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

US states by male imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners), 2023

Mississippi had the highest male imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners) of 50 states in 2023, at 1,243 per 100,000 people. Massachusetts had the lowest, at 189 per 100,000 people. The median was 565 per 100,000 people and the figure for the United States was 676 per 100,000 people. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Highest1,243Mississippi
Lowest189Massachusetts
Median56550 states
United States676History

All states, 2023

Mississippi: 1,243 per 100,000 peopleMississippi1,243Louisiana: 1,193 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana1,193Arkansas: 1,107 per 100,000 peopleArkansas1,107Oklahoma: 988 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma988Texas: 881 per 100,000 peopleTexas881Georgia: 855 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia855Idaho: 823 per 100,000 peopleIdaho823Arizona: 819 per 100,000 peopleArizona819Kentucky: 755 per 100,000 peopleKentucky755Alabama: 754 per 100,000 peopleAlabama754Montana: 735 per 100,000 peopleMontana735Ohio: 733 per 100,000 peopleOhio733Florida: 726 per 100,000 peopleFlorida726Missouri: 711 per 100,000 peopleMissouri711South Dakota: 675 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota675Wyoming: 653 per 100,000 peopleWyoming653Wisconsin: 647 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin647Indiana: 637 per 100,000 peopleIndiana637Michigan: 629 per 100,000 peopleMichigan629Tennessee: 626 per 100,000 peopleTennessee626Nevada: 595 per 100,000 peopleNevada595Virginia: 592 per 100,000 peopleVirginia592West Virginia: 587 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia587Pennsylvania: 575 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania575South Carolina: 571 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina571Kansas: 558 per 100,000 peopleKansas558Delaware: 551 per 100,000 peopleDelaware551Nebraska: 548 per 100,000 peopleNebraska548Oregon: 541 per 100,000 peopleOregon541Colorado: 526 per 100,000 peopleColorado526North Carolina: 518 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina518Maryland: 516 per 100,000 peopleMaryland516Iowa: 502 per 100,000 peopleIowa502California: 474 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia474New Mexico: 471 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico471Illinois: 457 per 100,000 peopleIllinois457North Dakota: 408 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota408Alaska: 367 per 100,000 peopleAlaska367Connecticut: 352 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut352Utah: 340 per 100,000 peopleUtah340Washington: 338 per 100,000 peopleWashington338New York: 328 per 100,000 peopleNew York328Hawaii: 300 per 100,000 peopleHawaii300Minnesota: 282 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota282New Hampshire: 281 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire281New Jersey: 244 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey244Rhode Island: 242 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island242Vermont: 237 per 100,000 peopleVermont237Maine: 217 per 100,000 peopleMaine217Massachusetts: 189 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts189
per 100,000 people. Source: BJS, National Prisoner Statistics: imprisonment rate of sentenced male prisoners per 100,000 male U.S. residents (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankStates2023
per 100,000 people		Change on 2022
1Mississippi1,243-15 pts
2Louisiana1,193+38 pts
3Arkansas1,107+37 pts
4Oklahoma988-35 pts
5Texas881+45 pts
6Georgia855+22 pts
7Idaho823+37 pts
8Arizona819+4 pts
9Kentucky755-24 pts
10Alabama754+4 pts
11Montana735+30 pts
12Ohio733+16 pts
13Florida726+8 pts
14Missouri711+9 pts
15South Dakota675+55 pts
16Wyoming653+14 pts
17Wisconsin647+64 pts
18Indiana637+1 pts
19Michigan629+11 pts
20Tennessee626+7 pts
21Nevada595+5 pts
22Virginia592+3 pts
23West Virginia587-8 pts
24Pennsylvania575+15 pts
25South Carolina571-7 pts
26Kansas558+23 pts
27Delaware551+6 pts
28Nebraska548+21 pts
29Oregon541-9 pts
30Colorado526+3 pts
31North Carolina518+9 pts
32Maryland516+16 pts
33Iowa502+21 pts
34California474-7 pts
35New Mexico471+50 pts
36Illinois457+4 pts
37North Dakota408+17 pts
38Alaska367-4 pts
39Connecticut352+22 pts
40Utah340+17 pts
41Washington338+12 pts
42New York328+15 pts
43Hawaii300-17 pts
44Minnesota282+1 pts
45New Hampshire281+5 pts
46New Jersey244-24 pts
47Rhode Island242-3 pts
48Vermont237-1 pts
49Maine217+20 pts
50Massachusetts189+4 pts

Other periods

About this ranking

Sentenced male prisoners (sentence of more than 1 year) under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities on December 31, per 100,000 male 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 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 male prisoners per 100,000 male 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 male prisoners per 100,000 male U.S. residents (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables) (US states by male 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 male prisoners per 100,000 male U.S. residents (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables), US states by male 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/male-imprisonment-rate/us-states. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2026. National Prisoner Statistics: imprisonment rate of sentenced male prisoners per 100,000 male U.S. residents (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables). US states by male 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/male-imprisonment-rate/us-states.

Harvard

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

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_us_states_by_male_2023,
  author = {{Bureau of Justice Statistics}},
  title = {{National Prisoner Statistics: imprisonment rate of sentenced male prisoners per 100,000 male U.S. residents (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables): US states by male 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/male-imprisonment-rate/us-states. Publisher attribution: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Prisoner Statistics. National Prisoner Statistics: imprisonment rate of sentenced male prisoners per 100,000 male 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 male prisoners per 100,000 male U.S. residents (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables): US states by male 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/male-imprisonment-rate/us-states
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/male-imprisonment-rate/us-states.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Prisoner Statistics. National Prisoner Statistics: imprisonment rate of sentenced male prisoners per 100,000 male 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 male imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners)?

Mississippi, with 1,243 per 100,000 people in 2023, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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

Massachusetts, with 189 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 male prisoners per 100,000 male U.S. residents (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