macOS' Finder says I have 24 files and directories in my home directory. 'ls -lah | wc -l' says I have 172. That's a lot to keep hidden from me. :)

Isn't that the expected behaviour? If hidden files/directories are not displayed (which I assume they aren't), why include them in the count? After all, your command only includes them, because you explicitly tell ls to do so.

@3141 You're correct, I just thought it was interesting how macOS presents a clean and organized list in the Finder, but behind the scenes it's a bigger and messier list than a casual user might realize.