How many people are incarcerated in the United States?
USA medium Data from 2024
Guess before you scroll — the answer is below
The answer
1,900,000 people
Roughly 1.9M.
Counting state prisons, federal prisons, local jails and immigration detention together, roughly 1.9 million people are behind bars in the U.S. on any given day. That is the highest incarceration rate of any large country. Local jails churn through far more people than the headline number suggests, with millions of admissions a year.
Where this number comes from
| Source | Prison Policy Initiative |
|---|---|
| Figure refers to | 2024 |
| Last checked | |
| Unit | people |
Numbers move. If this one has drifted from its source, let us know.
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