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. 1
    Oregon 70 per 100k
  2. 2
    Vermont 54 per 100k
  3. 3
    California 54 per 100k
  4. 4
    District of Columbia 53 per 100k
  5. 5
    Washington 53 per 100k
  6. 6
    Maine 45 per 100k
  7. 7
    Iowa 39 per 100k
  8. 8
    Kansas 38 per 100k
  9. 9
    Delaware 34 per 100k
  10. 10
    Wyoming 30 per 100k
  11. 11
    New York 30 per 100k
  12. 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 100kTotal permitsWineriesDistilleries
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.

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; Census Vintage-2023 population.

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.