State rankings
Federal Prisons by State
Texas has the highest Prisons (18), followed by California (13) and Pennsylvania (10). New Hampshire has the lowest (1).
35 of 51 states
Prisons
Darker means higher. Click a place to highlight it.
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All 35 ranked
Highest first.
Distribution Median and middle halfThe median is the middle value: half of places are above it, half below. The middle half is the range holding the central 50% of places.More in the glossary →
Each dot is one state; the lines mark the median and the middle half.
Median
3
Middle half 1 – 4.5
Average
3.77
35 states
Highest
18
Texas
Lowest
1
New Hampshire
Data
Click a column to sort, a row to highlight that place on the charts.
36 states · # = rank by Prisons
| # | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | 18 | 9 | 14,678 |
| 2 | California | 13 | 8 | 11,235 |
| 3 | Pennsylvania | 10 | 5 | 8,578 |
| 4 | Florida | 8 | 4 | 8,687 |
| 5 | West Virginia | 6 | 6 | 7,814 |
| 6 | Illinois | 5 | 4 | 5,414 |
| 6 | Georgia | 5 | 2 | 3,031 |
| 6 | North Carolina | 5 | 1 | 3,988 |
| 6 | Kentucky | 5 | 5 | 6,123 |
| 10 | New York | 4 | 1 | 3,194 |
| 10 | Arizona | 4 | 2 | 3,325 |
| 10 | Colorado | 4 | 2 | 3,195 |
| 10 | South Carolina | 4 | 4 | 4,189 |
| 10 | Louisiana | 4 | 2 | 4,291 |
| 10 | Mississippi | 4 | 1 | 4,009 |
| 16 | Virginia | 3 | 2 | 3,602 |
| 16 | Minnesota | 3 | 1 | 2,462 |
| 16 | Oklahoma | 3 | 1 | 2,351 |
| 19 | Ohio | 2 | — | 1,804 |
| 19 | Michigan | 2 | — | 1,287 |
| 19 | New Jersey | 2 | 2 | 3,521 |
| 19 | Indiana | 2 | 1 | 2,374 |
| 19 | Alabama | 2 | 3 | 2,566 |
| 19 | Connecticut | 2 | 1 | 862 |
| 19 | Arkansas | 2 | 1 | 2,822 |
| 26 | Washington | 1 | — | 644 |
| 26 | Tennessee | 1 | 1 | 1,092 |
| 26 | Massachusetts | 1 | 1 | 785 |
| 26 | Missouri | 1 | — | 863 |
| 26 | Maryland | 1 | 1 | 1,067 |
| 26 | Wisconsin | 1 | 1 | 987 |
| 26 | Oregon | 1 | 1 | 1,475 |
| 26 | Kansas | 1 | 1 | 1,576 |
| 26 | Hawaii | 1 | — | 305 |
| 26 | New Hampshire | 1 | 1 | 587 |
| — | South Dakota | — | 1 | 343 |
What correlates with Prisons?
Pearson r against 2,122 other state metrics sharing at least 21 states. Ranks are read by standing: a better rank counts as higher, whether rank 1 is the best place on a list or the worst. Correlation is not causation.
Higher together
Places that have a higher Prisons tend to score higher on these (or rank better)
Opposite directions
Places that have a higher Prisons tend to score lower on these (or rank worse)
Quick answers
- Which state has the highest Prisons?
- Texas has the highest Prisons, at 18, followed by California (13) and Pennsylvania (10).
- Which state has the lowest Prisons?
- New Hampshire has the lowest Prisons, at 1.
- What is the median Prisons across US states?
- The median is 3 across the 35 US states with data.
- Where does this federal prisons by state data come from?
- Rankodex compiles it from World Population Review and the primary sources it cites: Federal Bureau of Prisons | Federal Prison - Zoikis; List of BOP locations - The Bureau of Prisons.



































