We track the adoption of rescue cats across the US every day. This page brings together 294,466 adoptions recorded by rescues and shelters since 2018, including 28,842 in the last 12 months, to show which cats find homes fastest, when people adopt, and where.

Key findings

30% longerBlack cats wait 30% longer to be adopted than orange cats: a median of 48 days, against 37.
1.9× as longCats with special needs wait 1.9 times as long for a home: 82 days, against 43 for other cats.
20% below 2020Recorded cat adoptions peaked in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, and 2025's were 20% lower.
DecemberDecember is the busiest month for cat adoptions, with 70% more than April, the quietest.
47% kittensKittens made up 47% of adoptions in 2025, and they find homes fastest: a median of 41 days.
LunaLuna is the most common name among adopted cats, ahead of Charlie and Poppy.
44 daysThe typical rescue cat waits 44 days from being listed to being adopted.

Cat adoptions by year

Recorded adoptions rose 35% from 2018 to a peak of 39,944 in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. In 2025, rescues recorded 31,804.

Adoptions recorded each year. *2026 so far, to October 24, 2026.

The busiest months for cat adoption

Adoptions follow the seasons. Kitten season fills shelters through the summer, so July and August are busy, and adoptions peak again in December. Spring is the quietest time: an average April sees 41% fewer adoptions than December.

Average adoptions recorded in each month, 2019–2025.

Adoptions recorded each month since 2019. The latest months rise as rescues finish recording adoptions.

Which cats wait longest for a home?

From being listed to being adopted, the typical cat waits 44 days. But it depends on the cat. These are median waits for the 26,871 adoptions in the last 12 months with both dates recorded.

By coat color

Black48 days
Black and white (tuxedo)48 days
Brown tabby46 days
Tortoiseshell or calico46 days
Gray43 days
Orange37 days
White or cream37 days

By age

Kittens41 days
Young cats48 days
Adult cats50 days
Senior cats47 days

Special needs, sex and coat length

Special needs82 days
No special needs43 days
Females46 days
Males42 days
Short-haired45 days
Medium-haired38 days
Long-haired41 days

The most popular names for adopted cats

The most common names among the 28,842 cats adopted in the last 12 months.

Luna 52
Charlie 46
Poppy 44
Willow 43
Pepper 42
Daisy 41
Lucy 41
Max 41
Sunny 38
Milo 38
Oliver 34
Jasper 34
Stormy 33
Violet 33
Leo 33
Raven 33
Peanut 33
Penny 32
Mango 31
Felix 31

Where cats are being adopted

The metro areas where rescues recorded the most adoptions in the last 12 months. These counts reflect the rescues and shelters that record adoptions in our data, so a busy area with few of them can look quiet.

Philadelphia, PA 2,802
Dallas, TX 1,725
Oakland, CA 1,087
Detroit, MI 990
Orlando, FL 784
Chicago, IL 750
Lexington, KY 666
New York City, NY 651
Cape Coral, FL 560
Minneapolis, MN 507
Phoenix, AZ 503
Newark, NJ 434
San Jose, CA 430
Sacramento, CA 418
Miami, FL 372

Waiting times vary by state too. Among states with enough recorded adoptions, cats found homes fastest in Wisconsin (20 days), Massachusetts (21 days), Arizona (23 days), and waited longest in Tennessee (84 days) and Louisiana (72 days).

State	Adoptions recorded, 2025	Change on 2024	Median wait	Cats waiting now
Florida	4,959	+2%	38 days	1,881
Texas	3,120	+10%	50 days	2,637
California	2,714	-2%	58 days	4,809
New Jersey	2,549	-10%	54 days	739
Illinois	2,005	+3%	67 days	763
Michigan	1,546	-4%	61 days	323
Delaware	1,412	+10%	23 days	308
Minnesota	1,175	+5%	55 days	394
Ohio	1,143	+20%	41 days	625
Wisconsin	1,126	+7%	20 days	148
New York	1,123	+42%	45 days	714
Virginia	1,109	-25%	51 days	546
Kentucky	832	-7%	42 days	271
Arizona	822	-22%	23 days	342
Pennsylvania	616	-8%	38 days	690
Iowa	484	+2%	46 days	118
Tennessee	484	-3%	84 days	384
North Carolina	474	+5%	38 days	564
Indiana	385	+21%	41 days	669
Missouri	384	-9%	55 days	410
New Hampshire	346	-6%	51 days	24
New Mexico	320	-5%	56 days	120
Massachusetts	294	-13%	21 days	154
Alabama	239	0%	37 days	271
Louisiana	222	+14%	72 days	50
Colorado	212	+5%	–	225
West Virginia	179	-62%	50 days	78
Georgia	167	-15%	39 days	374
Oregon	141	-5%	–	96
South Carolina	101	-20%	–	288
Alaska	89	-65%	–	30
Washington	86	-25%	–	86
North Dakota	75	–	–	26
Arkansas	61	–	–	133
Kansas	60	-80%	–	30
Mississippi	58	–	–	43
Maryland	49	–	–	363
Connecticut	24	-82%	–	80
Wyoming	16	–	–	54
Oklahoma	14	–	–	98
Nebraska	1	–	–	3
District of Columbia	0	–	–	155
Idaho	0	–	–	41
Montana	0	–	–	18
Nevada	0	–	–	73
Rhode Island	0	–	–	47
South Dakota	0	–	–	11
Utah	0	–	–	209
Vermont	0	–	–	28

Cats waiting for homes right now

Today, 20,543 cats listed in the last six months are waiting at US rescues and shelters in our data. Find one near you.

How we worked this out

These figures come from adoption records that US rescues and shelters publish alongside their pet listings, which we analyze every day. An adoption counts in the month and year of the adoption date the rescue recorded; adoptions without a recorded date are left out. Waiting times run from the day a cat was listed to the day it was adopted, using the median (the middle value) so a few very long stays don't skew them; we leave out waits over two years, which are usually old listings reused. Metro areas group each rescue with the largest city within 30 miles. Coat colors are the rescue's first listed color.

The totals cover the 256 or so rescues and shelters that record adoption dates, not every adoption in the US, so they're best for comparing years, seasons and types of cat rather than as a national count. Rescues sometimes record adoptions weeks late, so recent months grow as records come in.

Use this data

You're welcome to use these figures with a link to this page. Please cite them as:

Cats of the Day, "US Cat Adoption Statistics", https://catsoftheday.com/cat-adoption-statistics/ (updated October 24, 2026).

Download the tables (CSV):

Updated weekly. Last updated October 24, 2026.