PREE Policy Report Chartbook

Federal, state, and local incarceration rates rose significantly throughout the 1980s and 1990s: Federal, state, and local incarceration rates per 100,000 population, 1925–2020

Year State prisons Federal prisons Local jails
1925 73 6
1926 77 6
1927 85 6
1928 89 7
1929 88 11
1930 95 10
1931 100 10
1932 100 10
1933 100 9
1934 100 10
1935 101 12
1936 101 12
1937 106 12
1938 110 13
1939 122 15
1940 116 15 75
1941 110 14
1942 98 12
1943 88 12
1944 82 13
1945 82 13
1946 86 12
1947 92 12
1948 94 11
1949 97 11
1950 97 11 57
1951 95 11
1952 95 11
1953 95 12
1954 99 12
1955 99 12
1956 99 12
1957 101 12
1958 104 12
1959 104 13
1960 104 13 67
1961 106 13
1962 104 13
1963 102 12
1964 100 11
1965 97 11
1966 91 10
1967 88 10
1968 83 10
1969 87 10
1970 85 10 79
1971 85 10
1972 83 10
1973 85 11
1974 91 10
1975 100 11
1976 108 12
1977 112 13
1978 119 12 76
1979 123 10
1980 129 9 72
1981 144 10
1982 160 10
1983 167 11 98
1984 175 12 99
1985 187 14 108
1986 201 15 114
1987 214 16 122
1988 228 17 141
1989 255 19 160
1990 275 20 163
1991 289 22 169
1992 304 26 174
1993 331 29 178
1994 358 31 187
1995 379 32 193
1996 393 33 196
1997 409 35 212
1998 424 38 219
1999 434 42 222
2000 426 44 220
2001 422 48 222
2002 428 49 231
2003 431 52 238
2004 433 54 243
2005 436 56 253
2006 443 58 256
2007 447 59 259
2008 447 60 258
2009 443 61 250
2010 439 61 242
2011 429 63 236
2012 417 62 237
2013 416 61 231
2014 411 60 234
2015 403 55 227
2016 397 53 229
2017 390 51 229
2018 382 50 226
2019 371 48 224
2020 315 43 167
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Economic Policy Institute

Source: Calculated from the counts found in Bureau of Justice Statistics data and the U.S. Census Bureau population counts made available at www.prisonpolicy.org/data/us_population_by_sex_over_time.xlsx. 

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