Female imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners)

Sentenced female prisoners (sentence of more than 1 year) under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities on December 31, per 100,000 female residents. Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Prisoner Statistics, with Census Bureau resident population estimates for January 1 of the following year.

Counts only prisoners sentenced to more than 1 year, so it differs from the prison population rate used for other countries (prison_population_rate), which counts everyone held in prison, pre-trial detainees included. Prisoners are counted by the jurisdiction with legal authority over them, wherever they are held, on December 31. The national figure adds the federal system to the states. Local jails are not included, except in Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Rhode Island and Vermont, which run one combined prison and jail system. Felons sentenced in the District of Columbia have been the responsibility of the Federal Bureau of Prisons since 2001, so the District has values only up to 2000.

Key facts

Figures last updated on 2026-10-12.

Rankings

US states by female imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners), 2023

Top 15. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Idaho: 152 per 100,000 peopleIdaho152Montana: 133 per 100,000 peopleMontana133South Dakota: 125 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota125Oklahoma: 107 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma107Arkansas: 98 per 100,000 peopleArkansas98Kentucky: 96 per 100,000 peopleKentucky96Mississippi: 95 per 100,000 peopleMississippi95Wyoming: 90 per 100,000 peopleWyoming90Arizona: 79 per 100,000 peopleArizona79Texas: 75 per 100,000 peopleTexas75West Virginia: 70 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia70Indiana: 68 per 100,000 peopleIndiana68Louisiana: 67 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana67Missouri: 67 per 100,000 peopleMissouri67Tennessee: 65 per 100,000 peopleTennessee65
per 100,000 people. Source: BJS, National Prisoner Statistics: imprisonment rate of sentenced female prisoners per 100,000 female U.S. residents (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking of states

Places with data

Published for countries, regions and states.

Countries

Regions and states

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