US states by prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction

Texas had the highest prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction of 50 states in 2022, at 139,631. Vermont had the lowest, at 1,360. The median was 14,705 and the figure for the United States was 1.23 million. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Highest139,631Texas

Lowest1,360Vermont

Median14,70550 states

United States1,230,143History

Map of states, 2022

Under 5,000
5,000 to 9,000
9,000 to 15K
15K to 23K
23K to 31K
31K and over
No data

count, 2022. 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, 2022

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	2022 count	Change on 2021
1	Texas	139,631	+4.4%
2	California	97,608	-3.8%
3	Florida	84,678	+5.3%
4	Georgia	48,439	+3%
5	Ohio	45,313	+0.6%
6	Pennsylvania	37,910	+1.9%
7	Arizona	33,865	-0.1%
8	Michigan	32,374	+0.6%
9	New York	31,148	+2.7%
10	Illinois	29,634	+2.3%
11	North Carolina	29,627	+2.2%
12	Louisiana	27,296	+4.7%
13	Virginia	27,162	-10.5%
14	Alabama	26,421	+5.5%
15	Indiana	25,286	+1.3%
16	Missouri	23,911	+2.1%
17	Tennessee	23,735	+7.9%
18	Oklahoma	22,941	+2.5%
19	Wisconsin	20,873	+3.3%
20	Mississippi	19,802	+14.3%
21	Kentucky	19,744	+6.4%
22	Arkansas	17,625	+3.5%
23	Colorado	17,168	+8.2%
24	South Carolina	16,318	+3.5%
25	Maryland	15,637	+3.3%
26	Washington	13,772	+0.7%
27	New Jersey	12,657	+1.2%
28	Oregon	12,518	-5.2%
29	Connecticut	10,506	+6.2%
30	Nevada	10,304	+1%
31	Idaho	9,110	+2.3%
32	Kansas	8,709	+2.2%
33	Minnesota	8,636	+7.9%
34	Iowa	8,473	-1%
35	Utah	6,009	+1.7%
36	Massachusetts	6,001	-2.4%
37	West Virginia	5,873	+0.4%
38	Nebraska	5,649	+0.9%
39	New Mexico	4,970	-3.6%
40	Delaware	4,954	+3%
41	Alaska	4,778	+3%
42	Montana	4,691	+8.8%
43	Hawaii	4,149	+1.1%
44	South Dakota	3,444	+2.7%
45	Rhode Island	2,393	+6.9%
46	Wyoming	2,154	+1.5%
47	New Hampshire	2,086	-1.9%
48	North Dakota	1,817	+7.6%
49	Maine	1,675	+6.2%
50	Vermont	1,360	+5.7%

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 2022 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, 2022) [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, 2022. 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=2022. 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, 2022. 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=2022.

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, 2022 [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=2022 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{bureau_us_states_by_prisoners_2022,
  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, 2022}},
  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=2022. 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, 2022
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=2022
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/prisoners-under-jurisdiction/us-states?period=2022.
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 139,631 in 2022, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics.

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

Vermont, with 1,360 in 2022.

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 2022 and are not ranked.