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

US states by imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners)

Mississippi had the highest imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners) of 50 states in 2021, at 576 per 100,000 people. Massachusetts had the lowest, at 96 per 100,000 people. The median was 292 per 100,000 people and the figure for the United States was 350 per 100,000 people. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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Highest576Mississippi
Lowest96Massachusetts
Median29250 states
United States350History

Map of states, 2021

Alabama: 383 per 100,000 peopleAlaska: 213 per 100,000 peopleArizona: 454 per 100,000 peopleArkansas: 559 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia: 259 per 100,000 peopleColorado: 271 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut: 155 per 100,000 peopleDelaware: 276 per 100,000 peopleFlorida: 365 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia: 427 per 100,000 peopleHawaii: 180 per 100,000 peopleIdaho: 451 per 100,000 peopleIllinois: 229 per 100,000 peopleIndiana: 362 per 100,000 peopleIowa: 267 per 100,000 peopleKansas: 286 per 100,000 peopleKentucky: 412 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana: 566 per 100,000 peopleMaine: 107 per 100,000 peopleMaryland: 245 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts: 96 per 100,000 peopleMichigan: 321 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota: 140 per 100,000 peopleMississippi: 576 per 100,000 peopleMissouri: 374 per 100,000 peopleMontana: 387 per 100,000 peopleNebraska: 280 per 100,000 peopleNevada: 323 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire: 153 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey: 135 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico: 240 per 100,000 peopleNew York: 153 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina: 267 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota: 214 per 100,000 peopleOhio: 383 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma: 555 per 100,000 peopleOregon: 311 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania: 286 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island: 118 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina: 297 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota: 370 per 100,000 peopleTennessee: 314 per 100,000 peopleTexas: 442 per 100,000 peopleUtah: 176 per 100,000 peopleVermont: 134 per 100,000 peopleVirginia: 350 per 100,000 peopleWashington: 175 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia: 328 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin: 315 per 100,000 peopleWyoming: 366 per 100,000 people
  • Under 160
  • 160 to 250
  • 250 to 290
  • 290 to 360
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  • 410 and over
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per 100,000 people, 2021. 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, 2021

Mississippi: 576 per 100,000 peopleMississippi576Louisiana: 566 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana566Arkansas: 559 per 100,000 peopleArkansas559Oklahoma: 555 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma555Arizona: 454 per 100,000 peopleArizona454Idaho: 451 per 100,000 peopleIdaho451Texas: 442 per 100,000 peopleTexas442Georgia: 427 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia427Kentucky: 412 per 100,000 peopleKentucky412Montana: 387 per 100,000 peopleMontana387Alabama: 383 per 100,000 peopleAlabama383Ohio: 383 per 100,000 peopleOhio383Missouri: 374 per 100,000 peopleMissouri374South Dakota: 370 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota370Wyoming: 366 per 100,000 peopleWyoming366Florida: 365 per 100,000 peopleFlorida365Indiana: 362 per 100,000 peopleIndiana362Virginia: 350 per 100,000 peopleVirginia350West Virginia: 328 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia328Nevada: 323 per 100,000 peopleNevada323Michigan: 321 per 100,000 peopleMichigan321Wisconsin: 315 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin315Tennessee: 314 per 100,000 peopleTennessee314Oregon: 311 per 100,000 peopleOregon311South Carolina: 297 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina297Kansas: 286 per 100,000 peopleKansas286Pennsylvania: 286 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania286Nebraska: 280 per 100,000 peopleNebraska280Delaware: 276 per 100,000 peopleDelaware276Colorado: 271 per 100,000 peopleColorado271Iowa: 267 per 100,000 peopleIowa267North Carolina: 267 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina267California: 259 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia259Maryland: 245 per 100,000 peopleMaryland245New Mexico: 240 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico240Illinois: 229 per 100,000 peopleIllinois229North Dakota: 214 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota214Alaska: 213 per 100,000 peopleAlaska213Hawaii: 180 per 100,000 peopleHawaii180Utah: 176 per 100,000 peopleUtah176Washington: 175 per 100,000 peopleWashington175Connecticut: 155 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut155New Hampshire: 153 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire153New York: 153 per 100,000 peopleNew York153Minnesota: 140 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota140New Jersey: 135 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey135Vermont: 134 per 100,000 peopleVermont134Rhode Island: 118 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island118Maine: 107 per 100,000 peopleMaine107Massachusetts: 96 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts96Mississippi: 576 per 100,000 peopleMississippi576Louisiana: 566 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana566Arkansas: 559 per 100,000 peopleArkansas559Oklahoma: 555 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma555Arizona: 454 per 100,000 peopleArizona454Idaho: 451 per 100,000 peopleIdaho451Texas: 442 per 100,000 peopleTexas442Georgia: 427 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia427Kentucky: 412 per 100,000 peopleKentucky412Montana: 387 per 100,000 peopleMontana387Alabama: 383 per 100,000 peopleAlabama383Ohio: 383 per 100,000 peopleOhio383Missouri: 374 per 100,000 peopleMissouri374South Dakota: 370 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota370Wyoming: 366 per 100,000 peopleWyoming366Florida: 365 per 100,000 peopleFlorida365Indiana: 362 per 100,000 peopleIndiana362Virginia: 350 per 100,000 peopleVirginia350West Virginia: 328 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia328Nevada: 323 per 100,000 peopleNevada323Michigan: 321 per 100,000 peopleMichigan321Wisconsin: 315 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin315Tennessee: 314 per 100,000 peopleTennessee314Oregon: 311 per 100,000 peopleOregon311South Carolina: 297 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina297Kansas: 286 per 100,000 peopleKansas286Pennsylvania: 286 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania286Nebraska: 280 per 100,000 peopleNebraska280Delaware: 276 per 100,000 peopleDelaware276Colorado: 271 per 100,000 peopleColorado271Iowa: 267 per 100,000 peopleIowa267North Carolina: 267 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina267California: 259 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia259Maryland: 245 per 100,000 peopleMaryland245New Mexico: 240 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico240Illinois: 229 per 100,000 peopleIllinois229North Dakota: 214 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota214Alaska: 213 per 100,000 peopleAlaska213Hawaii: 180 per 100,000 peopleHawaii180Utah: 176 per 100,000 peopleUtah176Washington: 175 per 100,000 peopleWashington175Connecticut: 155 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut155New Hampshire: 153 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire153New York: 153 per 100,000 peopleNew York153Minnesota: 140 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota140New Jersey: 135 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey135Vermont: 134 per 100,000 peopleVermont134Rhode Island: 118 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island118Maine: 107 per 100,000 peopleMaine107Massachusetts: 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

RankStates2021
per 100,000 people		Change on 2020
1Mississippi576-10.1 pts
2Louisiana566-15.4 pts
3Arkansas559+27.3 pts
4Oklahoma555-6.3 pts
5Arizona454-59.3 pts
6Idaho451+59.2 pts
7Texas442-15.4 pts
8Georgia427-5.7 pts
9Kentucky412+0.3 pts
10Montana387+28.4 pts
11Alabama383-6.6 pts
11Ohio383+0.8 pts
13Missouri374-0.3 pts
14South Dakota370+6.2 pts
15Wyoming366+4.9 pts
16Florida365-8.8 pts
17Indiana362+1.2 pts
18Virginia350-18.6 pts
19West Virginia328-10.4 pts
20Nevada323-36.5 pts
21Michigan321-13.2 pts
22Wisconsin315-1.8 pts
23Tennessee314-12.5 pts
24Oregon311+10.6 pts
25South Carolina297-12.7 pts
26Kansas286-9.6 pts
26Pennsylvania286-17.1 pts
28Nebraska280+14 pts
29Delaware276-36.5 pts
30Colorado271-7.9 pts
31Iowa267+7.5 pts
31North Carolina267-8 pts
33California259+4.2 pts
34Maryland245-7.9 pts
35New Mexico240-16.6 pts
36Illinois229-4.6 pts
37North Dakota214+34.3 pts
38Alaska213-31.9 pts
39Hawaii180-9.4 pts
40Utah176+11.6 pts
41Washington175-28 pts
42Connecticut155-21.5 pts
43New Hampshire153-17 pts
43New York153-17.6 pts
45Minnesota140-4.3 pts
46New Jersey135-3.4 pts
47Vermont134-6.8 pts
48Rhode Island118-8.1 pts
49Maine107-11.4 pts
50Massachusetts96-4.8 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 2021 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), 2021) [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), 2021. 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=2021. 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), 2021. 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=2021.

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), 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/imprisonment-rate/us-states?period=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_us_states_by_imprisonment_2021,
  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), 2021}},
  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=2021. 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), 2021
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=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/imprisonment-rate/us-states?period=2021.
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 576 per 100,000 people in 2021, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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

Massachusetts, with 96 per 100,000 people in 2021.

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 2021 and are not ranked.

US states: more rankings