2024 National Data Report: A Turning Point in Lifesaving, and a Roadmap for Getting to 90%
Nearly 2 out of 3 U.S. shelters are now no-kill — and hundreds more are within reach of that goal. Our goal is to get to 100%.
Use the links below to jump to key sections of the report:
In 2016, when we announced our national no-kill goal, Best Friends tracked 1.03 million animals killed in shelters. That year we set an ambitious stake in the ground: to get more dogs and cats out of shelters and into homes and make every shelter in America no-kill.
Through determination, collaboration, and implementation of effective lifesaving programs, the national save rate in 2024 was 82% — an increase of 11 percentage points compared to 2016. Overall, 59% fewer pets were killed in shelters in 2024 compared to 2016 — with cat killing at its lowest point in history.
Since 2016, the number of dogs and cats killed in America's shelters decreased 59%.
This is, by any measure, incredible progress, and incredible lifesaving — especially in the decentralized system of animal welfare, where every community faces its own challenges while working under different laws and regulations.
Together, we’ve made great strides, but have faced some challenges, too. After three years of declines, we are starting to see no-kill programming stabilize lifesaving. The curve isn't just flattening — it's turning in the right direction.
When every community and shelter nationwide reach 90%, we will officially be no-kill. As of the end of 2024, just over 1,400 U.S. shelters were remaining to go no-kill and 49% were close, with 100 or fewer additional pets to be saved to achieve no-kill.
This report provides a guide to how far we’ve come, where we are now — and how we achieve no-kill nationwide with programs that work, and working together, to get cats and dogs into homes and save animals’ lives.
Together, we can save every at-risk pet in a shelter this year and secure a better future for our best friends. Every new action we take moves us closer to our goal of achieving no-kill across the country.
Some key highlights from 2024 include:
- 2.4 million dogs and cats were adopted into loving homes in 2024. This represents a 4.1% increase compared to 2023 — but the increase was not across all types of shelters: Adoptions at government shelters were up 16.0%, but adoptions in private shelters were down.
- The number of cats and kittens killed in U.S. shelters reached its lowest point in history, falling to 188,000 — a remarkable 10.5% decrease from 2023. But 2024 marks the first time since Best Friends has recorded data that the number of dogs killed in shelters has been substantially higher than for cats.
- Intake remained relatively steady in 2024, with 4.8 million dogs and cats entering shelters. 3.9 million dogs and cats were saved.
- Over 89% of shelters that were no-kill in 2023 remained no-kill in 2024.
Save Rates
In 2024, the national save rate for both dogs and cats was 82%.
425,000 animals were killed in U.S. shelters in 2024 — essentially holding steady from the previous year.
While cat save rates remained steady, dog save rates have not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
For cats, the 2024 data is especially encouraging. The number of cats killed in shelters decreased by 10.5% in 2024, to 188,000 in total. This decrease seems likely to be driven by successful lifesaving programs for cats, like changing policies around intake of community cats and TNVR — in many cases, lifesaving cat programs that shelters implemented during COVID, and kept doing, and even expanded, in the years since.
The number of cats killed in shelters decreased by 10.5% in 2024.
Pima Animal Care Center
Pima Animal Care Center in Tucson, Arizona, launched its community cat program in 2014, “with the Best Friends Community Cat Project, where Best Friends and PACC staff worked together to build what is now PACC's Community Cat Program,” said Cat Programs Coordinator Stephanie Stryker. From 2023 to 2024, that program saved 1,696 more cats, and grew by over 225%.
Stephanie says that working closely with the community, and building trust and support, has helped this program flourish and expand — now providing trap-neuter-vaccinate return (TNVR) services year-round, with a weekend-long Snip 'n' Tip event in the spring and fall where as many as 600 cats are brought in for services.
“Pima Animal Care Center is grateful for the community support of this programming, and as a result, is able to provide FREE trap-neuter-vaccinate-return services for thousands of cats each year,” Stephanie said.
These resources will help you implement or grow your community cat programs to save cats’ lives!
Unfortunately, dogs continue to be a challenge, and this marks the first time since Best Friends has recorded data that the number of dogs killed in shelters has been substantially higher than for cats.
In 2024, 237,000 dogs were killed, representing a 6.2% increase over the previous year.
We could close that gap by removing barriers to adoption, implementing open adoptions best practices; robust adoption marketing; dog foster programs; strategic managed intake; pet retention programs; and increasing the number of dogs returned to their homes through return-to-home (RTH) programming.
Nebraska Humane Society
Nebraska Humane Society had a 10-point increase in their dog save rate from 2023 to 2024, and reached no-kill in 2024. Increased adoptions and return-to-home practices meant almost 250 more dogs went home.
“Some of the biggest drivers of our recent progress include the expansion of our foster network, targeted behavioral support, a focus on return-to-home strategies, and increased community engagement through accessible programming,” said VP of Shelter Operations and Strategy Jakie Hernández.
Jakie points specifically to a doggy day out program — called Barks and Rec — that launched in 2024, and has reduced lengths of stay by nine days for dogs who participate, and the Molly Project, a specialized behavioral program that worked with over 122 dogs in 2024.
Best Friends experts helped Nebraska Humane Society implement the lifesaving programs that led to these results for dogs — and saved nearly 600 more cats, too. Organizations wanting support — which is completely free — can reach out to strategists in their region.
The benefits of these programs extend beyond the shelter walls. With more dogs going into homes, “We have also been helping MORE animals within our community and outside of it without jeopardizing our capacity to care,” Jakie said.
Intake
Animal intakes in 2023 and 2024 stabilized.
But while intake remained steady between 2023 and 2024 overall, government agencies had an increase of 7.9%. Intake decreased in private shelters with government contracts by 7.2%, and decreased by 8.8% in private shelters without contracts.
This means private shelters with and without government contracts took in fewer animals from municipal shelters and other sources, even while municipal shelters were taking in more animals.
For municipal shelters to achieve and maintain no-kill, private shelters need to increase their pulls — as government shelters reduce intake using strategic managed intake and return-to-home programming.
Harrison County Animal Control
In 2024, Harrison County Animal Control in West Virginia dropped intake by 400 pets, while raising its save rate from 45% in 2023 to 83% in 2024.
“By implementing a combination of managed intake, giving the community the resources to help rehome their pets themselves, community cat programs, return-to-home initiatives, and safety net services, they have saved more lives than ever in their community,” said Best Friends National Shelter Support Strategist Tammy Jo Hallman, who works with Harrison County Animal Control to implement these lifesaving programs. “Harrison County has been steadily gaining momentum toward its no-kill goal over the past year, making tremendous progress each month.”
These resources can help you support pet retention and efficiently manage intake:
Outcomes
Adoptions
Shelters are seeing improvement across all positive outcome types, including adoptions.
A total of 2.4 million dogs and cats were adopted from brick and mortar shelters last year. This represents a 4.1% increase compared to 2023.
Dog adoptions were up 4.1% while cat adoptions were up 3.8%.
Both dog and cat adoptions increased from 2023 to 2024.
These increases weren’t equal across all types of shelters — municipal shelters saw great increases, while adoptions in private shelters with and without contracts were down.
Government agencies drove the increase in adoptions, with adoptions up 16.0% (17.1% for dogs, 10.1% for cats). Adoptions in private shelters with contracts were down 3.7% in 2024, and in private shelters without contracts, adoptions were down 7.8%.
Government agencies drove the increase in adoptions.
Rankin County Animal Shelter
Adoptions went up by 66.5% in 2024, at the Rankin County Animal Shelter in Brandon, Mississippi — an additional 274 pets. And they did it in ways that are very replicable: “By adding all available animals to their website, launching a foster program, and actively highlighting adoptable pets and animals in need on social media, they’ve made it easier for people to connect and support,” said Taylor Lefebvre, Senior Manager of the Eastern Region for Best Friends. “This spirit of collaboration has not only led to more adoptions but also stronger lasting bonds within the community.”
Increase Adoption and Fostering Accessibility
These practices include offering same-day adoptions and fostering opportunities, waiving adoption fees, and increasing open adoption and foster pickup hours. Check out the Bring Love Home Challenge supporting materials for more ideas about how to increase adoptions and foster placements at your organization!
Return-to-Home
Return-to-home rates are up over 2023 numbers.
Nearly 600,000 dogs and cats were reunited with their owners in 2024.
Of these, 509,000 were dogs — a 2.5% increase over 2023. In total, 20.2% of all dogs entering shelters were returned to homes. This is up from a 19.9% return-to-home (RTH) rate in 2023, but down from the high of 21.4% in 2020.
Boost Your Return-to-Home Rates
Some of the practices include: using Petco Love Lost for lost and found pet reports, providing microchip scanners to at least 50% of field officers who engage with the public, and waiving or reducing reclaim fees by at least 50%. 88% of reporting organizations said they planned to continue these efforts!
Return-to-home for cats remains relatively low, though these rates have increased for government shelters. Across the country, 72,000 cats were reunited with their owners in 2024 — an RTH rate of 3.2% for all cat intake.
Government agencies, which are responsible for the largest share of returns to home, were up 4.2% by volume in 2024.
Return-to-home rates increased for dogs and cats from 2023 to 2024 but are lower than their high in 2020 (dogs) and in 2022 (cats).
Transfers
For the second consecutive year, the number of dogs and cats transferred out of shelters has increased — and this is likely what helped save rates stay stable for shelters even with increased intake.
733,000 animals were transferred out of shelters in 2024.
In 2024, 733,000 animals were transferred out of shelters. This is a 7.5% increase over 2023, with substantial increases for both dogs and cats. The number of dogs transferred out of shelters increased by 7.1% and the number of cats transferred out was up 8.7%.
As would be expected, government agencies saw the largest increase in the percentage of animals transferred out, up 9.5% over the previous year. Dogs saw an increase of 12.1%, with an increase of 6.5% for cats.
Humane Society of South Coastal Georgia
In 2024, the Humane Society of South Coastal Georgia more than doubled its transfers in over the previous year — achieving an increased transfer rate of 114% and bringing in an additional 243 more pets (while increasing overall intake by 256 cats and dogs, and maintaining no-kill status).
Director of Marketing and Communications Staci White credits two chief changes that made this lifesaving possible — and both come down to making it easier to physically get pets from source shelters to the HSSCG’s location in Brunswick, Georgia.
“Recently, we have been fortunate to partner with facilities that can assist with transport. Their willingness and ability to transport to us has been a tremendous boon for both us and the animals,” Staci said. The Humane Society of South Coastal Georgia also raised funds for and purchased a transport vehicle, and have several volunteer transport drivers.
“Not only are we able to help more animals with transport partnerships, but we are also giving futures to animals who otherwise would not have one,” Staci said.
Improving transfer partnerships is a key strategy to increase lifesaving. These resources can help you grow your transfer program and make your pets appealing for transfer partners:
No-Kill by State
As of 2024, four states — Vermont, New Hampshire, Delaware and Rhode Island — have achieved no-kill, with every shelter in those states above a 90% save rate.
Many other states are close to achieving no-kill — with lifesaving gaps that can be closed by implementing and expanding lifesaving programs; building and growing partnerships; and using data to identify which pets are at risk and how to save them.
These eight states saved more than 90% of their pets, but still had shelters that have not yet hit the 90% benchmark:
- Montana
- North Dakota
- Connecticut
- Maine
- Oregon
- Idaho
- Minnesota
- Wyoming
These eight states were each less than 500 animals away from reaching no-kill in 2024:
States | # of Animals Away |
|---|---|
Montana | 40 |
North Dakota | 50 |
Maine | 150 |
Wyoming | 200 |
Connecticut | 200 |
Massachusetts | 300 |
Idaho | 450 |
Nebraska | 450 |
These six states showed the biggest decreases in number of cats and dogs killed since 2023:
States | # Decrease in animals Killed |
|---|---|
California | 3,700 |
North Carolina | 2,900 |
West Virginia | 1,800 |
Nevada | 1,300 |
Nebraska | 1,200 |
Virginia | 900 |
These eight states had the greatest percentage reduction in pets killed from 2023 to 2024:
States | % Reduction in pets killed |
|---|---|
Nebraska | 71.4% |
West Virginia | 61.2% |
Montana | 51.2% |
Wyoming | 41.8% |
Nevada | 40.0% |
North Dakota | 36.3% |
Connecticut | 20.9% |
Utah | 18.1% |
The Animal Foundation
The Animal Foundation reduced shelter killing by 44.3% and raised its save rate by over 6.5 points. This included expanding their community cat programs by 900%, with 1,716 more cats returned to their outdoor homes in 2024. The organization's return-to-field rate for cats grew to 21.2% in 2024 from just 3% the year before.
Communications Manager Kelsey Pizzi attributes these changes to increasing the budget, adding new staff — including overnight staff in the kitten nursery — and partnering with community organizations. Grant funding meant being able to buy more traps, “and provide homeowners with deterrents, keeping cats from coming back on their properties after being fixed and returned to their neighborhoods.”
“We’re excited to build on this success by continuing to track our data and share it with our team," Kelsey said. “Knowing that our efforts are saving more lives makes it all so rewarding!”
No-Kill Can Be Achieved in Every Shelter in Every State Through Tested Lifesaving Programs, Data, and Working Together
Millions of dogs and cats in U.S. shelters are being saved today because our partners rallied behind the effort to get every shelter in America to be no-kill. By putting this stake in the ground, and committing to it against all odds, we have all helped push the country forward further and faster and have made no-kill shelters the new normal.
Today we have more momentum than ever before to get every shelter to no-kill, and we know the way to get it done.
We know animal sheltering today is hard work. But we also know there are things that have already worked in a community just like yours that you can do right now to save more lives, and the Best Friends Network is here to support you!
Palms N Paws Animal Shelter
Palms N Paws Animal Shelter in Twentynine Palms, CA, increased its save rate by over 17 points between 2023 and 2024. Rick Boyd, animal control manager and shelter director, attributes much of this change to Shelter Pet Data Alliance's data comparison feature One Alliance — which Rick calls "a game changer."
"It helped us clearly see that adoptions were one of our biggest strengths, so we leaned into that by hosting more adoption events and experimenting with discounted adoption fees to increase placements," Rick said.
SPDA also "highlighted a major growth opportunity — transfer partnerships" — showing that similar shelters with higher lifesaving rates had strong networks for transferring animals out.
Palms N Paws used these insights in 2024 to increase adoptions by nearly 50 more pets, and, Rick said, to "set targeted 2025 goals focused on building more partnerships with rescue groups to save even more lives."
Learn more about Shelter Pet Data Alliance and the One Alliance feature, and see how this data can boost your lifesaving, too!
It all starts with looking at your data, identifying the animals who are at risk, and then putting proven strategies into action to save those pets. We’ve got tools and team members dedicated to help!
No-kill shelters already exist in almost every community in America. On average, there's a no-kill shelter less than 20 miles away from every shelter with a lifesaving gap.
If you are already a no-kill organization, you can help an organization in your own backyard get to no-kill through collaboration — visit our Pet Lifesaving Dashboard to see what organizations could benefit from your support.
Best Friends and its network of more than 5,000 shelters, rescues, and community partners have the reach and know-how. With your support, together we can Save Them All.
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Best Friends Animal Society has the most comprehensive and accurate dataset in the industry, providing key insights and analytics from more than 10,000 shelters and rescue groups across the United States, and sharing it in the most transparent way possible. This data is publicly available through our pet lifesaving dashboard down to the shelter level. Best Friends believes trusting the public with this level of data transparency is critical for a community to achieve no-kill. Our lifesaving dashboard is the ONLY centralized place where you can go see individual shelter data, including data that Best Friends actively sought out through open records requests and publicly accessible sources to provide the most complete picture possible.