Federal alcohol permits · state ranking

States with the most alcohol importers

States ranked by the number of TTB-permitted alcohol importers.

California
#1 state: 4,659
Importers: 51
States ranked: TTB
Federal source

According to the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) List of Permittees, published April 2025, 83,590 federal alcohol Basic Permits are on file across 52 states and territories, 18,038 wineries, 5,590 distilleries, 21,314 importers, and 38,648 wholesalers. State counts here are tallied directly from that public federal record, not modeled or estimated, and per-capita rates use U.S. Census Bureau Vintage-2023 population. Breweries are excluded: they hold a Brewer's Notice under a separate statute and are not in the TTB list. See the methodology for the calculation.

The ranking in one line

California leads with 4,659 importers, followed by Florida (2,775) and New York (1,950).

4,659
importers · California: 2,775
importers · Florida: 1,950
importers · New York: 51
states ranked

Source: TTB FOIA List of Permittees, April 2025.

CA

4,659
FL

2,775
NY

1,950
TX

1,649
IL

854
NJ

688
WA

558
VA

500
PA

489
GA

460
CO

452
MA

433

What this shows California leads the field with 4,659 importers.

Full ranking

#	State	Importers	Wineries	Distilleries	Wholesalers
1	California	4,659	6,399	561	9,309
2	Florida	2,775	211	197	2,662
3	New York	1,950	843	344	2,699
4	Texas	1,649	1,009	326	2,124
5	Illinois	854	204	115	1,136
6	New Jersey	688	104	71	747
7	Washington	558	1,422	239	1,902
8	Virginia	500	637	155	713
9	Pennsylvania	489	619	320	1,000
10	Georgia	460	204	146	682
11	Colorado	452	274	173	782
12	Massachusetts	433	201	101	575
13	North Carolina	424	307	185	983
14	Maryland	367	214	86	526
15	Ohio	359	554	179	579
16	Connecticut	350	113	43	428
17	Oregon	350	995	157	1,451
18	Michigan	335	747	310	469
19	Nevada	314	18	40	406
20	Arizona	307	170	71	389
21	Puerto Rico	245	32	123	455
22	South Carolina	210	64	62	907
23	Missouri	201	358	134	502
24	Minnesota	198	166	82	319
25	Wisconsin	176	251	123	434
26	Tennessee	171	127	142	409
27	District of Columbia	168	11	14	163
28	Delaware	150	16	7	177
29	Kentucky	150	151	198	428
30	Louisiana	126	24	55	194
31	Indiana	122	174	119	262
32	Hawaii	108	23	29	134
33	Rhode Island	98	34	21	134
34	Alabama	79	77	58	144
35	Kansas	72	86	43	895
36	Iowa	71	182	55	927
37	Idaho	68	125	35	172
38	New Mexico	64	133	55	158
39	New Hampshire	62	83	34	82
40	Maine	55	89	56	423
41	Vermont	54	104	53	135
42	Utah	53	39	33	87
43	Montana	52	48	42	128
44	Oklahoma	47	123	25	123
45	Wyoming	44	19	21	89
46	Arkansas	42	46	23	269
47	Alaska	31	30	24	73
48	Mississippi	31	13	11	492
49	Nebraska	30	42	32	86
50	West Virginia	26	46	38	188
51	North Dakota	24	30	5	59

Per-class columns show how each state's permits split across the four federal classes.

Frequently asked questions

What does an importer permit cover?

A federal importer Basic Permit authorizes a business to bring beverage alcohol into the United States for commercial sale. Importers are concentrated in coastal and large-market states that serve as ports of entry and distribution centers.

Why do some states have so many importers?

Importers tend to register where product enters the country and where the largest consumer markets are, so states with major ports and dense populations hold a disproportionate share of importer permits.

Explore more rankings

most federal alcohol permits → Per capita → most wineries → most distilleries → most alcohol wholesalers → alcohol permits →

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Methodology

How the data is sourced

Permit guide

The TTB Basic Permit process

Sources: TTB FOIA List of Permittees (April 2025), published by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Reformatted without alteration; confirm any record against the official TTB list.

Every figure on PlainAlcohol is rendered directly from federal TTB permit data, no number is typed in by an editor. This ranking is 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, or report a data error.