Data / Rankings / Female imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners) / US states

US states by female imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners)

Oklahoma had the highest female imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners) of 50 states in 2012, at 127 per 100,000 people. Massachusetts had the lowest, at 15 per 100,000 people. The median was 57 per 100,000 people and the figure for the United States was 63 per 100,000 people. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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Highest127Oklahoma
Lowest15Massachusetts
Median5750 states
United States63History

Map of states, 2012

Alabama: 101 per 100,000 peopleAlaska: 81 per 100,000 peopleArizona: 101 per 100,000 peopleArkansas: 70 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia: 31 per 100,000 peopleColorado: 66 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut: 35 per 100,000 peopleDelaware: 46 per 100,000 peopleFlorida: 70 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia: 68 per 100,000 peopleHawaii: 55 per 100,000 peopleIdaho: 126 per 100,000 peopleIllinois: 42 per 100,000 peopleIndiana: 77 per 100,000 peopleIowa: 49 per 100,000 peopleKansas: 46 per 100,000 peopleKentucky: 114 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana: 101 per 100,000 peopleMaine: 20 per 100,000 peopleMaryland: 29 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts: 15 per 100,000 peopleMichigan: 39 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota: 26 per 100,000 peopleMississippi: 100 per 100,000 peopleMissouri: 88 per 100,000 peopleMontana: 80 per 100,000 peopleNebraska: 36 per 100,000 peopleNevada: 75 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire: 31 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey: 23 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico: 59 per 100,000 peopleNew York: 22 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina: 43 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota: 49 per 100,000 peopleOhio: 65 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma: 127 per 100,000 peopleOregon: 62 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania: 41 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island: 15 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina: 51 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota: 101 per 100,000 peopleTennessee: 71 per 100,000 peopleTexas: 88 per 100,000 peopleUtah: 45 per 100,000 peopleVermont: 23 per 100,000 peopleVirginia: 69 per 100,000 peopleWashington: 38 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia: 84 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin: 38 per 100,000 peopleWyoming: 84 per 100,000 people
  • Under 31
  • 31 to 42
  • 42 to 57
  • 57 to 71
  • 71 to 88
  • 88 and over
  • No data
per 100,000 people, 2012. Hatched areas have no value for this period. 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). Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2012

Oklahoma: 127 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma127Idaho: 126 per 100,000 peopleIdaho126Kentucky: 114 per 100,000 peopleKentucky114Louisiana: 101 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana101Alabama: 101 per 100,000 peopleAlabama101South Dakota: 101 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota101Arizona: 101 per 100,000 peopleArizona101Mississippi: 100 per 100,000 peopleMississippi100Texas: 88 per 100,000 peopleTexas88Missouri: 88 per 100,000 peopleMissouri88West Virginia: 84 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia84Wyoming: 84 per 100,000 peopleWyoming84Alaska: 81 per 100,000 peopleAlaska81Montana: 80 per 100,000 peopleMontana80Indiana: 77 per 100,000 peopleIndiana77Nevada: 75 per 100,000 peopleNevada75Tennessee: 71 per 100,000 peopleTennessee71Florida: 70 per 100,000 peopleFlorida70Arkansas: 70 per 100,000 peopleArkansas70Virginia: 69 per 100,000 peopleVirginia69Georgia: 68 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia68Colorado: 66 per 100,000 peopleColorado66Ohio: 65 per 100,000 peopleOhio65Oregon: 62 per 100,000 peopleOregon62New Mexico: 59 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico59Hawaii: 55 per 100,000 peopleHawaii55South Carolina: 51 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina51Iowa: 49 per 100,000 peopleIowa49North Dakota: 49 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota49Kansas: 46 per 100,000 peopleKansas46Delaware: 46 per 100,000 peopleDelaware46Utah: 45 per 100,000 peopleUtah45North Carolina: 43 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina43Illinois: 42 per 100,000 peopleIllinois42Pennsylvania: 41 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania41Michigan: 39 per 100,000 peopleMichigan39Washington: 38 per 100,000 peopleWashington38Wisconsin: 38 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin38Nebraska: 36 per 100,000 peopleNebraska36Connecticut: 35 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut35California: 31 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia31New Hampshire: 31 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire31Maryland: 29 per 100,000 peopleMaryland29Minnesota: 26 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota26New Jersey: 23 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey23Vermont: 23 per 100,000 peopleVermont23New York: 22 per 100,000 peopleNew York22Maine: 20 per 100,000 peopleMaine20Rhode Island: 15 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island15Massachusetts: 15 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts15Oklahoma: 127 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma127Idaho: 126 per 100,000 peopleIdaho126Kentucky: 114 per 100,000 peopleKentucky114Louisiana: 101 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana101Alabama: 101 per 100,000 peopleAlabama101South Dakota: 101 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota101Arizona: 101 per 100,000 peopleArizona101Mississippi: 100 per 100,000 peopleMississippi100Texas: 88 per 100,000 peopleTexas88Missouri: 88 per 100,000 peopleMissouri88West Virginia: 84 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia84Wyoming: 84 per 100,000 peopleWyoming84Alaska: 81 per 100,000 peopleAlaska81Montana: 80 per 100,000 peopleMontana80Indiana: 77 per 100,000 peopleIndiana77Nevada: 75 per 100,000 peopleNevada75Tennessee: 71 per 100,000 peopleTennessee71Florida: 70 per 100,000 peopleFlorida70Arkansas: 70 per 100,000 peopleArkansas70Virginia: 69 per 100,000 peopleVirginia69Georgia: 68 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia68Colorado: 66 per 100,000 peopleColorado66Ohio: 65 per 100,000 peopleOhio65Oregon: 62 per 100,000 peopleOregon62New Mexico: 59 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico59Hawaii: 55 per 100,000 peopleHawaii55South Carolina: 51 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina51Iowa: 49 per 100,000 peopleIowa49North Dakota: 49 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota49Kansas: 46 per 100,000 peopleKansas46Delaware: 46 per 100,000 peopleDelaware46Utah: 45 per 100,000 peopleUtah45North Carolina: 43 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina43Illinois: 42 per 100,000 peopleIllinois42Pennsylvania: 41 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania41Michigan: 39 per 100,000 peopleMichigan39Washington: 38 per 100,000 peopleWashington38Wisconsin: 38 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin38Nebraska: 36 per 100,000 peopleNebraska36Connecticut: 35 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut35California: 31 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia31New Hampshire: 31 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire31Maryland: 29 per 100,000 peopleMaryland29Minnesota: 26 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota26New Jersey: 23 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey23Vermont: 23 per 100,000 peopleVermont23New York: 22 per 100,000 peopleNew York22Maine: 20 per 100,000 peopleMaine20Rhode Island: 15 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island15Massachusetts: 15 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts15
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

RankStates2012
per 100,000 people		Change on 2011
1Oklahoma127+5.8 pts
2Idaho126+14.6 pts
3Kentucky114+7.4 pts
4Louisiana101-0.4 pts
5Alabama101+2.6 pts
6South Dakota101-4.8 pts
7Arizona101+0.8 pts
8Mississippi100+4.4 pts
9Texas88-5.9 pts
10Missouri88+4 pts
11West Virginia84+4.7 pts
12Wyoming84-1.6 pts
13Alaska81-8.2 pts
14Montana80-1.5 pts
15Indiana77+1.8 pts
16Nevada75+4.2 pts
17Tennessee71-2 pts
18Florida70-2.4 pts
19Arkansas70-3.7 pts
20Virginia69+1.5 pts
21Georgia68-5.9 pts
22Colorado66-12.4 pts
23Ohio65-0.6 pts
24Oregon62+5.2 pts
25New Mexico59-0.6 pts
26Hawaii55-0.7 pts
27South Carolina51-2.7 pts
28Iowa49+2.9 pts
29North Dakota49+6.1 pts
30Kansas46-0.6 pts
31Delaware46+5.5 pts
32Utah45+1.3 pts
33North Carolina43+0.9 pts
34Illinois42-1.8 pts
35Pennsylvania41-0.6 pts
36Michigan39+1.6 pts
37Washington38-1.9 pts
38Wisconsin38-1.7 pts
39Nebraska36-1.7 pts
40Connecticut35-2.1 pts
41California31-10.9 pts
42New Hampshire31+5.5 pts
43Maryland29-2.8 pts
44Minnesota26+2.3 pts
45New Jersey23-0.3 pts
46Vermont23-9.1 pts
47New York22-0.7 pts
48Maine20-1 pts
49Rhode Island15+0.4 pts
50Massachusetts15-1.9 pts

Other periods

About this ranking

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.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the states are compared on one definition. 1 states with data in other periods have no value for 2012 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Prisoner Statistics. 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). https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2026). 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) (US states by female imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners), 2012) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables

MLA 9

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), US states by female imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners), 2012. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 20 Feb. 2026, https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/female-imprisonment-rate/us-states?period=2012. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2026. 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). US states by female imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners), 2012. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/female-imprisonment-rate/us-states?period=2012.

Harvard

Bureau of Justice Statistics (2026) 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), US states by female imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners), 2012 [Dataset]. Available at: https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/female-imprisonment-rate/us-states?period=2012 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_us_states_by_female_2012,
  author = {{Bureau of Justice Statistics}},
  title = {{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): US states by female imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners), 2012}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/female-imprisonment-rate/us-states?period=2012. Publisher attribution: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Prisoner Statistics. 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). https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - Bureau of Justice Statistics
TI  - 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): US states by female imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners), 2012
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/02/20
PB  - Bureau of Justice Statistics
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/female-imprisonment-rate/us-states?period=2012
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/female-imprisonment-rate/us-states?period=2012.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Prisoner Statistics. 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). https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Questions

Which state has the highest female imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners)?

Oklahoma, with 127 per 100,000 people in 2012, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Which state has the lowest female imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners)?

Massachusetts, with 15 per 100,000 people in 2012.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 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. 1 states have no value for 2012 and are not ranked.

US states: more rankings