Federal alcohol permits · rankings
U.S. alcohol permit rankings
Where federally licensed wineries, distilleries, importers, and wholesalers cluster, states and cities ranked from the 84,273-permit TTB List of Permittees.
- 84,273
- Total permits
- California
- Most permits
- Oregon
- Densest state
- 7
- Ranking views
The leaderboard in one line
California holds the most federal alcohol permits (21,002), Oregon is the densest at 70.0 per 100,000 residents, and Napa, California is the leading city (1,811).
- 21,002
- permits in California
- 70.0
- per 100k in Oregon
- 1,811
- permit holders in Napa
- 52
- states & territories
Source: TTB FOIA List of Permittees, August 2026 · per-capita uses U.S. Census Vintage-2023 population.
According to the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) List of Permittees, published August 2026, 84,273 federal alcohol Basic Permits are on file nationwide. These are seven ways to read that data, each ranking is built directly from the public TTB list (see the methodology), with no estimates and no editorializing. State rankings cover all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico; the city ranking covers the busiest of 11,126 U.S. cities. Breweries are excluded throughout: they hold a Brewer's Notice under the Internal Revenue Code, not an FAA Basic Permit, and are not in the public list.
Most permits by state
States ranked by total active TTB Basic Permits.
- 1 California 21,002
- 2 Florida 5,936
- 3 New York 5,887
Permits per capita
States ranked by permits per 100,000 residents, the densest.
- 1 Oregon 70.0/100k
- 2 Vermont 54.4/100k
- 3 California 53.9/100k
Most wineries
States with the most permitted wineries.
- 1 California 6,400
- 2 Washington 1,430
- 3 Texas 1,013
Most distilleries
States with the most permitted distilled spirits plants.
- 1 California 572
- 2 New York 347
- 3 Texas 332
Most importers
States with the most permitted alcohol importers.
- 1 California 4,684
- 2 Florida 2,816
- 3 New York 1,962
Most wholesalers
States with the most permitted alcohol wholesalers.
- 1 California 9,346
- 2 New York 2,724
- 3 Florida 2,704
Top cities
U.S. cities with the most federal permit holders.
- 1 Napa, California 1,811
- 2 Miami, Florida 1,235
- 3 New York, New York 1,116
Source: TTB FOIA List of Permittees, published August 2026. Per-capita rates use U.S. Census Bureau Vintage-2023 population estimates. Federal permit counts reflect licensing, not production volume or consumption; confirm any record against the official TTB Public Permit Search.
According to the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau's List of Permittees, the August 2026 List of Permittees source contains 84,273 federal Basic Permit records. PlainAlcohol renders those records directly from the source; no figure is typed in by an editor. These rankings are rendered directly from the TTB List of Permittees, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, the data & editorial changelog, or report a data error.