US states by prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction

Texas had the highest prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction of 50 states in 2015, at 163,909. Vermont had the lowest, at 1,750. The median was 18,598 and the figure for the United States was 1.53 million. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Highest163,909Texas

Lowest1,750Vermont

Median18,59850 states

United States1,526,603History

Map of states, 2015

Under 5,000
5,000 to 9,000
9,000 to 19K
19K to 28K
28K to 43K
43K and over
No data

count, 2015. 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, 2015

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	2015 count	Change on 2014
1	Texas	163,909	-1.3%
2	California	129,593	-4.8%
3	Florida	101,424	-1.4%
4	Ohio	52,233	+1.4%
5	Georgia	52,193	-1.4%
6	New York	51,727	-1.5%
7	Pennsylvania	49,858	-1.6%
8	Illinois	46,240	-4.2%
9	Arizona	42,719	+1.1%
10	Michigan	42,628	-1.8%
11	Virginia	38,403	+2.3%
12	North Carolina	36,617	-1.3%
13	Louisiana	36,377	-4.3%
14	Missouri	32,330	+1.2%
15	Alabama	30,810	-3%
16	Oklahoma	28,547	+3.2%
17	Tennessee	28,172	-2.1%
18	Indiana	27,355	-6.5%
19	Wisconsin	22,975	+1.7%
20	Kentucky	21,701	+0.2%
21	South Carolina	20,929	-2.2%
22	Maryland	20,764	-1.2%
23	New Jersey	20,489	-5.1%
24	Colorado	20,041	-2.9%
25	Mississippi	18,911	+0.6%
26	Washington	18,284	+0.9%
27	Arkansas	17,707	-0.9%
28	Connecticut	15,816	-4.9%
29	Oregon	15,245	+1.1%
30	Nevada	13,071	+4.3%
31	Minnesota	10,798	+1.5%
32	Massachusetts	9,922	-7.4%
33	Kansas	9,857	-0.2%
34	Iowa	8,849	+0.1%
35	Idaho	8,052	-0.8%
36	West Virginia	7,118	+3.2%
37	New Mexico	7,104	+1.2%
38	Delaware	6,654	-4.3%
39	Utah	6,495	-7.6%
40	Hawaii	5,879	+0.2%
41	Nebraska	5,372	-1.3%
42	Alaska	5,338	-7.9%
43	Montana	3,685	-0.4%
44	South Dakota	3,564	-1.2%
45	Rhode Island	3,248	-3.3%
46	New Hampshire	2,897	-2.2%
47	Wyoming	2,424	+1.7%
48	Maine	2,279	+1.7%
49	North Dakota	1,795	+4.5%
50	Vermont	1,750	-11.6%

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 2015 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, 2015) [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, 2015. 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?period=2015. 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, 2015. 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?period=2015.

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, 2015 [Dataset]. Available at: https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/prisoners-2023-statistical-tables, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/prisoners-under-jurisdiction/us-states?period=2015 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{bureau_us_states_by_prisoners_2015,
  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, 2015}},
  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?period=2015. 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, 2015
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?period=2015
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/prisoners-under-jurisdiction/us-states?period=2015.
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 163,909 in 2015, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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

Vermont, with 1,750 in 2015.

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 2015 and are not ranked.