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

#StateImportersWineriesDistilleriesWholesalers
1California4,6846,4005729,346
2Florida2,8162132032,704
3New York1,9628543472,724
4Texas1,6651,0133322,143
5Illinois8672041171,154
6New Jersey69110473752
7Washington5611,4302391,909
8Virginia506643158718
9Pennsylvania4966223271,005
10Georgia462207148686
11Colorado460275175800
12Massachusetts441205102581
13North Carolina427312186988
14Maryland37121987529
15Ohio359558179584
16Connecticut35511444432
17Oregon3519951561,461
18Michigan338754318471
19Nevada3201840413
20Arizona31117372394
21Puerto Rico24932125458
22South Carolina2136562920
23Missouri202363133505
24Minnesota19916684322
25Wisconsin177253125440
26Tennessee175130144413
27District of Columbia1711114164
28Kentucky153151206436
29Delaware150167178
30Louisiana1302456197
31Indiana124174120262
32Hawaii1092330134
33Rhode Island993521134
34Alabama807658145
35Kansas768744902
36Iowa7118256929
37Idaho6912535173
38New Mexico6613355162
39New Hampshire62853482
40Vermont5510555137
41Maine558858424
42Utah54393388
43Montana524843128
44Oklahoma4812223125
45Wyoming46192191
46Arkansas434624270
47Alaska33302475
48Mississippi311311501
49Nebraska29423284
50West Virginia264738189
51North Dakota2330558

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 →
All states
Browse permits state by state
Methodology
How the data is sourced
Permit guide
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.