US states by prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction

Texas had the highest prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction of 50 states in 2017, at 162,523. Vermont had the lowest, at 1,546. The median was 19,235 and the figure for the United States was 1.49 million. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Highest162,523Texas

Lowest1,546Vermont

Median19,23550 states

United States1,489,189History

Map of states, 2017

Under 5,000
5,000 to 9,000
9,000 to 19K
19K to 27K
27K to 41K
41K and over
No data

count, 2017. 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, 2017

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	2017 count	Change on 2016
1	Texas	162,523	-0.7%
2	California	131,039	+0.7%
3	Florida	98,504	-1.5%
4	Georgia	53,667	+0.1%
5	Ohio	51,478	-1.3%
6	New York	49,461	-2.5%
7	Pennsylvania	48,333	-1.8%
8	Arizona	42,030	-0.7%
9	Illinois	41,427	-5.1%
10	Michigan	39,666	-3.5%
11	Virginia	37,158	-1.7%
12	North Carolina	36,394	+2%
13	Louisiana	33,739	-5.4%
14	Missouri	32,601	+0.4%
15	Tennessee	28,980	+2.8%
16	Oklahoma	28,143	-5.9%
17	Alabama	27,608	-4.4%
18	Indiana	26,024	+1.9%
19	Wisconsin	23,945	+2.4%
20	Kentucky	23,543	+2.3%
21	Colorado	19,946	-0.2%
22	South Carolina	19,906	-4.6%
23	Washington	19,656	+2.9%
24	New Jersey	19,585	-1%
25	Maryland	19,367	-3.1%
26	Mississippi	19,103	-0.5%
27	Arkansas	18,070	+3%
28	Oregon	15,218	+0.3%
29	Connecticut	14,040	-6.1%
30	Nevada	13,721	-0.3%
31	Minnesota	10,708	+1.1%
32	Kansas	10,015	+1%
33	Massachusetts	9,133	-2.9%
34	Iowa	9,024	-0.1%
35	Idaho	8,579	+4%
36	New Mexico	7,276	+3.1%
37	West Virginia	7,092	-1%
38	Delaware	6,443	-2.2%
39	Utah	6,219	+0.7%
40	Hawaii	5,630	+0.5%
41	Nebraska	5,313	+0.2%
42	Alaska	4,399	-0.8%
43	South Dakota	3,970	+3.6%
44	Montana	3,698	-3%
45	Rhode Island	2,861	-7.8%
46	New Hampshire	2,750	-2.4%
47	Wyoming	2,473	+4.2%
48	Maine	2,404	0%
49	North Dakota	1,723	-3.8%
50	Vermont	1,546	-10.9%

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 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: 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, 2017) [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, 2017. 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=2017. 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, 2017. 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=2017.

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, 2017 [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=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{bureau_us_states_by_prisoners_2017,
  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, 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/prisoners-under-jurisdiction/us-states?period=2017. 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, 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/prisoners-under-jurisdiction/us-states?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/prisoners-under-jurisdiction/us-states?period=2017.
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 162,523 in 2017, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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

Vermont, with 1,546 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: 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 2017 and are not ranked.