Federal alcohol permits · state ranking

States with the most alcohol wholesalers

States ranked by the number of TTB-permitted alcohol wholesalers (distributors).

California
#1 state
9,346
Wholesalers
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 9,346 wholesalers; the #51 cutoff to make this list is 58 (North Dakota).

9,346
#1 · California
58
#51, the cutoff to make this list
2,724
#2 · New York
51
states ranked

Source: TTB FOIA List of Permittees, August 2026.

Top 12 states - wholesalers

Bar length = wholesalers

  1. 1
    California 9,346 wholesalers
  2. 2
    New York 2,724 wholesalers
  3. 3
    Florida 2,704 wholesalers
  4. 4
    Texas 2,143 wholesalers
  5. 5
    Washington 1,909 wholesalers
  6. 6
    Oregon 1,461 wholesalers
  7. 7
    Illinois 1,154 wholesalers
  8. 8
    Pennsylvania 1,005 wholesalers
  9. 9
    North Carolina 988 wholesalers
  10. 10
    Iowa 929 wholesalers
  11. 11
    South Carolina 920 wholesalers
  12. 12
    Kansas 902 wholesalers

Source TTB FOIA List of Permittees · August 2026

The bar to make this list

Wholesalers 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

#StateWholesalersWineriesDistilleriesWholesalers
1California9,3466,4005729,346
2New York2,7248543472,724
3Florida2,7042132032,704
4Texas2,1431,0133322,143
5Washington1,9091,4302391,909
6Oregon1,4619951561,461
7Illinois1,1542041171,154
8Pennsylvania1,0056223271,005
9North Carolina988312186988
10Iowa92918256929
11South Carolina9206562920
12Kansas9028744902
13Colorado800275175800
14New Jersey75210473752
15Virginia718643158718
16Georgia686207148686
17Ohio584558179584
18Massachusetts581205102581
19Maryland52921987529
20Missouri505363133505
21Mississippi5011311501
22Michigan471754318471
23Puerto Rico45832125458
24Wisconsin440253125440
25Kentucky436151206436
26Connecticut43211444432
27Maine4248858424
28Nevada4131840413
29Tennessee413130144413
30Arizona39417372394
31Minnesota32216684322
32Arkansas2704624270
33Indiana262174120262
34Louisiana1972456197
35West Virginia1894738189
36Delaware178167178
37Idaho17312535173
38District of Columbia1641114164
39New Mexico16213355162
40Alabama1457658145
41Vermont13710555137
42Hawaii1342330134
43Rhode Island1343521134
44Montana1284843128
45Oklahoma12512223125
46Wyoming91192191
47Utah88393388
48Nebraska84423284
49New Hampshire82853482
50Alaska75302475
51North Dakota5830558

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

Frequently asked questions

Why is the wholesaler class the largest?

Under the post-Prohibition three-tier system, producers generally sell to retailers through a licensed wholesaler rather than directly. Every state needs its own distribution layer, so wholesalers are the most numerous federal permit class.

What does a wholesaler permit authorize?

It authorizes a business to distribute beverage alcohol to retailers within the federal three-tier framework. State distribution rules layer on top of the federal permit and vary by state.

Explore more rankings

most federal alcohol permits → Per capita → most wineries → most distilleries → most alcohol importers → 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 (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.