Federal alcohol permits · state ranking

States with the most alcohol importers

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

California
#1 state
4,684
Importers
51
States ranked
TTB
Federal source

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 across 52 states and territories, 18,120 wineries, 5,670 distilleries, 21,526 importers, and 38,957 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 4,684 importers; the #51 cutoff to make this list is 23 (North Dakota).

4,684
#1 · California
23
#51, the cutoff to make this list
2,816
#2 · Florida
51
states ranked

Source: TTB FOIA List of Permittees, August 2026.

Top 12 states - importers

Bar length = importers

  1. 1
    California 4,684 importers
  2. 2
    Florida 2,816 importers
  3. 3
    New York 1,962 importers
  4. 4
    Texas 1,665 importers
  5. 5
    Illinois 867 importers
  6. 6
    New Jersey 691 importers
  7. 7
    Washington 561 importers
  8. 8
    Virginia 506 importers
  9. 9
    Pennsylvania 496 importers
  10. 10
    Georgia 462 importers
  11. 11
    Colorado 460 importers
  12. 12
    Massachusetts 441 importers

Source TTB FOIA List of Permittees · August 2026

The bar to make this list

Importers across all 51 ranked states

every ranked state, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source TTB FOIA List of Permittees · August 2026

Full ranking

# State ImportersWineriesDistilleriesWholesalers
1 California 4,684 6,400 572 9,346
2 Florida 2,816 213 203 2,704
3 New York 1,962 854 347 2,724
4 Texas 1,665 1,013 332 2,143
5 Illinois 867 204 117 1,154
6 New Jersey 691 104 73 752
7 Washington 561 1,430 239 1,909
8 Virginia 506 643 158 718
9 Pennsylvania 496 622 327 1,005
10 Georgia 462 207 148 686
11 Colorado 460 275 175 800
12 Massachusetts 441 205 102 581
13 North Carolina 427 312 186 988
14 Maryland 371 219 87 529
15 Ohio 359 558 179 584
16 Connecticut 355 114 44 432
17 Oregon 351 995 156 1,461
18 Michigan 338 754 318 471
19 Nevada 320 18 40 413
20 Arizona 311 173 72 394
21 Puerto Rico 249 32 125 458
22 South Carolina 213 65 62 920
23 Missouri 202 363 133 505
24 Minnesota 199 166 84 322
25 Wisconsin 177 253 125 440
26 Tennessee 175 130 144 413
27 District of Columbia 171 11 14 164
28 Kentucky 153 151 206 436
29 Delaware 150 16 7 178
30 Louisiana 130 24 56 197
31 Indiana 124 174 120 262
32 Hawaii 109 23 30 134
33 Rhode Island 99 35 21 134
34 Alabama 80 76 58 145
35 Kansas 76 87 44 902
36 Iowa 71 182 56 929
37 Idaho 69 125 35 173
38 New Mexico 66 133 55 162
39 New Hampshire 62 85 34 82
40 Vermont 55 105 55 137
41 Maine 55 88 58 424
42 Utah 54 39 33 88
43 Montana 52 48 43 128
44 Oklahoma 48 122 23 125
45 Wyoming 46 19 21 91
46 Arkansas 43 46 24 270
47 Alaska 33 30 24 75
48 Mississippi 31 13 11 501
49 Nebraska 29 42 32 84
50 West Virginia 26 47 38 189
51 North Dakota 23 30 5 58

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

What to do with this state ranking

A rank only matters next to the state itself, or a different cut of the same federal data.

TTB FOIA List of Permittees, published August 2026.

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.

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The TTB Basic Permit process

Sources: TTB FOIA List of Permittees (August 2026), published by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Reformatted without alteration; confirm any record against the official TTB list.

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. 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, the data & editorial changelog, or report a data error.