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: 70.0
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 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

Oregon has the densest federal alcohol permit base at 70.0 per 100,000 residents; the #51 cutoff to make this list is 7.0 (Alabama).

70.0
#1 · Oregon: 7.0
#51, the cutoff to make this list: 54.4
#2 · Vermont: 51
states ranked

Source: TTB FOIA List of Permittees, August 2026 · Census Vintage-2023 population.

Top 12 states - per 100k

Bar length = permits per 100,000 residents

1

Oregon 70 per 100k
2

Vermont 54 per 100k
3

California 54 per 100k
4

District of Columbia 53 per 100k
5

Washington 53 per 100k
6

Maine 45 per 100k
7

Iowa 39 per 100k
8

Kansas 38 per 100k
9

Delaware 34 per 100k
10

Wyoming 30 per 100k
11

New York 30 per 100k
12

Colorado 29 per 100k

Source TTB FOIA List of Permittees · August 2026

The bar to make this list

Per 100k 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	Per 100k	Total permits	Wineries	Distilleries
1	Oregon	70.0	2,963	995	156
2	Vermont	54.4	352	105	55
3	California	53.9	21,002	6,400	572
4	District of Columbia	53.0	360	11	14
5	Washington	53.0	4,139	1,430	239
6	Maine	44.8	625	88	58
7	Iowa	38.6	1,238	182	56
8	Kansas	37.7	1,109	87	44
9	Delaware	34.0	351	16	7
10	Wyoming	30.3	177	19	21
11	New York	30.1	5,887	854	347
12	Colorado	29.1	1,710	275	175
13	Puerto Rico	26.9	864	32	125
14	Rhode Island	26.4	289	35	21
15	Florida	26.3	5,936	213	203
16	Connecticut	26.1	945	114	44
17	Nevada	24.8	791	18	40
18	Montana	23.9	271	48	43
19	South Carolina	23.4	1,260	65	62
20	Virginia	23.2	2,025	643	158
21	Alaska	22.1	162	30	24
22	Kentucky	20.9	946	151	206
23	Hawaii	20.6	296	23	30
24	Idaho	20.5	402	125	35
25	New Mexico	19.7	416	133	55
26	Maryland	19.5	1,206	219	87
27	Missouri	19.4	1,203	363	133
28	Massachusetts	19.0	1,329	205	102
29	Mississippi	18.9	556	13	11
30	Pennsylvania	18.9	2,450	622	327
31	New Hampshire	18.8	263	85	34
32	Michigan	18.7	1,881	754	318
33	Illinois	18.7	2,342	204	117
34	North Carolina	17.6	1,913	312	186
35	New Jersey	17.4	1,620	104	73
36	West Virginia	16.9	300	47	38
37	Texas	16.9	5,153	1,013	332
38	Wisconsin	16.8	995	253	125
39	North Dakota	14.8	116	30	5
40	Ohio	14.3	1,680	558	179
41	Georgia	13.6	1,503	207	148
42	Minnesota	13.4	771	166	84
43	Arizona	12.8	950	173	72
44	South Dakota	12.6	116	47	19
45	Arkansas	12.5	383	46	24
46	Tennessee	12.1	862	130	144
47	Indiana	9.9	680	174	120
48	Nebraska	9.4	187	42	32
49	Louisiana	8.9	407	24	56
50	Oklahoma	7.8	318	122	23
51	Alabama	7.0	359	76	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 (August 2026), 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.

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.