The scale, nationally
Domestic violence against women is not a rare event. It is a widespread, well-documented pattern, and the federal government's own survey data makes the scale of it hard to look away from.
A note on that last figure: the underlying homicide data comes from the National Violent Death Reporting System covering 27 states in 2015. It is the most recent figure the CDC cites for this comparison, and we treat it as directional rather than a precise current national rate.
In Texas
The Texas Council on Family Violence also cites a widely repeated estimate that nearly 1 in 3 Texans will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. We could not locate a currently published methodology behind that particular figure, so we include it here as a general statement of prevalence rather than a precise measurement — consistent in direction with the national numbers above, but not one we'd want to overstate.
The link between abuse, homelessness, and addiction
For many of the women who come to Mercy Manor, domestic violence isn't a separate chapter from addiction and homelessness — it's the chapter before both.
Survivors of intimate partner violence are more likely to experience depression, post-traumatic stress, and substance use — including binge drinking and smoking — than women who have not experienced it (CDC). The trauma of an abusive home does not end the day a woman leaves it; for many, it becomes part of why she starts, or returns to, drinking or drug use as a way to cope.
Housing tells a similar story. According to the American Bar Association, 38% of domestic violence victims become homeless at some point, and — per the American Bar Association — more than 90% of homeless women have experienced severe physical or sexual abuse. That figure draws on several underlying studies rather than one single count, so it's best read as directional — but the pattern it describes is a consistent one: for a great many women, abuse is the first domino, and homelessness and addiction are what fall after it. See the fuller picture on women's mental health & trauma.
This is why Mercy Manor doesn't treat abuse, homelessness, and addiction as three separate intake categories. They are, more often than not, one story told from three different starting points. Read more about how we walk with women after an abusive home →
The gap
Half of the women who asked for a bed didn't get one
In 2024, 50% of Texas domestic-violence survivors who sought shelter were turned away solely because there was no space — even as 66,892 Texans received services that year (Texas Council on Family Violence, Honoring Texas Victims 2024).
The shortage isn't unique to Texas. On a single day — September 10, 2025 — domestic violence programs across the country logged 13,018 requests for help that went unmet, even as 1,707 programs served 84,146 victims and their children that same day. Fifty-eight percent of the unmet requests were for shelter or housing, meaning the most common point of failure in the system is the most basic one: a bed (NNEDV, 20th Annual Domestic Violence Counts, 2026).
The cost of inaction
Domestic violence is also, in the coldest terms, expensive — to the women who survive it and to the systems that absorb the aftermath.
Two dating notes: the per-victim cost figures come from 2018 research and are not adjusted for inflation, and the lost-workdays figure is drawn from a 2003 CDC report analyzing 1995 survey data. Both remain the most current figures the federal government publishes for these questions, so we include them here, dated, rather than leave them out.
What this means
A woman leaving an abusive home rarely needs just a night's shelter; she needs a year long enough to become safe, stable, and no longer dependent on the relationship that hurt her. That is why Mercy Manor holds abuse, homelessness, and addiction together in one program instead of treating them as separate intakes — for most of the women we'll serve, they already are one story. A year, specifically, is not an arbitrary length: it's what the evidence behind lasting recovery actually requires.
About $6,000 funds a woman's entire year at Mercy Manor; $500 a month covers one woman's room, food, counseling, and case management. Give toward a year of safety →
Help a woman leave for goodWomen's Homelessness in America
How abuse, and addiction, and a housing shortage combine into an invisible kind of homelessness.
Read more → The State of the NeedWomen and Addiction in America
The treatment gap, and why it's widest for the women who need it most.
Read more → The State of the NeedWomen, Incarceration & Reentry in America
What happens after release, and why so few doors are open on the other side.
Read more → Our ProgramWhy a Year
The evidence behind Mercy Manor's one-year residential model.
Read more →If you or someone you love is in danger right now, please don't wait on research to make a decision. See if it's time to get help, or find local Hood County resources. In an emergency, call 911.
Sources & methodology
Every statistic on this page is drawn from a named government agency or established research and advocacy organization, verified against the original publication, and date-qualified. Where a figure carries a caveat about its age or methodology, we've said so in the text rather than let it stand as more precise than it is.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "About Intimate Partner Violence," updated February 2026, citing the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey — cdc.gov
- American Bar Association, "Five Facts About Domestic Violence & Homelessness" — americanbar.org
- Texas Council on Family Violence, Honoring Texas Victims, 2024 Report — tcfv.org (PDF)
- Texas Council on Family Violence, 2026 — tcfv.org
- National Network to End Domestic Violence, 20th Annual Domestic Violence Counts Report, 2026 — nnedv.org
- Peterson C, et al., 2018, cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — cdc.gov
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2003 report analyzing 1995 National Violence Against Women Survey data — stacks.cdc.gov (PDF)
Last reviewed: July 2026. Every figure is dated and linked to its source; we refresh as new data publishes.
Frequently asked questions
How common is domestic violence against women in the United States?
More than 1 in 3 women in the U.S. — nearly 43.5 million — have experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their life, and nearly 1 in 4 (22.5%) have experienced physical violence by an intimate partner (CDC, updated February 2026, citing the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey). More than half of female homicide victims are killed by a current or former male intimate partner, though that figure comes from 2015 National Violent Death Reporting System data covering 27 states, so we treat it as directional rather than a precise current national rate (CDC, citing NVDRS).
How is domestic violence connected to homelessness and addiction?
The two are closely linked. Survivors of intimate partner violence are more likely to experience depression, PTSD, and substance use such as binge drinking (CDC). On the housing side, 38% of domestic violence victims become homeless at some point (American Bar Association), and more than 90% of homeless women have experienced severe physical or sexual abuse (American Bar Association). For many women, abuse is what starts the chain that leads to homelessness and addiction.
How many domestic violence survivors are turned away from Texas shelters?
In 2024, half — 50% — of Texas survivors who sought shelter were turned away solely for lack of capacity, even as 66,892 Texans received services that year (Texas Council on Family Violence, Honoring Texas Victims 2024).
What does domestic violence cost beyond the immediate harm?
The CDC estimates the lifetime economic cost of intimate partner violence in the U.S. at $3.6 trillion, including roughly $103,767 in lifetime costs per female victim — both figures from 2018 research, not adjusted for inflation (CDC, citing Peterson et al., 2018). U.S. women also lose an estimated 8 million paid workdays each year because of intimate partner violence, per a 2003 CDC report analyzing 1995 survey data.
If someone is in danger right now, where should they go?
Please don't wait. Call 911 in an emergency, or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. If you're in or near Hood County, Texas, see our local resources, or visit our page on knowing if it's time to get help.