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

US states by male imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners)

Louisiana had the highest male imprisonment rate (sentenced prisoners) of 50 states in 2017, at 1,393 per 100,000 people. Maine had the lowest, at 251 per 100,000 people. The median was 685 per 100,000 people and the figure for the United States was 831 per 100,000 people. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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Highest1,393Louisiana
Lowest251Maine
Median68550 states
United States831History

Map of states, 2017

Alabama: 930 per 100,000 peopleAlaska: 474 per 100,000 peopleArizona: 1,034 per 100,000 peopleArkansas: 1,124 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia: 632 per 100,000 peopleColorado: 629 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut: 524 per 100,000 peopleDelaware: 834 per 100,000 peopleFlorida: 888 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia: 969 per 100,000 peopleHawaii: 443 per 100,000 peopleIdaho: 777 per 100,000 peopleIllinois: 624 per 100,000 peopleIndiana: 716 per 100,000 peopleIowa: 523 per 100,000 peopleKansas: 613 per 100,000 peopleKentucky: 933 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana: 1,393 per 100,000 peopleMaine: 251 per 100,000 peopleMaryland: 629 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts: 300 per 100,000 peopleMichigan: 763 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota: 358 per 100,000 peopleMississippi: 1,186 per 100,000 peopleMissouri: 972 per 100,000 peopleMontana: 616 per 100,000 peopleNebraska: 504 per 100,000 peopleNevada: 826 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire: 376 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey: 433 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico: 619 per 100,000 peopleNew York: 496 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina: 650 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota: 390 per 100,000 peopleOhio: 822 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma: 1,262 per 100,000 peopleOregon: 671 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania: 722 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island: 338 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina: 744 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota: 772 per 100,000 peopleTennessee: 790 per 100,000 peopleTexas: 1,022 per 100,000 peopleUtah: 375 per 100,000 peopleVermont: 331 per 100,000 peopleVirginia: 814 per 100,000 peopleWashington: 476 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia: 699 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin: 733 per 100,000 peopleWyoming: 739 per 100,000 people
  • Under 430
  • 430 to 610
  • 610 to 690
  • 690 to 780
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  • 930 and over
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per 100,000 people, 2017. Hatched areas have no value for this period. 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). Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2017

Louisiana: 1,393 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana1,393Oklahoma: 1,262 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma1,262Mississippi: 1,186 per 100,000 peopleMississippi1,186Arkansas: 1,124 per 100,000 peopleArkansas1,124Arizona: 1,034 per 100,000 peopleArizona1,034Texas: 1,022 per 100,000 peopleTexas1,022Missouri: 972 per 100,000 peopleMissouri972Georgia: 969 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia969Kentucky: 933 per 100,000 peopleKentucky933Alabama: 930 per 100,000 peopleAlabama930Florida: 888 per 100,000 peopleFlorida888Delaware: 834 per 100,000 peopleDelaware834Nevada: 826 per 100,000 peopleNevada826Ohio: 822 per 100,000 peopleOhio822Virginia: 814 per 100,000 peopleVirginia814Tennessee: 790 per 100,000 peopleTennessee790Idaho: 777 per 100,000 peopleIdaho777South Dakota: 772 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota772Michigan: 763 per 100,000 peopleMichigan763South Carolina: 744 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina744Wyoming: 739 per 100,000 peopleWyoming739Wisconsin: 733 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin733Pennsylvania: 722 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania722Indiana: 716 per 100,000 peopleIndiana716West Virginia: 699 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia699Oregon: 671 per 100,000 peopleOregon671North Carolina: 650 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina650California: 632 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia632Colorado: 629 per 100,000 peopleColorado629Maryland: 629 per 100,000 peopleMaryland629Illinois: 624 per 100,000 peopleIllinois624New Mexico: 619 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico619Montana: 616 per 100,000 peopleMontana616Kansas: 613 per 100,000 peopleKansas613Connecticut: 524 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut524Iowa: 523 per 100,000 peopleIowa523Nebraska: 504 per 100,000 peopleNebraska504New York: 496 per 100,000 peopleNew York496Washington: 476 per 100,000 peopleWashington476Alaska: 474 per 100,000 peopleAlaska474Hawaii: 443 per 100,000 peopleHawaii443New Jersey: 433 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey433North Dakota: 390 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota390New Hampshire: 376 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire376Utah: 375 per 100,000 peopleUtah375Minnesota: 358 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota358Rhode Island: 338 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island338Vermont: 331 per 100,000 peopleVermont331Massachusetts: 300 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts300Maine: 251 per 100,000 peopleMaine251Louisiana: 1,393 per 100,000 peopleLouisiana1,393Oklahoma: 1,262 per 100,000 peopleOklahoma1,262Mississippi: 1,186 per 100,000 peopleMississippi1,186Arkansas: 1,124 per 100,000 peopleArkansas1,124Arizona: 1,034 per 100,000 peopleArizona1,034Texas: 1,022 per 100,000 peopleTexas1,022Missouri: 972 per 100,000 peopleMissouri972Georgia: 969 per 100,000 peopleGeorgia969Kentucky: 933 per 100,000 peopleKentucky933Alabama: 930 per 100,000 peopleAlabama930Florida: 888 per 100,000 peopleFlorida888Delaware: 834 per 100,000 peopleDelaware834Nevada: 826 per 100,000 peopleNevada826Ohio: 822 per 100,000 peopleOhio822Virginia: 814 per 100,000 peopleVirginia814Tennessee: 790 per 100,000 peopleTennessee790Idaho: 777 per 100,000 peopleIdaho777South Dakota: 772 per 100,000 peopleSouth Dakota772Michigan: 763 per 100,000 peopleMichigan763South Carolina: 744 per 100,000 peopleSouth Carolina744Wyoming: 739 per 100,000 peopleWyoming739Wisconsin: 733 per 100,000 peopleWisconsin733Pennsylvania: 722 per 100,000 peoplePennsylvania722Indiana: 716 per 100,000 peopleIndiana716West Virginia: 699 per 100,000 peopleWest Virginia699Oregon: 671 per 100,000 peopleOregon671North Carolina: 650 per 100,000 peopleNorth Carolina650California: 632 per 100,000 peopleCalifornia632Colorado: 629 per 100,000 peopleColorado629Maryland: 629 per 100,000 peopleMaryland629Illinois: 624 per 100,000 peopleIllinois624New Mexico: 619 per 100,000 peopleNew Mexico619Montana: 616 per 100,000 peopleMontana616Kansas: 613 per 100,000 peopleKansas613Connecticut: 524 per 100,000 peopleConnecticut524Iowa: 523 per 100,000 peopleIowa523Nebraska: 504 per 100,000 peopleNebraska504New York: 496 per 100,000 peopleNew York496Washington: 476 per 100,000 peopleWashington476Alaska: 474 per 100,000 peopleAlaska474Hawaii: 443 per 100,000 peopleHawaii443New Jersey: 433 per 100,000 peopleNew Jersey433North Dakota: 390 per 100,000 peopleNorth Dakota390New Hampshire: 376 per 100,000 peopleNew Hampshire376Utah: 375 per 100,000 peopleUtah375Minnesota: 358 per 100,000 peopleMinnesota358Rhode Island: 338 per 100,000 peopleRhode Island338Vermont: 331 per 100,000 peopleVermont331Massachusetts: 300 per 100,000 peopleMassachusetts300Maine: 251 per 100,000 peopleMaine251
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

RankStates2017
per 100,000 people		Change on 2016
1Louisiana1,393-75.9 pts
2Oklahoma1,262-82 pts
3Mississippi1,186-16.5 pts
4Arkansas1,124+30.2 pts
5Arizona1,034-38.8 pts
6Texas1,022-16.1 pts
7Missouri972+0.4 pts
8Georgia969-8.2 pts
9Kentucky933+16.8 pts
10Alabama930-155.4 pts
11Florida888-26.6 pts
12Delaware834-5.2 pts
13Nevada826-6.8 pts
14Ohio822-12.1 pts
15Virginia814-21.7 pts
16Tennessee790+8.2 pts
17Idaho777+23.3 pts
18South Dakota772+11.6 pts
19Michigan763-31.1 pts
20South Carolina744-38.9 pts
21Wyoming739+36.6 pts
22Wisconsin733+12 pts
23Pennsylvania722-14.7 pts
24Indiana716+5.2 pts
25West Virginia699+2.3 pts
26Oregon671-7.5 pts
27North Carolina650+4.8 pts
28California632+3.3 pts
29Colorado629-11.5 pts
30Maryland629-20.3 pts
31Illinois624-27.2 pts
32New Mexico619+12.2 pts
33Montana616-31 pts
34Kansas613+4.1 pts
35Connecticut524-35.4 pts
36Iowa523-1.1 pts
37Nebraska504-1.7 pts
38New York496-6.1 pts
39Washington476+2.7 pts
40Alaska474-37.3 pts
41Hawaii443-13.6 pts
42New Jersey433+1.1 pts
43North Dakota390-14.5 pts
44New Hampshire376-14.2 pts
45Utah375+2.6 pts
46Minnesota358+3.1 pts
47Rhode Island338-43 pts
48Vermont331-41.3 pts
49Massachusetts300-6.9 pts
50Maine251-5.4 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 2017 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), 2017) [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), 2017. 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?period=2017. 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), 2017. 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?period=2017.

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), 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/male-imprisonment-rate/us-states?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_us_states_by_male_2017,
  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), 2017}},
  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?period=2017. 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), 2017
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?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/male-imprisonment-rate/us-states?period=2017.
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)?

Louisiana, with 1,393 per 100,000 people in 2017, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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

Maine, with 251 per 100,000 people in 2017.

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 2017 and are not ranked.

US states: more rankings