National Estimates: Eviction in America

NOTE (April 2023): In July 2022, new research allowed us to improve our data gathering and add two more years of eviction data. We recommend you use our updated data for any analysis, which you can find here. To learn more about our new data, our methodology, and its limitations, read our blog post from 2022.

Since the Eviction Lab’s inception, we’ve been in constant pursuit of a seemingly simple question: how many evictions take place in the United States each year? After countless hours of data collection and research, we are finally able to produce some of the first estimates of the national prevalence of eviction.

Below you will find a table that shows our current national estimates of eviction filings and evictions, as well as their respective rates. The numbers of evictions and filings listed tell you the total number of evictions and filings that appeared in our data in a given year. The eviction and filing rates tell you what percentage of renter occupied households experienced either an eviction or an eviction filing in a given year.

We calculated rates by dividing each year’s eviction filings or evictions by the total number of renter occupied households and multiplying by 100 so that the rate was represented as a percentage.

You may notice that the numbers of evictions and filings appear to increase over time while the rates remain fairly consistent. This is because both the total number of evictions and the total number of renting households in our data increased over time.

Year	Renter Occupied Households	Eviction Filings	Evictions	Eviction Filing Rate	Eviction Rate
2000	19327822	1159168	518873	6	2.68
2001	27438838	1750452	754652	6.38	2.75
2002	29982440	2085491	864918	6.96	2.88
2003	30330222	2134014	910361	7.04	3
2004	30784432	2177018	940817	7.07	3.06
2005	31969192	2306580	969303	7.22	3.03
2006	32578412	2441067	1019600	7.49	3.13
2007	31207532	2002531	958605	6.42	3.07
2008	31990144	2079865	996233	6.5	3.11
2009	32757084	2108719	952699	6.44	2.91
2010	33685912	2374084	993531	7.05	2.95
2011	33975472	2452080	987999	7.22	2.91
2012	34676936	2420135	983666	6.98	2.84
2013	35361292	2378464	930693	6.73	2.63
2014	36302464	2394318	908977	6.6	2.5
2015	36502680	2288732	870325	6.27	2.38
2016	38372860	2350042	898479	6.12	2.34

(Scroll within table to see all statistics)

As the figures above show, our current data suggest there was roughly 1 eviction filing for every 17 renter households between 2000 and 2016. Approximately 1 in 40 renter households were evicted over this period. To put these numbers into perspective, at the peak of the financial crisis in 2010, estimates suggest slightly over one million foreclosures were completed nationally. By comparison, we see almost a million evictions against tenants every single year. The narrative on housing often focuses on displacement among homeowners, but our findings suggest that there is an ongoing epidemic of eviction and displacement in the renting market. As you’ll see from the graphs below, the national eviction and filing rates have remained consistent over time, with small declines over the last few years.

It is important to note that there are several places where we do not have all eviction records, including New York and California. More information about why can be found in our Methodology Report. As a result, our current national estimates of evictions and eviction filings underestimate the overall prevalence of both. Our data collection efforts are ongoing, and we will continue to update our estimates as we learn more.

If you have any questions or would like to get in touch with the Eviction Lab, please email us at info@evictionlab.org. We also invite you to explore justshelter.org, a resource built by our team with contact information for housing advocates all across the country.