Americas · Northern America
United States
Combined federal, state, and local jail populations â the most-incarcerated nation by absolute count, second-highest by rate. Includes ~1.2M state, ~0.2M federal, ~0.6M local jail.
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.
Prison population
1,833,700
Year: 2023
Rate per 100,000
542
Per 100,000 residents
Occupancy
86.1%
At or under capacity
Pre-trial / remand
25.5%
Share not yet sentenced
Female prisoners
9.8%
Foreign nationals
6.6%
Conditions risk — across 1000 facilities
Average of our computed Conditions Risk Score across the country's facilities. Methodology · Browse highest-risk
Seeded from Amnesty International 2024 categorisation + Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.
- 201922
- 202017
- 202111
- 202218
- 202324
- 202425
How United States compares
vs Americas (9) & global averagesThe vertical ticks mark the global (grey) and regional (amber) means. Bars are clipped at the high end for readability.
Prison population over time
Annual figures, latest survey yearSource: bjs-nps / World Prison Brief / unodc / justice-counts / vera
What we know — and don't
Transparency about the boundaries of this data. Click sources where linked.
What we know
- Death penalty active in 27 US states and at the federal level.
- Solitary confinement is widely used; estimates of those in restrictive housing on a given day exceed 122,000.
What we don't know
- Comprehensive national figures on use of force inside facilities.
- Sub-jurisdiction breakdown for ~3000 county jails is patchy. Immigration detention (ICE) tracked separately.
Reform in United States
All reform →Laws, programmes, and pilots changing how United States incarcerates — plus relevant research.
- Expanded indigent defence funding2019–ongoing
pre trial detention · active
California significantly increased state funding for county public defender offices from 2019 onward, including grants tied to early-representation (within 24 hours of arrest) and bail-review advocacy.
- First Step Act2018–ongoing
sentencing · active
Bipartisan federal legislation that reduced mandatory minimums for some drug offences, expanded earned-time credits for participation in rehabilitative programmes, and retroactively applied the Fair Sentencing Act's crack/powder cocaine disparity reduction.
sentencing · active
California voters approved Proposition 47 in 2014, downgrading six categories of nonviolent property and drug crimes from felonies to misdemeanours, with savings reinvested in mental health, drug treatment, and victim services.
Country reports
Prisons in United States
Browse all 7,325 →7,325 facilities in our database — showing the first 24.
1200 Baker Street Jail
United States · Houston
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
180 Degrees Vonwald Group Home
United States · Rochester
Type
State prison
Capacity
12
Held
12
180 Degress St. Cloud Group Home
United States · St. Cloud
Type
State prison
Capacity
12
Held
12
1910 Gila County Jail
United States
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
204 Depot Street Program
United States · Bennington
Type
State prison
Capacity
8
Held
8
240 Centre Street
United States
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
26th District Police and Patrol Station
United States
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
3-B Juvenile Detention Center
United States · Idaho Falls
Type
State prison
Capacity
24
Held
42
3808 Residential Facility
United States · Colorado Springs
Type
Local jail
Capacity
135
Held
—
4th Avenue Jail
United States · Phoenix
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
52nd Police Precinct Station House and Stable
United States
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
605 Center
United States · Davenport
Type
State prison
Capacity
120
Held
50
77Th Street Regional Jail
United States · Los Angeles
Type
Local jail
Capacity
—
Held
—
A. C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility
United States
Type
—
Capacity
—
Held
—
Aaron Cohn Regional Youth Detention Center
United States · Midland
Type
State prison
Capacity
64
Held
32
Abbeville County Detention Center
United States · Abbeville
Type
County jail
Capacity
105
Held
210
Abbott House
United States · Mitchell
Type
State prison
Capacity
40
Held
—
Abraxas Academy
United States · Morgantown
Type
State prison
Capacity
156
Held
81
Abraxas I
United States · Marienville
Type
State prison
Capacity
204
Held
—
Abraxas Leadership Development Program
United States · South Mountain
Type
State prison
Capacity
128
Held
98
Abraxas Ohio
United States · Shelby
Type
State prison
Capacity
100
Held
—
Abraxas Youth Center
United States · South Mountain
Type
State prison
Capacity
72
Held
61
Acadia Parish Detention Center
United States · Crowley
Type
County jail
Capacity
—
Held
88
Acadia Parish Jail
United States · Crowley
Type
County jail
Capacity
190
Held
158
Data completeness
100%Score based on how many fields are populated. We surface this so you know where the gaps are.
- National population
- 338,460,0002023
- Source-verified
- 20 May 2026
- Source links
- 3 cited
Sources
Direct citations for the figures on this page.
- Primary reference
- World Prison Brief (ICPS, Birkbeck) — Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research
- Bureau of Justice Statistics â Prisoners Series — US Department of Justice
- Federal Bureau of Prisons â Locations — US Department of Justice
- See /data-sources for our methodology.
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
- USA