Data / Rankings / Imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners) / US states

US states by imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners), 2023

Mississippi had the highest imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners) of 50 states in 2023, at 652 per 100,000 people. Massachusetts had the lowest, at 96 per 100,000 people. The median was 300 per 100,000 people and the figure for the United States was 360 per 100,000 people. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Highest652Mississippi
Lowest96Massachusetts
Median30050 states
United States360History

All states, 2023

Mississippi: 652 per 100,000 peopleMississippi652Louisiana: 617 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana617Arkansas: 596 per 100,000 peopleArkansas596Oklahoma: 545 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma545Idaho: 490 per 100,000 peopleIdaho490Texas: 477 per 100,000 peopleTexas477Georgia: 449 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia449Arizona: 448 per 100,000 peopleArizona448Montana: 438 per 100,000 peopleMontana438Kentucky: 423 per 100,000 peopleKentucky423South Dakota: 405 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota405Alabama: 394 per 100,000 peopleAlabama394Ohio: 394 per 100,000 peopleOhio394Missouri: 385 per 100,000 peopleMissouri385Florida: 382 per 100,000 peopleFlorida382Wyoming: 378 per 100,000 peopleWyoming378Indiana: 351 per 100,000 peopleIndiana351Wisconsin: 346 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin346Tennessee: 341 per 100,000 peopleTennessee341Michigan: 328 per 100,000 peopleMichigan328West Virginia: 328 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia328Nevada: 327 per 100,000 peopleNevada327Virginia: 314 per 100,000 peopleVirginia314Kansas: 305 per 100,000 peopleKansas305Pennsylvania: 300 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania300South Carolina: 299 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina299Nebraska: 295 per 100,000 peopleNebraska295Oregon: 291 per 100,000 peopleOregon291Colorado: 290 per 100,000 peopleColorado290Delaware: 275 per 100,000 peopleDelaware275North Carolina: 275 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina275Iowa: 274 per 100,000 peopleIowa274Maryland: 261 per 100,000 peopleMaryland261New Mexico: 259 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico259California: 246 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia246North Dakota: 240 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota240Illinois: 238 per 100,000 peopleIllinois238Alaska: 202 per 100,000 peopleAlaska202Utah: 186 per 100,000 peopleUtah186Connecticut: 183 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut183Washington: 181 per 100,000 peopleWashington181New York: 167 per 100,000 peopleNew York167Hawaii: 165 per 100,000 peopleHawaii165Minnesota: 152 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota152New Hampshire: 151 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire151New Jersey: 125 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey125Vermont: 124 per 100,000 peopleVermont124Rhode Island: 122 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island122Maine: 119 per 100,000 peopleMaine119Massachusetts: 96 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts96Mississippi: 652 per 100,000 peopleMississippi652Louisiana: 617 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana617Arkansas: 596 per 100,000 peopleArkansas596Oklahoma: 545 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma545Idaho: 490 per 100,000 peopleIdaho490Texas: 477 per 100,000 peopleTexas477Georgia: 449 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia449Arizona: 448 per 100,000 peopleArizona448Montana: 438 per 100,000 peopleMontana438Kentucky: 423 per 100,000 peopleKentucky423South Dakota: 405 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota405Alabama: 394 per 100,000 peopleAlabama394Ohio: 394 per 100,000 peopleOhio394Missouri: 385 per 100,000 peopleMissouri385Florida: 382 per 100,000 peopleFlorida382Wyoming: 378 per 100,000 peopleWyoming378Indiana: 351 per 100,000 peopleIndiana351Wisconsin: 346 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin346Tennessee: 341 per 100,000 peopleTennessee341Michigan: 328 per 100,000 peopleMichigan328West Virginia: 328 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia328Nevada: 327 per 100,000 peopleNevada327Virginia: 314 per 100,000 peopleVirginia314Kansas: 305 per 100,000 peopleKansas305Pennsylvania: 300 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania300South Carolina: 299 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina299Nebraska: 295 per 100,000 peopleNebraska295Oregon: 291 per 100,000 peopleOregon291Colorado: 290 per 100,000 peopleColorado290Delaware: 275 per 100,000 peopleDelaware275North Carolina: 275 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina275Iowa: 274 per 100,000 peopleIowa274Maryland: 261 per 100,000 peopleMaryland261New Mexico: 259 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico259California: 246 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia246North Dakota: 240 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota240Illinois: 238 per 100,000 peopleIllinois238Alaska: 202 per 100,000 peopleAlaska202Utah: 186 per 100,000 peopleUtah186Connecticut: 183 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut183Washington: 181 per 100,000 peopleWashington181New York: 167 per 100,000 peopleNew York167Hawaii: 165 per 100,000 peopleHawaii165Minnesota: 152 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota152New Hampshire: 151 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire151New Jersey: 125 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey125Vermont: 124 per 100,000 peopleVermont124Rhode Island: 122 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island122Maine: 119 per 100,000 peopleMaine119Massachusetts: 96 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts96
per 100,000 people. Source: BJS, National Prisoner Statistics: imprisonment rate of sentenced prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankStates2023
per 100,000 people		Change on 2022
1Mississippi652-9 pts
2Louisiana617+21 pts
3Arkansas596+22 pts
4Oklahoma545-18 pts
5Idaho490+29 pts
6Texas477+24 pts
7Georgia449+13 pts
8Arizona448+2 pts
9Montana438+22 pts
10Kentucky423-14 pts
11South Dakota405+34 pts
12Alabama394+4 pts
12Ohio394+9 pts
14Missouri385+4 pts
15Florida382+5 pts
16Wyoming378+8 pts
17Indiana351+2 pts
18Wisconsin346+35 pts
19Tennessee341+6 pts
20Michigan328+5 pts
20West Virginia328-3 pts
22Nevada327+4 pts
23Virginia314+2 pts
24Kansas305+13 pts
25Pennsylvania300+8 pts
26South Carolina299-3 pts
27Nebraska295+12 pts
28Oregon291-4 pts
29Colorado290+2 pts
30Delaware275+3 pts
30North Carolina275+7 pts
32Iowa274+10 pts
33Maryland261+9 pts
34New Mexico259+28 pts
35California246-4 pts
36North Dakota240+10 pts
37Illinois238+2 pts
38Alaska202-3 pts
39Utah186+9 pts
40Connecticut183+12 pts
41Washington181+7 pts
42New York167+8 pts
43Hawaii165-9 pts
44Minnesota152+1 pts
45New Hampshire151+2 pts
46New Jersey125-11 pts
47Vermont124-2 pts
48Rhode Island122-2 pts
49Maine119+12 pts
50Massachusetts96+2 pts

Other periods

About this ranking

Sentenced prisoners (sentence of more than 1 year) under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities on December 31, per 100,000 residents of all ages. 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 2023 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 prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents, total (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 prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables) (US states by imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners), 2023) [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 prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables), US states by imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners), 2023. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 20 Feb. 2026, https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/imprisonment-rate/us-states. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2026. National Prisoner Statistics: imprisonment rate of sentenced prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables). US states by imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners), 2023. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/imprisonment-rate/us-states.

Harvard

Bureau of Justice Statistics (2026) National Prisoner Statistics: imprisonment rate of sentenced prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables), US states by imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners), 2023 [Dataset]. Available at: https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/imprisonment-rate/us-states (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_us_states_by_imprisonment_2023,
  author = {{Bureau of Justice Statistics}},
  title = {{National Prisoner Statistics: imprisonment rate of sentenced prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables): US states by imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners), 2023}},
  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/imprisonment-rate/us-states. Publisher attribution: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Prisoner Statistics. National Prisoner Statistics: imprisonment rate of sentenced prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents, total (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 prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables): US states by imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners), 2023
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/imprisonment-rate/us-states
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/imprisonment-rate/us-states.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Prisoner Statistics. National Prisoner Statistics: imprisonment rate of sentenced prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents, total (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 imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners)?

Mississippi, with 652 per 100,000 people in 2023, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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

Massachusetts, with 96 per 100,000 people in 2023.

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 prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 1 states have no value for 2023 and are not ranked.

US states: more rankings