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Design capacity: U.S. states ranked (2023)

Measure: Design capacity. All 31 states with data in Prison capacity and crowding by state, ranked from highest to lowest. Reference period: 2023.

Licence
Public domain (U.S. federal government work).
Data last updated
2026-11-03
Download full table CSVSource: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (opens in a new tab)
Washington: not in this tableIdaho: not in this tableMontana: 1,375North Dakota: 1,509Minnesota: not in this tableMichigan: not in this tableOhio: not in this tablePennsylvania: not in this tableNew York: 42,813Vermont: 1,579New Hampshire: 1,810Maine: 2,636Arizona: 39,093California: 75,530New Mexico: not in this tableTexas: 132,760Louisiana: 16,764Mississippi: not in this tableAlabama: 12,115Florida: not in this tableGeorgia: not in this tableSouth Carolina: not in this tableNorth Carolina: 35,420Virginia: not in this tableDistrict of Columbia: not in this tableMaryland: not in this tableDelaware: 4,062New Jersey: 15,818Connecticut: not in this tableRhode Island: 3,995Massachusetts: 7,494Oregon: not in this tableUtah: 7,068Wyoming: 2,271Nevada: 8,769Colorado: 11,234South Dakota: 2,775Nebraska: 4,059Kansas: 9,164Oklahoma: 19,083Iowa: 6,990Missouri: not in this tableWisconsin: 16,983Illinois: not in this tableKentucky: 12,776Arkansas: 15,415Tennessee: not in this tableWest Virginia: 5,801Indiana: not in this tableAlaska: 5,101Hawaii: 2,491

Small states, hard to see on the map:

  • Lowest: 1,375 to 2,636
  • Group 2: 2,636 to 5,801
  • Group 3: 5,801 to 11,234
  • Group 4: 11,234 to 16,983
  • Highest: 16,983 to 132,760
The map is a visual summary; every value is in the table below, which is the keyboard and screen-reader path. Groups are quintiles of the values shown (a derived grouping). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain), simplified. Alaska and Hawaii are shown as insets, not to scale.

Rank is derived by Quadranac: 1 = highest value; ties share a rank. Values are as published in the source table.

1Texas132,760
2California75,530
3New York42,813
4Arizona39,093
5North Carolina35,420
6Oklahoma19,083
7Wisconsin16,983
8Louisiana16,764
9New Jersey15,818
10Arkansas15,415
11Kentucky12,776
12Alabama12,115
13Colorado11,234
14Kansas9,164
15Nevada8,769
16Massachusetts7,494
17Utah7,068
18Iowa6,990
19West Virginia5,801
20Alaska5,101
21Delaware4,062
22Nebraska4,059
23Rhode Island3,995
24South Dakota2,775
25Maine2,636
26Hawaii2,491
27Wyoming2,271
28New Hampshire1,810
29Vermont1,579
30North Dakota1,509
31Montana1,375

Source: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2023 – Statistical Tables (NCJ 310197), table 21. Reference period: 2023.

Cite this ranking

U.S. states ranked by design capacity (2023). Data: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2023 – Statistical Tables (NCJ 310197), table 21; rank derived by Quadranac. Data last updated 2026-11-03. https://quadranac.com/rankings/us-states-by-design-capacity/

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