(The Center Square) – Snohomish County’s homeless population decreased for the second year in a row as its annual count revealed 1,140 homeless people in the region.
Snohomish County is required to conduct an annual Point-in-Time, or PIT, count by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is one of the tools used to inform priorities for federal, state and local funding to combat homelessness.
The 1,140 people counted on Jan. 22 represents a 1.8% decrease from the 1,161 counted in 2024.
Snohomish County’s highest tally of its homeless population was in 2023 with 1,285 people, which is 11.3% more than the 2025 count.
Despite the overall decrease in homelessness, Snohomish County’s sheltered count increased 11% to 604 in 2025. However, a press release from the county states that the increase was “due to weather conditions, as the county has several cold weather shelters that open when overnight lows are expected near freezing temperatures.”
“These cold weather shelters were open in 2025, while in 2024 the weather was warmer the night of the count and they were closed,” the press release states.
As for the total unsheltered count, Snohomish County tallied 536 people, which is a 14% decrease from 2024.
Out of the 1,140 counted people, 436 were alone, while 18 households included adults and children. The number of sheltered child-only households decreased to 17, down from 19 in 2024.
The PIT count is widely acknowledged as an undercount of the actual number of homeless people in a county.
Neighboring King County recently revised its 2024 PIT count up by 483 people to a total of 16,868, a difference of 174.7% – an all-time high.
The Snohomish County Human Services Department did not provide The Center Square with a comment on the 2025 PIT count at the time of publication.
