address, from a national sample of 6,668 records in our index dated August 2026. Status was determinable for 5,574 of the sampled records; the share is of those.
Why is this an estimate rather than an exact count?
Because registries state housing in very different ways — one puts "TRANSIENT" in the address line, another has a status field, a third notes it in comments — and no jurisdiction publishes a homelessness total. Our database normalizes those statements into one field, and the figure here is a sample-based estimate from that field, with the denominator shown. An unknown status is excluded from the shares rather than assumed housed.
Is there a state-by-state homelessness figure?
Not on this site — the estimate is national, and slicing the sample per state would publish precision we do not hold. State pages carry counts and per-capita rates instead, and each notes that the housing figure is a national estimate.
The live answer beats the estimate
An estimate describes the population; a search answers for a person — across every US registry at once, with housing status normalized on every record. Your first 25 are free.