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

US states by imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners)

Louisiana had the highest imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners) of 50 states in 2013, at 847 per 100,000 people. Maine had the lowest, at 148 per 100,000 people. The median was 380 per 100,000 people and the figure for the United States was 477 per 100,000 people. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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Highest847Louisiana
Lowest148Maine
Median38050 states
United States477History

Map of states, 2013

Alabama: 647 per 100,000 peopleAlaska: 364 per 100,000 peopleArizona: 584 per 100,000 peopleArkansas: 579 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia: 352 per 100,000 peopleColorado: 383 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut: 338 per 100,000 peopleDelaware: 442 per 100,000 peopleFlorida: 522 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia: 532 per 100,000 peopleHawaii: 256 per 100,000 peopleIdaho: 507 per 100,000 peopleIllinois: 377 per 100,000 peopleIndiana: 454 per 100,000 peopleIowa: 279 per 100,000 peopleKansas: 328 per 100,000 peopleKentucky: 461 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana: 847 per 100,000 peopleMaine: 148 per 100,000 peopleMaryland: 352 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts: 192 per 100,000 peopleMichigan: 441 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota: 189 per 100,000 peopleMississippi: 693 per 100,000 peopleMissouri: 521 per 100,000 peopleMontana: 357 per 100,000 peopleNebraska: 263 per 100,000 peopleNevada: 459 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire: 215 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey: 252 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico: 320 per 100,000 peopleNew York: 271 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina: 355 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota: 206 per 100,000 peopleOhio: 446 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma: 703 per 100,000 peopleOregon: 384 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania: 400 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island: 193 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina: 446 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota: 432 per 100,000 peopleTennessee: 437 per 100,000 peopleTexas: 600 per 100,000 peopleUtah: 242 per 100,000 peopleVermont: 251 per 100,000 peopleVirginia: 446 per 100,000 peopleWashington: 256 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia: 368 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin: 370 per 100,000 peopleWyoming: 396 per 100,000 people
  • Under 250
  • 250 to 340
  • 340 to 380
  • 380 to 440
  • 440 to 520
  • 520 and over
  • No data
per 100,000 people, 2013. Hatched areas have no value for this period. 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). Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2013

Louisiana: 847 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana847Oklahoma: 703 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma703Mississippi: 693 per 100,000 peopleMississippi693Alabama: 647 per 100,000 peopleAlabama647Texas: 600 per 100,000 peopleTexas600Arizona: 584 per 100,000 peopleArizona584Arkansas: 579 per 100,000 peopleArkansas579Georgia: 532 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia532Florida: 522 per 100,000 peopleFlorida522Missouri: 521 per 100,000 peopleMissouri521Idaho: 507 per 100,000 peopleIdaho507Kentucky: 461 per 100,000 peopleKentucky461Nevada: 459 per 100,000 peopleNevada459Indiana: 454 per 100,000 peopleIndiana454Ohio: 446 per 100,000 peopleOhio446South Carolina: 446 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina446Virginia: 446 per 100,000 peopleVirginia446Delaware: 442 per 100,000 peopleDelaware442Michigan: 441 per 100,000 peopleMichigan441Tennessee: 437 per 100,000 peopleTennessee437South Dakota: 432 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota432Pennsylvania: 400 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania400Wyoming: 396 per 100,000 peopleWyoming396Oregon: 384 per 100,000 peopleOregon384Colorado: 383 per 100,000 peopleColorado383Illinois: 377 per 100,000 peopleIllinois377Wisconsin: 370 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin370West Virginia: 368 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia368Alaska: 364 per 100,000 peopleAlaska364Montana: 357 per 100,000 peopleMontana357North Carolina: 355 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina355Maryland: 352 per 100,000 peopleMaryland352California: 352 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia352Connecticut: 338 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut338Kansas: 328 per 100,000 peopleKansas328New Mexico: 320 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico320Iowa: 279 per 100,000 peopleIowa279New York: 271 per 100,000 peopleNew York271Nebraska: 263 per 100,000 peopleNebraska263Hawaii: 256 per 100,000 peopleHawaii256Washington: 256 per 100,000 peopleWashington256New Jersey: 252 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey252Vermont: 251 per 100,000 peopleVermont251Utah: 242 per 100,000 peopleUtah242New Hampshire: 215 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire215North Dakota: 206 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota206Rhode Island: 193 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island193Massachusetts: 192 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts192Minnesota: 189 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota189Maine: 148 per 100,000 peopleMaine148Louisiana: 847 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana847Oklahoma: 703 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma703Mississippi: 693 per 100,000 peopleMississippi693Alabama: 647 per 100,000 peopleAlabama647Texas: 600 per 100,000 peopleTexas600Arizona: 584 per 100,000 peopleArizona584Arkansas: 579 per 100,000 peopleArkansas579Georgia: 532 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia532Florida: 522 per 100,000 peopleFlorida522Missouri: 521 per 100,000 peopleMissouri521Idaho: 507 per 100,000 peopleIdaho507Kentucky: 461 per 100,000 peopleKentucky461Nevada: 459 per 100,000 peopleNevada459Indiana: 454 per 100,000 peopleIndiana454Ohio: 446 per 100,000 peopleOhio446South Carolina: 446 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina446Virginia: 446 per 100,000 peopleVirginia446Delaware: 442 per 100,000 peopleDelaware442Michigan: 441 per 100,000 peopleMichigan441Tennessee: 437 per 100,000 peopleTennessee437South Dakota: 432 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota432Pennsylvania: 400 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania400Wyoming: 396 per 100,000 peopleWyoming396Oregon: 384 per 100,000 peopleOregon384Colorado: 383 per 100,000 peopleColorado383Illinois: 377 per 100,000 peopleIllinois377Wisconsin: 370 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin370West Virginia: 368 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia368Alaska: 364 per 100,000 peopleAlaska364Montana: 357 per 100,000 peopleMontana357North Carolina: 355 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina355Maryland: 352 per 100,000 peopleMaryland352California: 352 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia352Connecticut: 338 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut338Kansas: 328 per 100,000 peopleKansas328New Mexico: 320 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico320Iowa: 279 per 100,000 peopleIowa279New York: 271 per 100,000 peopleNew York271Nebraska: 263 per 100,000 peopleNebraska263Hawaii: 256 per 100,000 peopleHawaii256Washington: 256 per 100,000 peopleWashington256New Jersey: 252 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey252Vermont: 251 per 100,000 peopleVermont251Utah: 242 per 100,000 peopleUtah242New Hampshire: 215 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire215North Dakota: 206 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota206Rhode Island: 193 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island193Massachusetts: 192 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts192Minnesota: 189 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota189Maine: 148 per 100,000 peopleMaine148
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

RankStates2013
per 100,000 people		Change on 2012
1Louisiana847-23.3 pts
2Oklahoma703+54.9 pts
3Mississippi693-23.9 pts
4Alabama647-3.1 pts
5Texas600-1.7 pts
6Arizona584+1.5 pts
7Arkansas579+84.8 pts
8Georgia532-9.8 pts
9Florida522-2.9 pts
10Missouri521+2.8 pts
11Idaho507+8.6 pts
12Kentucky461-27.9 pts
13Nevada459-1.2 pts
14Indiana454+14.2 pts
15Ohio446+6.1 pts
16South Carolina446-11.5 pts
17Virginia446-5.2 pts
18Delaware442-6.6 pts
19Michigan441+0.4 pts
20Tennessee437-1.1 pts
21South Dakota432-2.2 pts
22Pennsylvania400+2.3 pts
23Wyoming396+16.2 pts
24Oregon384+6 pts
25Colorado383-8.9 pts
26Illinois377-5.3 pts
27Wisconsin370+13.2 pts
28West Virginia368-10.7 pts
29Alaska364-41.4 pts
30Montana357-0.6 pts
31North Carolina355-1.8 pts
32Maryland352-8.1 pts
33California352+0.8 pts
34Connecticut338+5.4 pts
35Kansas328+3.1 pts
36New Mexico320+5.6 pts
37Iowa279-2.6 pts
38New York271-4.7 pts
39Nebraska263+16.2 pts
40Hawaii256-17.4 pts
41Washington256+6.7 pts
42New Jersey252-9.8 pts
43Vermont251+8.9 pts
44Utah242-0.2 pts
45New Hampshire215+3.8 pts
46North Dakota206-7.5 pts
47Rhode Island193+3.2 pts
48Massachusetts192-7.1 pts
49Minnesota189+4.9 pts
50Maine148+2.9 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 2013 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), 2013) [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), 2013. 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?period=2013. 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), 2013. 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?period=2013.

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), 2013 [Dataset]. Available at: https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/imprisonment-rate/us-states?period=2013 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_us_states_by_imprisonment_2013,
  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), 2013}},
  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?period=2013. 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), 2013
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?period=2013
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/imprisonment-rate/us-states?period=2013.
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)?

Louisiana, with 847 per 100,000 people in 2013, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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

Maine, with 148 per 100,000 people in 2013.

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 2013 and are not ranked.

US states: more rankings