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 2019, at 678 per 100,000 people. Massachusetts had the lowest, at 133 per 100,000 people. The median was 354 per 100,000 people and the figure for the United States was 419 per 100,000 people. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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Highest678Louisiana
Lowest133Massachusetts
Median35450 states
United States419History

Map of states, 2019

Alabama: 419 per 100,000 peopleAlaska: 243 per 100,000 peopleArizona: 556 per 100,000 peopleArkansas: 585 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia: 310 per 100,000 peopleColorado: 342 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut: 246 per 100,000 peopleDelaware: 380 per 100,000 peopleFlorida: 444 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia: 507 per 100,000 peopleHawaii: 215 per 100,000 peopleIdaho: 474 per 100,000 peopleIllinois: 303 per 100,000 peopleIndiana: 400 per 100,000 peopleIowa: 293 per 100,000 peopleKansas: 342 per 100,000 peopleKentucky: 515 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana: 678 per 100,000 peopleMaine: 146 per 100,000 peopleMaryland: 305 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts: 133 per 100,000 peopleMichigan: 381 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota: 177 per 100,000 peopleMississippi: 636 per 100,000 peopleMissouri: 423 per 100,000 peopleMontana: 439 per 100,000 peopleNebraska: 289 per 100,000 peopleNevada: 412 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire: 197 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey: 209 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico: 315 per 100,000 peopleNew York: 224 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina: 313 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota: 231 per 100,000 peopleOhio: 430 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma: 621 per 100,000 peopleOregon: 353 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania: 355 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island: 156 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina: 352 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota: 426 per 100,000 peopleTennessee: 384 per 100,000 peopleTexas: 529 per 100,000 peopleUtah: 207 per 100,000 peopleVermont: 182 per 100,000 peopleVirginia: 421 per 100,000 peopleWashington: 250 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia: 380 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin: 378 per 100,000 peopleWyoming: 426 per 100,000 people
  • Under 220
  • 220 to 300
  • 300 to 350
  • 350 to 420
  • 420 to 470
  • 470 and over
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per 100,000 people, 2019. 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, 2019

Louisiana: 678 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana678Mississippi: 636 per 100,000 peopleMississippi636Oklahoma: 621 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma621Arkansas: 585 per 100,000 peopleArkansas585Arizona: 556 per 100,000 peopleArizona556Texas: 529 per 100,000 peopleTexas529Kentucky: 515 per 100,000 peopleKentucky515Georgia: 507 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia507Idaho: 474 per 100,000 peopleIdaho474Florida: 444 per 100,000 peopleFlorida444Montana: 439 per 100,000 peopleMontana439Ohio: 430 per 100,000 peopleOhio430South Dakota: 426 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota426Wyoming: 426 per 100,000 peopleWyoming426Missouri: 423 per 100,000 peopleMissouri423Virginia: 421 per 100,000 peopleVirginia421Alabama: 419 per 100,000 peopleAlabama419Nevada: 412 per 100,000 peopleNevada412Indiana: 400 per 100,000 peopleIndiana400Tennessee: 384 per 100,000 peopleTennessee384Michigan: 381 per 100,000 peopleMichigan381Delaware: 380 per 100,000 peopleDelaware380West Virginia: 380 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia380Wisconsin: 378 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin378Pennsylvania: 355 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania355Oregon: 353 per 100,000 peopleOregon353South Carolina: 352 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina352Colorado: 342 per 100,000 peopleColorado342Kansas: 342 per 100,000 peopleKansas342New Mexico: 315 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico315North Carolina: 313 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina313California: 310 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia310Maryland: 305 per 100,000 peopleMaryland305Illinois: 303 per 100,000 peopleIllinois303Iowa: 293 per 100,000 peopleIowa293Nebraska: 289 per 100,000 peopleNebraska289Washington: 250 per 100,000 peopleWashington250Connecticut: 246 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut246Alaska: 243 per 100,000 peopleAlaska243North Dakota: 231 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota231New York: 224 per 100,000 peopleNew York224Hawaii: 215 per 100,000 peopleHawaii215New Jersey: 209 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey209Utah: 207 per 100,000 peopleUtah207New Hampshire: 197 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire197Vermont: 182 per 100,000 peopleVermont182Minnesota: 177 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota177Rhode Island: 156 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island156Maine: 146 per 100,000 peopleMaine146Massachusetts: 133 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts133Louisiana: 678 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana678Mississippi: 636 per 100,000 peopleMississippi636Oklahoma: 621 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma621Arkansas: 585 per 100,000 peopleArkansas585Arizona: 556 per 100,000 peopleArizona556Texas: 529 per 100,000 peopleTexas529Kentucky: 515 per 100,000 peopleKentucky515Georgia: 507 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia507Idaho: 474 per 100,000 peopleIdaho474Florida: 444 per 100,000 peopleFlorida444Montana: 439 per 100,000 peopleMontana439Ohio: 430 per 100,000 peopleOhio430South Dakota: 426 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota426Wyoming: 426 per 100,000 peopleWyoming426Missouri: 423 per 100,000 peopleMissouri423Virginia: 421 per 100,000 peopleVirginia421Alabama: 419 per 100,000 peopleAlabama419Nevada: 412 per 100,000 peopleNevada412Indiana: 400 per 100,000 peopleIndiana400Tennessee: 384 per 100,000 peopleTennessee384Michigan: 381 per 100,000 peopleMichigan381Delaware: 380 per 100,000 peopleDelaware380West Virginia: 380 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia380Wisconsin: 378 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin378Pennsylvania: 355 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania355Oregon: 353 per 100,000 peopleOregon353South Carolina: 352 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina352Colorado: 342 per 100,000 peopleColorado342Kansas: 342 per 100,000 peopleKansas342New Mexico: 315 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico315North Carolina: 313 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina313California: 310 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia310Maryland: 305 per 100,000 peopleMaryland305Illinois: 303 per 100,000 peopleIllinois303Iowa: 293 per 100,000 peopleIowa293Nebraska: 289 per 100,000 peopleNebraska289Washington: 250 per 100,000 peopleWashington250Connecticut: 246 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut246Alaska: 243 per 100,000 peopleAlaska243North Dakota: 231 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota231New York: 224 per 100,000 peopleNew York224Hawaii: 215 per 100,000 peopleHawaii215New Jersey: 209 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey209Utah: 207 per 100,000 peopleUtah207New Hampshire: 197 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire197Vermont: 182 per 100,000 peopleVermont182Minnesota: 177 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota177Rhode Island: 156 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island156Maine: 146 per 100,000 peopleMaine146Massachusetts: 133 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts133
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

RankStates2019
per 100,000 people		Change on 2018
1Louisiana678-16.7 pts
2Mississippi636+8.9 pts
3Oklahoma621-52.6 pts
4Arkansas585-5.3 pts
5Arizona556-3.7 pts
6Texas529-21.3 pts
7Kentucky515-9.2 pts
8Georgia507+5.1 pts
9Idaho474+29.3 pts
10Florida444-12.7 pts
11Montana439+85.4 pts
12Ohio430-1.5 pts
13South Dakota426-20.6 pts
14Wyoming426-13.5 pts
15Missouri423-71.9 pts
16Virginia421-9.6 pts
17Alabama419+0.6 pts
18Nevada412-34.7 pts
19Indiana400-0.1 pts
20Tennessee384-3.1 pts
21Michigan381-6.9 pts
22Delaware380-30.8 pts
23West Virginia380+2.9 pts
24Wisconsin378-14.1 pts
25Pennsylvania355-11.4 pts
26Oregon353-9.9 pts
27South Carolina352-13.3 pts
28Colorado342-11.8 pts
29Kansas342-0 pts
30New Mexico315-15.9 pts
31North Carolina313-11.7 pts
32California310-12.2 pts
33Maryland305-5.3 pts
34Illinois303-11.5 pts
35Iowa293-5.5 pts
36Nebraska289+8.6 pts
37Washington250-5.9 pts
38Connecticut246-6.9 pts
39Alaska243-21.2 pts
40North Dakota231+11.6 pts
41New York224-15.1 pts
42Hawaii215-15.1 pts
43New Jersey209-8.6 pts
44Utah207-2.4 pts
45New Hampshire197-3.4 pts
46Vermont182-5.7 pts
47Minnesota177-3 pts
48Rhode Island156-1.3 pts
49Maine146+10.8 pts
50Massachusetts133-12.8 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 2019 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), 2019) [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), 2019. 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=2019. 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), 2019. 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=2019.

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), 2019 [Dataset]. Available at: https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/imprisonment-rate/us-states?period=2019 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_us_states_by_imprisonment_2019,
  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), 2019}},
  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=2019. 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), 2019
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=2019
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/imprisonment-rate/us-states?period=2019.
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 678 per 100,000 people in 2019, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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

Massachusetts, with 133 per 100,000 people in 2019.

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 2019 and are not ranked.

US states: more rankings