Statistics · Updated November 7, 2026

Feral and Stray Cat Statistics 2026

Includes U.S. rabies data for 2024 and the AVMA's new free-roaming cat policy of July 2026

  • 83statistics
  • 59sources from 25 publishers
  • Checkedevery figure against its original source
  • FreeCSV download and ready-made citations

Compiled by the House of Mittens research desk from the State of Pet Homelessness Project (Mars), the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA), Nature Communications, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the Australian Government (DCCEEW) and Alley Cat Allies data.

No one has counted America's feral and stray cats. The most-cited scientific estimate is 30 to 80 million unowned cats (Loss, Will and Marra, 2013), and Mars's State of Pet Homelessness Project puts U.S. strays at 35 million. Across 20 countries, Mars counted 203 million cats living on the street.

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Key findings

  1. 30 to 80 million

    Loss, Will and Marra (2013) based their national model on a population estimate of between 30 and 80 million un-owned (stray and feral) cats in the contiguous United States, the range most often cited for U.S. feral cat numbers.

    Loss, Will & Marra, Nature Communications (2013) · 2013 data

    Details
  2. 35 million

    Mars's State of Pet Homelessness Project (2024) estimated 35 million stray cats in the United States, based on 2022 to 2023 research by Euromonitor International.

    Mars, State of Pet Homelessness Project: United States report (2024) · 2023 data

    Details
  3. 203 million

    Mars's State of Pet Homelessness Project (January 2024) estimated 203 million cats living on the street and 4 million cats in shelters across the 20 countries it studied.

    Mars, State of Pet Homelessness Project press release (2024) · 2023 data

    Details
  4. 1.4 to 5.6 million

    Legge et al. (2017), pooling 91 site-based density studies, estimated that Australia's feral cat population in natural environments fluctuates between 1.4 million after continent-wide droughts and 5.6 million after extensive wet periods.

    Legge et al., Biological Conservation (2017) · 2016 data

    Details
  5. 99.4%

    A population of 175 community cats on a 2-mile section of the San Francisco Bay Trail declined by 99.4% over a 16-year TNR program; of 258 cats enrolled between 2004 and 2020, only one remained (Spehar and Wolf, Animals).

    Spehar DD, Wolf PJ, Animals (2020) · 2004-2020 data

    Details
  6. about 7% a year

    In a controlled TNR experiment in the Israeli city of Rishon LeZion, cat numbers rose and did not fall in highly neutered areas, apparently because of immigration, until neutering was expanded citywide to above 70%, which produced an annual reduction of about 7% (Gunther and colleagues, PNAS).

    Gunther I, Hawlena H, Azriel L, et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022) · 2007-2018 data

    Details
  7. 75%

    In a cohort of feral cats in managed colonies, 127 of 169 kittens (75%) died or disappeared before 6 months of age, with trauma the most common cause of death (Nutter, Levine and Stoskopf, JAVMA).

    Nutter FB, Levine JF, Stoskopf MK, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (2004) · 2004 data

    Details
  8. 243

    Cats were the most commonly found rabid domestic animal in the US in 2024, with 243 positive cats among 3,834 animal rabies cases reported to the National Rabies Surveillance System (Keshavamurthy and colleagues, JAVMA).

    Keshavamurthy R, Boutelle C, Bonaparte S, et al., Rabies surveillance in the United States during 2024, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (2026) · 2024 data

    Details
  9. 30%

    An average of 30% of people surveyed in seven U.S. study communities in 2021 said they feed community cats, and most feed three or fewer cats (Neal and Kremer, Journal of Shelter Medicine and Community Animal Health).

    Neal SM, Kremer T, Who Cares? Exploring the Demographics and Proportion of People Providing Care for Community Cats in Seven Study Communities in the United States, Journal of Shelter Medicine and Community Animal Health (2024) · 2021 data

    Details

How many feral and stray cats are in the U.S.?

No one has counted America's unowned cats. The most-cited scientific estimate is 30 to 80 million unowned cats (Loss, Will and Marra, 2013), while a newer density-based estimate from WellBeing International puts unowned outdoor cats at roughly 20 to 44 million and Mars's State of Pet Homelessness Project estimates 35 million stray cats.

Estimates of unowned, stray and feral cats in the United States
SourceYearWhat it countsEstimate
Loss, Will & Marra (Nature Communications)2013Un-owned cats, contiguous U.S.30 to 80 million
Hadidian & Rowan (WellBeing International)2021Unowned outdoor cats, density modelAbout 20 to 44 million
Mars, State of Pet Homelessness Project2024Stray cats35 million
USDA APHIS (citing Loss 2013)2021Unowned and feral cats30 to 80 million
Humane World for Animals (org estimate)UndatedCommunity cats30 to 40 million
ASPCA (org estimate)UndatedCommunity catsTens of millions
PETA (org estimate)UndatedHomeless cats60 to 100 million

Source: Loss et al. 2013; Hadidian & Rowan 2021; Mars SoPH 2024; USDA APHIS 2021; Humane World; ASPCA; PETA

Terms differ and so do the counts. The ASPCA uses "community cats" for "outdoor, unowned, free-roaming cats" that "can be friendly, feral, adults, kittens". Alley Cat Allies defines a stray as "a cat who lived indoors and was socialized to people at some point in her life, but has left or lost her home, or was abandoned", and says "Both feral and stray cats are community cats." USDA APHIS defines a feral cat as "A cat with limited or no interaction with people and frequently avoids or exhibits aggressive behavior toward people." Loss et al. counted all un-owned cats (stray plus feral), and USDA APHIS repeats that same range, calling the cats both unowned and feral. Owned cats that go outdoors are not feral. Figures from HSUS/Humane World, PETA and the ASPCA are organisation estimates with no published method; cite them as such.

How many stray cats are there in the world?

There is no census of the world's stray cats. The largest study, Mars's State of Pet Homelessness Project (January 2024), estimated 203 million cats living on the street and 4 million in shelters across 20 countries, with China alone accounting for about half of the street cats.

Stray (street) cats by country, millions, 10 of the 20 countries studied
  • China 105.32M
  • United States 35M
  • Brazil 10M
  • Mexico 9.1M
  • India 8M
  • Turkey 4.4M
  • Germany 2M
  • Greece 2M
  • UK 970K
  • Poland 750K

Source: Mars, State of Pet Homelessness Project country reports (2024). Chart: House of Mittens, free to reuse with a link to this page.

Show chart data
China105.32M
United States35M
Brazil10M
Mexico9.1M
India8M
Turkey4.4M
Germany2M
Greece2M
UK970K
Poland750K
Stray and shelter cats in 10 of the 20 countries in the State of Pet Homelessness Project
CountryStray catsCats in sheltersShare of cats homeless
China105.32M20K64%
United States35M2.1M29%
Brazil10M7.4K26%
Mexico9.1M32K36%
India8M800K61%
Turkey4.38M17.7K46%
Germany2M35K12%
Greece2M67.5K78%
United Kingdom970K75.3K9%
Poland750K32.5K15%

Source: Mars, State of Pet Homelessness Project country reports (2024), data 2022-2023

The Mars figures cover 20 countries only (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand, the U.S. and the U.K.), not the whole world. They combine over 900 sources, almost 30,000 public surveys and 200 expert interviews, with fieldwork from late 2022 to mid-2023 by Kantar and Euromonitor International. Mars counts "stray" or "street" cats, which includes both friendly strays and feral cats. Per-country figures come from each country's report; we could not retrieve the reports for the other 10 countries (including Indonesia and the Philippines), so the table is not a full ranking.

How many feral cats are in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Europe?

Australia has the best-studied feral cat population: 1.4 to 5.6 million in natural environments depending on rainfall, plus about 0.7 million around towns, farms and dumps (Legge et al., 2017). New Zealand has no reliable count but in 2026 added feral cats to its Predator Free 2050 eradication list, and the UK's unowned cats are estimated in the hundreds of thousands.

  • 1.4 to 5.6 million

    Legge et al. (2017), pooling 91 site-based density studies, estimated that Australia's feral cat population in natural environments fluctuates between 1.4 million after continent-wide droughts and 5.6 million after extensive wet periods.

    Legge et al., Biological Conservation (2017) · 2016 data [14]

    #
  • 0.7 million

    Legge et al. (2017) estimated another 0.7 million feral cats live in Australia's highly modified environments such as urban areas, rubbish dumps and intensive farms.

    Legge et al., Biological Conservation (2017) · 2016 data [14]

    #
  • 2.1 to 6.3 million

    Combining natural and highly modified environments, Legge et al. (2017) put Australia's total feral cat population at between 2.1 and 6.3 million, lower than earlier estimates.

    Legge et al., Biological Conservation (2017) · 2016 data [14]

    #
  • >99.8%

    Feral cats occur across more than 99.8% of Australia's land area, according to Legge et al.'s 2017 review of cat presence on islands and in cat-proof exclosures.

    Legge et al., Biological Conservation (2017) · 2016 data [14]

    #
  • No accurate estimate

    New Zealand's Department of Conservation says it has no accurate estimate of the country's feral cat population, so figures repeated online for New Zealand have no official basis.

    NZ Department of Conservation, Feral cats (accessed 2026) · 2026 data [15]

    #
  • 247,429

    McDonald and Skillings (2021) produced the first spatially explicit national estimate of urban unowned cats in the UK: 247,429 (95% credible interval 157,153 to 365,793).

    McDonald & Skillings, Scientific Reports (2021) · 2021 data [16]

    #
  • 9.3 per km2

    The same 2021 study estimated a median of 9.3 unowned cats per square kilometre in UK urban areas, with site averages ranging from 1.9 to 57.

    McDonald & Skillings, Scientific Reports (2021) · 2021 data [16]

    #
  • 900,000

    Cats Protection said in July 2025 that there are an estimated 900,000 free-roaming, unowned cats in the UK, a figure it says is still being refined.

    Cats Protection press release (July 2025) · 2025 data [17]

    #
  • 84%

    Stray cats make up 84% of the UK's homeless pet population (dogs and cats, on the street or in shelters), according to Mars's 2024 State of Pet Homelessness Project.

    Mars, State of Pet Homelessness Project: United Kingdom report (2024) · 2023 data [18]

    #
  • Over 2 million

    Animal welfare practitioners interviewed for a 2026 study estimated more than 2 million unowned cats in both Cyprus (more than its human population) and Greece, and over 1 million in Portugal; these are field-based guesses, not counts.

    DeLeeuw & Eckman, Frontiers in Animal Science (2026) · 2025 data [19]

    #
Feral and unowned cat estimates outside the United States
PlaceSourceWhat it countsEstimate
AustraliaLegge et al. 2017Feral cats, natural environments1.4M to 5.6M
AustraliaLegge et al. 2017Feral cats, highly modified areas0.7M
United KingdomMcDonald & Skillings 2021Unowned cats, urban areas247,429
United KingdomCats Protection 2025Free-roaming unowned cats900,000
United KingdomMars SoPH 2024Stray cats970K
CyprusDeLeeuw & Eckman 2026Unowned cats (practitioner estimate)Over 2M
GreeceDeLeeuw & Eckman 2026Unowned cats (practitioner estimate)Over 2M
PortugalDeLeeuw & Eckman 2026Unowned cats (practitioner estimate)Over 1M
New ZealandDepartment of ConservationFeral catsNo accurate estimate

Source: Legge et al. 2017; McDonald & Skillings 2021; Cats Protection 2025; Mars 2024; DeLeeuw & Eckman 2026; NZ DOC

Countries use different categories. Australia and New Zealand separate truly wild "feral" cats from "stray" cats that live around people; New Zealand's Department of Conservation recognises three populations: companion, stray (partly cared for by people) and feral ("living independently and not relying on people for survival"). UK figures count unowned cats, most of them urban strays. European numbers for Cyprus, Greece and Portugal are practitioners' rough estimates, not surveys.

How many cats are sterilized through TNR, and how widespread is it?

Very few unowned cats are already neutered when a TNR program reaches them (2.3% in a study of 103,643 cats). Programs that cut shelter intake sterilize tens of thousands of cats, and Alley Cat Allies counts more than 600 US local governments with TNR ordinances or policies.

Ordinance counts come from Alley Cat Allies, a pro-TNR advocacy group, and date from January 2017. Sterilization percentages describe the cats in a study area, not all US cats.

Does trap-neuter-return (TNR) reduce feral cat numbers?

Long-running, well-managed TNR programs in Florida, Chicago and California report colony declines of 54% to 99.4%, usually with heavy adoption alongside sterilization. Citywide and county-scale studies find little or no decline unless more than about 70% to 75% of cats are neutered and new arrivals are controlled.

Decline in managed colony populations under long-running TNR programs (%), by program. Each study counts differently (census to end, entry or peak), and several include adoption, so compare with care.
  • SF Bay Trail 99.4%
  • UCF campus 85%
  • Key Largo 55%
  • Chicago 54%

Source: Spehar and Wolf, Animals (2018, 2019, 2020); Kreisler, Cornell and Levy, Frontiers in Veterinary Science (2019). Chart: House of Mittens, free to reuse with a link to this page.

Show chart data
SF Bay Trail99.4%
UCF campus85%
Key Largo55%
Chicago54%
Peer-reviewed TNR studies and what they found
StudyPlacePeriodResult
Levy, Gale & Gale 2003University campus, Florida1991–200266% fewer cats (68 to 23); 47% adopted
Spehar & Wolf 2019Same campus (UCF)1996–201985% decline; 11 of 16 colonies gone
Natoli et al. 2006Rome, 103 colonies1991–200016–32% decrease; ~21% immigration
Foley et al. 2005San Diego Co. & Alachua Co.1992–2004No consistent drop in growth rate (model)
Andersen et al. 2004Matrix modeln/aNeeds >75% neutered every year
Levy, Isaza & Scott 2014One Florida zip code2 yearsShelter intake down 66% vs 12% elsewhere
Spehar & Wolf 2018Chicago, 20 colonies2007–201654% below entry, 82% below peak
Kreisler et al. 2019Key Largo, Florida1999–2013455 to 206 cats (55% decrease)
Spehar & Wolf 2020San Francisco Bay Trail2004–2020175 cats down 99.4%
Coe et al. 2021Stillwater, Oklahoma2014–2018No significant change; 27% sterilized
Gunther et al. 2022Rishon LeZion, Israel2012–2018 surveysRose until >70% neutered citywide, then ~7% a year fall

Source: Peer-reviewed studies listed (JAVMA, Preventive Veterinary Medicine, The Veterinary Journal, Animals, Frontiers in Veterinary Science, Wildlife Biology, PNAS)

Colony studies count cats at fixed feeding sites; citywide studies estimate whole populations. Many colony declines include adoption and euthanasia, not sterilization alone. Model results are projections, not field counts.

How long do feral cats live, and how healthy are they?

Most kittens born outdoors do not survive: 75% died or disappeared before 6 months in managed feral colonies. Adult feral cats brought to TNR clinics are mostly lean but healthy, with FeLV and FIV rates similar to owned cats, and managed colony cats often live for years.

Rabies figures cover all cats tested in the US (owned and unowned), not only feral cats. Ages in TNR programs are estimates.

How many people feed stray and feral cats?

Surveys find that somewhere between about 1 in 8 and 1 in 3 people feed outdoor cats they do not own, and most feeders care for only a few cats. Few feeders get those cats sterilized.

Surveys word the question differently ("free-roaming", "unowned", "community" or "stray" cats) and sample different places, so the shares are not directly comparable. The 2021 seven-community survey asked: 'Do you put out food for stray cats in the neighborhood that do not sleep in your house?'

How do lost pet cats add to the stray population?

Some cats counted as strays are lost pets. Studies find roughly 1 in 7 pet cats goes missing over five years, few carry identification, and a quarter of lost cats are never found.

These studies measure owned cats that were lost, not cats that were abandoned. No national U.S. figure exists for how many stray cats are lost or abandoned pets.

What does the public think about feral cats and TNR?

National polling commissioned by an advocacy group finds most Americans prefer leaving a stray cat outside to having it caught and killed. Local surveys are more split, and opinion divides sharply between cat caretakers and wildlife professionals.

Which option U.S. adults considered more humane for a stray cat, April to May 2007 (%). Harris Interactive poll of 1,205 adults for Alley Cat Allies, a TNR advocacy group; the question offered only two options. "Unsure" includes refused.
  • Leave outside 81%
  • Put down 14%
  • Unsure 5%

Source: Chu K, Anderson WM, U.S. Public Opinion on Humane Treatment of Stray Cats, Alley Cat Allies Law & Policy Brief (poll 2007, brief dated 2010). Chart: House of Mittens, free to reuse with a link to this page.

Show chart data
Leave outside81%
Put down14%
Unsure5%
Share agreeing (a little or strongly) with each statement, U.S. survey of 338 cat colony caretakers and 239 bird conservation professionals, 2011 (House of Mittens calculation: 'agree a little' plus 'agree strongly' from Table 2)
StatementColony caretakersBird conservation pros
Manage colonies with TNR98%22%
Manage colonies with euthanasia1%75%
Treat feral cats as protected wildlife79%1%
Treat feral cats as pests1%78%
TNR eventually eliminates colonies69%9%
Feral cats help cause native bird declines20%87%

Source: Peterson MN, Hartis B, Rodriguez S, Green M, Lepczyk CA, Opinions from the Front Lines of Cat Colony Management Conflict, PLoS ONE (2012)

The 81% figure comes from a Harris Interactive poll commissioned by Alley Cat Allies, a TNR advocacy group, and the question offered only two options (leave the cat outside, or have it caught and put down). Surveys in Georgia and Hawaii asked about specific policies and found much less support for TNR. Results depend heavily on question wording and on who is surveyed.

What do laws and policies say about feral cats?

In the U.S., most feral cat policy is set by cities and counties, and hundreds have adopted TNR ordinances or policies. Professional bodies disagree, while Australia and New Zealand treat feral cats as pests to be controlled.

U.S. ordinance counts come from Alley Cat Allies, which advocates for TNR and has not published a newer count than January 2017. 'Feral cat' in Australian and New Zealand policy means cats living wild, not owned pets or urban colonies.

Methodology

This page keeps different kinds of cat apart because sources count different things. "Unowned" or "community" cats include friendly strays and feral cats; "feral" in Australian and New Zealand policy means cats living wild; owned cats that go outdoors are not counted here (see our cat ownership and cats and wildlife pages for those). Every U.S. population figure is an estimate, not a count. Loss, Will and Marra (2013) assumed 30 to 80 million unowned cats as an input to their wildlife model, and USDA APHIS repeats that range, calling the cats both unowned and feral. WellBeing International's 2021 figure comes from city density surveys; the unowned share is our calculation from the article's own numbers. Mars's State of Pet Homelessness Project combined surveys, expert interviews and published sources, with fieldwork by Kantar and Euromonitor International from late 2022 to mid-2023, and covers 20 countries only. Organisation estimates with no published method (PETA, Humane World for Animals, the ASPCA) are labelled as such.

TNR results come from peer-reviewed studies only, and we report both colony studies, which count cats at fixed feeding sites and often include adoption, and studies of whole towns or counties, which estimate entire populations. Modelling results are projections, not field counts. Survey figures on feeding and attitudes come from the published papers and give the year and sample where the source states them; question wording varies, so the shares are not directly comparable. The 81% figure is from a 2007 Harris Interactive poll commissioned by Alley Cat Allies, a TNR advocacy group, and the U.S. ordinance counts are Alley Cat Allies' own; its newest published count dates from January 2017.

Every figure was taken from the primary source, and the exact source text is kept with each stat in the downloadable CSV. Figures House of Mittens worked out are marked as our calculation, with the arithmetic shown. Each stat was then checked against its source by a second reviewer. We will update the page when Mars publishes a new State of Pet Homelessness edition and when the 2025 U.S. rabies surveillance report appears.

Spot an error or a newer figure? Tell us and we will correct the page and note the change.

Cite this page

Free to quote, chart or link in articles, reports and coursework. Please credit the original source for each figure and link to this page as the compilation.

House of Mittens. (2026, November 7). Feral and Stray Cat Statistics 2026. https://houseofmittens.com/feral-cat-statistics/

Frequently asked questions

How many feral cats are in the U.S.?

No one has counted them. The estimate most often cited is 30 to 80 million unowned (stray and feral) cats in the contiguous U.S., from a 2013 Nature Communications study by Loss, Will and Marra. A 2021 density model by WellBeing International implies a lower figure of about 20 to 44 million unowned outdoor cats (House of Mittens calculation). Higher numbers such as PETA's 60 to 100 million come with no published method.

How many stray cats are in the U.S.?

Mars's State of Pet Homelessness Project estimated 35 million stray cats in the U.S. in its 2024 report, based on 2022 to 2023 research. Counting cats in shelters too, it put 37.1 million U.S. cats, or 29% of all cats, in the homeless category. Humane World for Animals uses 30 to 40 million community cats, without a published method.

How many stray cats are there in the world?

There is no global count. The largest study, Mars's State of Pet Homelessness Project (January 2024), estimated 203 million cats living on the street and 4 million in shelters across 20 countries. China alone accounted for about 105 million of those street cats. The 20 countries are not the whole world, so the true global figure is higher.

Does trap-neuter-return (TNR) work?

It depends on scale. Long-running colony programs report large declines: 99.4% on a San Francisco Bay Trail colony over 16 years, 85% on a Florida university campus, and 54% to 55% in Chicago and Key Largo, often with adoption alongside. Studies of whole towns are less positive: Stillwater, Oklahoma saw no significant change after five years with 27% of cats sterilized, while an Israeli city only saw numbers fall, by about 7% a year, once more than 70% of cats were neutered citywide.

How long do feral cats live?

Most feral kittens do not reach adulthood: in a JAVMA study of managed colonies, 75% of kittens died or disappeared before 6 months of age. Adults in managed TNR colonies can live for years. On a Florida university campus, cats not adopted within six months stayed on campus for more than four years on average, and the average age of cats in a Key Largo program rose from 16.6 to 43.8 months between 1995 and 2017.

How many people feed stray cats?

An average of 30% of people surveyed in seven U.S. communities in 2021 said they feed community cats, ranging from 15% to 47% by community, and most feed three or fewer cats. An earlier Ohio telephone survey found 26.2% of participants had fed free-roaming cats in the past year, but only 22.8% of those feeders had ever taken one to a veterinarian.

What is the difference between a feral cat and a stray cat?

A stray cat has lived with people at some point and is socialized to them, but has left, lost or been abandoned by its home. A feral cat has had little or no contact with people and avoids them. Both are often called community cats. Owned pet cats that go outdoors are neither. Most population estimates, including the 30 to 80 million U.S. figure, count strays and ferals together as unowned cats.

How many feral cats are in Australia?

Legge and colleagues (2017) estimated 1.4 million feral cats in Australia's natural environments after droughts and 5.6 million after wet periods, plus about 0.7 million in towns, dumps and farms, for a total of 2.1 to 6.3 million. Feral cats occur across more than 99.8% of the continent's land area.

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