Federal alcohol permits · state ranking

States with the most permits per capita

States ranked by federal alcohol permits per 100,000 residents, the densest permit bases relative to population.

Oregon
#1 state: 69.8
Per 100k: 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

Oregon has the densest federal alcohol permit base at 69.8 per 100,000 residents, ahead of California (53.7) and Vermont (53.4).

69.8
permits per 100,000 residents · Oregon: 53.7
permits per 100,000 residents · California: 53.4
permits per 100,000 residents · Vermont: 51
states ranked

Source: TTB FOIA List of Permittees, April 2025 · Census Vintage-2023 population.

OR

69.76
CA

53.71
VT

53.44
WA

52.75
DC

52.43
ME

44.64
IA

38.51
KS

37.27
DE

33.92
NY

29.82
WY

29.62
CO

28.6

What this shows Oregon leads the field with 69.8 permits per 100,000 residents.

Full ranking

#	State	Per 100k	Total permits	Wineries	Distilleries
1	Oregon	69.8	2,953	995	157
2	California	53.7	20,928	6,399	561
3	Vermont	53.4	346	104	53
4	Washington	52.8	4,121	1,422	239
5	District of Columbia	52.4	356	11	14
6	Maine	44.6	623	89	56
7	Iowa	38.5	1,235	182	55
8	Kansas	37.3	1,096	86	43
9	Delaware	33.9	350	16	7
10	New York	29.8	5,836	843	344
11	Wyoming	29.6	173	19	21
12	Colorado	28.6	1,681	274	173
13	Puerto Rico	26.7	855	32	123
14	Rhode Island	26.2	287	34	21
15	Florida	25.9	5,845	211	197
16	Connecticut	25.8	934	113	43
17	Nevada	24.4	778	18	40
18	Montana	23.8	270	48	42
19	South Carolina	23.1	1,243	64	62
20	Virginia	23.0	2,005	637	155
21	Alaska	21.5	158	30	24
22	Hawaii	20.5	294	23	29
23	Kentucky	20.5	927	151	198
24	Idaho	20.4	400	125	35
25	New Mexico	19.4	410	133	55
26	Maryland	19.3	1,193	214	86
27	Missouri	19.3	1,195	358	134
28	Pennsylvania	18.7	2,428	619	320
29	Massachusetts	18.7	1,310	201	101
30	New Hampshire	18.6	261	83	34
31	Mississippi	18.6	547	13	11
32	Michigan	18.5	1,861	747	310
33	Illinois	18.4	2,309	204	115
34	North Carolina	17.5	1,899	307	185
35	New Jersey	17.3	1,610	104	71
36	West Virginia	16.8	298	46	38
37	Texas	16.8	5,108	1,009	326
38	Wisconsin	16.6	984	251	123
39	North Dakota	15.1	118	30	5
40	Ohio	14.2	1,671	554	179
41	Georgia	13.5	1,492	204	146
42	Minnesota	13.3	765	166	82
43	South Dakota	12.7	117	47	19
44	Arizona	12.6	937	170	71
45	Arkansas	12.4	380	46	23
46	Tennessee	11.9	849	127	142
47	Indiana	9.9	677	174	119
48	Nebraska	9.6	190	42	32
49	Louisiana	8.7	399	24	55
50	Oklahoma	7.8	318	123	25
51	Alabama	7.0	358	77	58

Total-permit, winery, and distillery columns give context for each state's density rate.

Frequently asked questions

How is per-capita density calculated?

Total federal alcohol permits in the state divided by its population, then scaled to a rate per 100,000 residents. Population comes from U.S. Census Bureau Vintage-2023 estimates.

Why do smaller states rank higher per capita?

A wine- or spirits-producing state with a small population reaches a high per-capita rate with relatively few permits, while a large-population state can hold far more permits in total yet rank lower per capita. Density measures how embedded the permitted industry is relative to the number of residents, not its absolute size.

Does a high rate mean more drinking?

No. This measures federally licensed businesses per resident, not consumption. State retail rules, distribution structure, and tourism all affect the permit base independently of how much residents actually drink.

Explore more rankings

most federal alcohol permits → most wineries → most distilleries → most alcohol importers → 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. Per-capita rates use U.S. Census Bureau Vintage-2023 population estimates. Verify with the Census 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.