US states by prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction, 2023

Texas had the highest prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction of 50 states in 2023, at 149,264. Vermont had the lowest, at 1,334. The median was 15,339 and the figure for the United States was 1.25 million. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Highest149,264Texas

Lowest1,334Vermont

Median15,33950 states

United States1,254,224History

Map of states, 2023

Under 5,000
5,000 to 9,000
9,000 to 15K
15K to 24K
24K to 32K
32K and over
No data

count, 2023. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: BJS, National Prisoner Statistics: prisoners under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables). Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2023

count. Source: BJS, National Prisoner Statistics: prisoners under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2023 count	Change on 2022
1	Texas	149,264	+6.9%
2	California	95,962	-1.7%
3	Florida	87,207	+3%
4	Georgia	50,425	+4.1%
5	Ohio	46,530	+2.7%
6	Pennsylvania	38,860	+2.5%
7	Arizona	34,473	+1.8%
8	Michigan	32,986	+1.9%
9	New York	32,583	+4.6%
10	North Carolina	30,685	+3.6%
11	Illinois	29,828	+0.7%
12	Louisiana	28,186	+3.3%
13	Virginia	27,442	+1%
14	Alabama	27,181	+2.9%
15	Indiana	25,088	-0.8%
16	Tennessee	24,408	+2.8%
17	Missouri	24,223	+1.3%
18	Wisconsin	22,418	+7.4%
19	Oklahoma	22,283	-2.9%
20	Mississippi	19,526	-1.4%
21	Kentucky	19,175	-2.9%
22	Arkansas	18,503	+5%
23	Colorado	17,459	+1.7%
24	South Carolina	16,453	+0.8%
25	Maryland	16,236	+3.8%
26	Washington	14,441	+4.9%
27	Oregon	12,316	-1.6%
28	New Jersey	11,675	-7.8%
29	Connecticut	11,099	+5.6%
30	Nevada	10,463	+1.5%
31	Idaho	9,829	+7.9%
32	Kansas	9,125	+4.8%
33	Iowa	8,831	+4.2%
34	Minnesota	8,725	+1%
35	Utah	6,402	+6.5%
36	Massachusetts	6,002	0%
37	Nebraska	5,931	+5%
38	West Virginia	5,800	-1.2%
39	New Mexico	5,586	+12.4%
40	Montana	4,985	+6.3%
41	Delaware	4,867	-1.8%
42	Alaska	4,478	-6.3%
43	Hawaii	3,942	-5%
44	South Dakota	3,764	+9.3%
45	Rhode Island	2,519	+5.3%
46	Wyoming	2,212	+2.7%
47	New Hampshire	2,115	+1.4%
48	North Dakota	1,899	+4.5%
49	Maine	1,873	+11.8%
50	Vermont	1,334	-1.9%

Other periods

About this ranking

Prisoners of any sentence status under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities on December 31. Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Prisoner Statistics.

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: prisoners under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities, 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: prisoners under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables) (US states by prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction, 2023) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables

MLA 9

National Prisoner Statistics: prisoners under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables), US states by prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction, 2023. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 20 Feb. 2026, https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/prisoners-under-jurisdiction/us-states. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2026. National Prisoner Statistics: prisoners under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables). US states by prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction, 2023. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/prisoners-under-jurisdiction/us-states.

Harvard

Bureau of Justice Statistics (2026) National Prisoner Statistics: prisoners under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables), US states by prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction, 2023 [Dataset]. Available at: https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/prisoners-under-jurisdiction/us-states (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{bureau_us_states_by_prisoners_2023,
  author = {{Bureau of Justice Statistics}},
  title = {{National Prisoner Statistics: prisoners under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables): US states by prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction, 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/prisoners-under-jurisdiction/us-states. Publisher attribution: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Prisoner Statistics. National Prisoner Statistics: prisoners under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities, 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: prisoners under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables): US states by prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction, 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/prisoners-under-jurisdiction/us-states
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/prisoners-under-jurisdiction/us-states.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Prisoner Statistics. National Prisoner Statistics: prisoners under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities, 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 prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction?

Texas, with 149,264 in 2023, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Which state has the lowest prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction?

Vermont, with 1,334 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: prisoners under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities, total (CSAT quick table and Prisoners in YYYY statistical tables). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 1 states have no value for 2023 and are not ranked.