The officials said diplomats were being evacuated from the country on Tuesday and the embassy will suspend operations until conditions improve.
Yemen has been in crisis for months with Iran-linked Shiite Houthi rebels besieging the capital and then taking control. The US officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the closure publicly on the record.
The US Embassy in Yemen is the third in an Arab country that has closed since the turmoil of the Arab spring began in December 2010. The other two were embassies in Damascus, Syria and Tripoli, Libya.