The Most and Least Incarcerated States

Notable Observations

• Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the country at 0.85%. Massachusetts has the lowest, at 0.16%.
• Louisiana is home to 2.89% of the state prisoners in the United States, despite accounting for just 1.46% of the total population.
• Conversely, Massachusetts is home to just 0.81% of the state prisoners in the United States, despite accounting for 2.12% of the total population.
• Massachusetts has the lowest incarceration rate among the states at 0.16%. If Massachusetts were a country, it would be ranked 87th out of 222 countries 1Source: Highest to Lowest - Prison Population Rate. (n.d.). Retrieved September 16, 2015, from http://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison_population_rate.
• Louisiana's incarceration rate, which is the highest in the country, is 9 points higher than the next closest state, Delaware. No other two consecutive states are more than 4 points apart.
• The United States incarcerates about 0.70% of its citizens. The next closest among founding NATO members is the United Kingdom, at just 0.15% 2Source: Wagner, P., Sakala, L., & Begley, J. (n.d.). States of Incarceration: The Global Context. Retrieved September 16, 2015, from http://www.prisonpolicy.org/global/.
• Delaware has the 6th lowest population in the United States, but has the 2nd highest incarceration rate.
• Of the 1,358,875 total state prisoners in 2013, just 7.15% were female.

Methodology

In order to determine the incarceration rates for each state, our researchers collected state prisoner data 3Source: Carson, E Ann. (2014, September 30). Prisoners in 2013. Retrieved September 16, 2015, from http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p13.pdf and state population data 4Annual Estimates of the Resident Population:April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2014.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division .
Release Dates: For the United States, regions, divisions, states, and Puerto Rico Commonwealth, December 2014. For counties, municipios, metropolitan statistical areas, micropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and combined statistical areas, March 2015. For Cities and Towns (Incorporated Places and Minor Civil Divisions), May 2015. from 2013.

Once we had each of these numbers for every state, we divided the total number of prisoners for each state by the state's population to determine the incarceration rate for each state.

For Example:

We then ranked the 50 states by their 2013 incarceration rates. The state ranked "1" has highest incarceration rate and state ranked "50" has the lowest incarceration rate.

Citations

1. Highest to Lowest - Prison Population Rate. (n.d.). Retrieved September 16, 2015, from http://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison_population_rate
2. Wagner, P., Sakala, L., & Begley, J. (n.d.). States of Incarceration: The Global Context. Retrieved September 16, 2015, from http://www.prisonpolicy.org/global/
3. Carson, E Ann. (2014, September 30). Prisoners in 2013. Retrieved September 16, 2015, from http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p13.pdf
4. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2014. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division . Release Dates: For the United States, regions, divisions, states, and Puerto Rico Commonwealth, December 2014. For counties, municipios, metropolitan statistical areas, micropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and combined statistical areas, March 2015. For Cities and Towns (Incorporated Places and Minor Civil Divisions), May 2015.