Merced Daily

MERCED COUNTY ANNUAL HOMELESS COUNT 2026

The Point-in-Time Count report, which provides annual data on homelessness, was officially released this week. Volunteers conducted a count of individuals living in transistional housing, abandoned buildings, cars, parks, sidewalks, and emergency shelters.

In 2026, data revealed that there were 344 adults and 1 child under the age of 18 who were unsheltered in Merced County. In contrast, 346 adults and 57 children were sheltered, bringing the total count of individuals to 748.

Most notable UNSHELTERED count of 2026.

-Atwater experienced the largest increase, with 13 more unsheltered individuals.

- Livingston's numbers remained unchanged at 9.

- Los Banos saw a decrease of 8 unsheltered individuals.

- The City of Merced had a slight increase of just 4 unsheltered individuals.

- Winton had just nine, one less than last year.

Below is a summary of the data from cities and towns in Merced County:

Here’s a list of some haunted house displays, which some will feature live scare actors. If you know of a good haunted house display, please add it in the comment section. The first four houses are near each other.

*Anderson’s Halloween House
1669 Oregon Drive, Merced, CA

*Haunted HELM House of Merced
3490 Cascade Creek Ave, Merced, CA (live actors)

*The Haunted Garden Of Merced
2861 El Camino Real, Merced, CA (will feature a live zombie actor every Friday)

*The House of Giants*
2858 El Camino Real, Merced,Ca- (across from The Haunted Garden of Merced which will also have the same live zombie scare actor).

*The Creepy Doll House*
1708 E Alexander Ave Merced, Ca

*Nightmare on Nutmeg
110 Nutmeg Avenue, Atwater, CA

No Michael Myers-themed house this year, but the Auer family still embraced their Halloween spirit at their home located at 3131 Chablis Ln, Atwater, CA.

*The Carnevil of Livingston 1445 First Street, Livingston, CA (expected to have live clown actors at 7 PM)

Follow their social media pages for updates.