State-by-State Corruption Rankings

The following rankings are based primarily on data from the U.S. Department of Justice Public Integrity Section (PIN), which has tracked federal public corruption convictions by judicial district since 1976. We use cumulative conviction data from 1976 through 2023, normalized by state population, to produce per-capita corruption conviction rates. This is the most widely used metric in academic studies of state-level corruption and provides the most objective available measure of public corruption across states.

Complete State Rankings

Top 10 Most Corrupt States: Notable Cases

1. Louisiana (Score: 96)

Louisiana has earned its reputation as the most corrupt state in America through a centuries-long tradition of political machine governance, endemic bribery, and a political culture that historically tolerated corruption as the cost of doing business. Governor Edwin Edwards was convicted in 2001 on 17 counts of racketeering, extortion, and fraud related to the awarding of riverboat casino licenses; he served eight years in federal prison. His famous quip during his 1983 re-election campaign, "The only way I can lose this election is if I'm caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy," epitomized the state's permissive attitude toward corruption. Representative William Jefferson was found with $90,000 in cash wrapped in aluminum foil in his freezer and was convicted on 11 corruption counts in 2009, receiving a 13-year sentence.

2. Mississippi (Score: 92)

Operation Pretense, an FBI sting operation in the mid-1980s, resulted in the conviction of 57 county supervisors for corruption, out of a total of 410 in the state, making it one of the most sweeping public corruption prosecutions in American history. The supervisors had been accepting bribes from vendors seeking county purchasing contracts, a practice so widespread it was essentially the normal way business was conducted. More recently, Mississippi has seen ongoing corruption in its judicial system, prison system, and welfare administration, including a 2020 scandal in which $77 million in federal welfare funds were misappropriated.

3. Illinois (Score: 95)

Illinois holds the extraordinary distinction of having convicted four of its last ten governors of corruption-related offenses: Otto Kerner Jr. (bribery, 1973), Dan Walker (bank fraud, 1987), George Ryan (racketeering, 2006), and Rod Blagojevich (attempting to sell Obama's Senate seat, 2011). Operation Greylord, an undercover investigation of the Cook County court system in the 1980s, resulted in 92 convictions of judges, lawyers, clerks, and police officers for fixing cases; the most extensive judicial corruption prosecution in American history. Chicago's aldermanic system has produced 30+ convictions of city council members since the 1970s.

4. Alabama (Score: 88)

Governor Don Siegelman was convicted in 2006 on charges related to a scheme in which he appointed a campaign donor to a state health board in exchange for a $500,000 contribution. Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford was convicted in 2009 of bribery, fraud, and money laundering in connection with a county sewer bond deal. The Jefferson County bankruptcy in 2011, the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history at the time, was directly caused by a corruption-ridden sewer system financing scheme.

5. Kentucky (Score: 85)

Operation BOPTROT (Business Organizations and Professions Trafficking) was a 1992 FBI investigation that resulted in the conviction of 15 current and former state legislators, two lobbyists, and a legislative aide for taking bribes in exchange for votes on horse racing legislation. Governor Ernie Fletcher was indicted in 2006 on charges of illegally rewarding political supporters with merit-system jobs, though the charges were eventually dismissed in a plea deal. The state has also seen persistent corruption in eastern Kentucky related to coal industry influence on local government.

6. New York (Score: 84)

New York's corruption history stretches from Tammany Hall to the present day. In 2015, both the Speaker of the New York State Assembly (Sheldon Silver, Democrat) and the Majority Leader of the State Senate (Dean Skelos, Republican) were arrested on corruption charges within months of each other; an unprecedented collapse of the state's legislative leadership. Silver was convicted of honest services fraud and extortion; Skelos was convicted of bribery and extortion. The state legislature has produced dozens of corruption convictions over the decades, leading former governor Andrew Cuomo to establish (and later disband) the Moreland Commission to investigate legislative corruption.

7. Ohio (Score: 82)

Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) produced one of the largest local corruption prosecutions in American history, with more than 60 public officials convicted between 2008 and 2012 in a wide-ranging scheme involving bribery, bid-rigging, and tax fraud. Representative James Traficant was convicted in 2002 on bribery and racketeering charges and was expelled from the House. The Coingate scandal of 2005 involved $215 million in state funds invested in rare coins by political donor Tom Noe, resulting in multiple convictions.

8. New Jersey (Score: 81)

Operation Bid Rig (2009) resulted in the arrest of 44 individuals, including three mayors, two state legislators, and five rabbis, in a sweeping investigation of political corruption and international money laundering. ABSCAM netted Senator Harrison Williams and several other New Jersey political figures in the early 1980s. The state has a long history of municipal corruption, particularly in cities like Newark, Camden, and Atlantic City, where political machines have persisted well into the modern era.

9. Pennsylvania (Score: 80)

The Bonusgate scandal revealed that legislative staff were being used for campaign work on taxpayer time, resulting in 25 criminal charges including against the former House Speaker, Whip, and Majority Leader. State Treasurer Budd Dwyer was convicted on bribery charges in 1987 and infamously took his own life at a televised press conference. Philadelphia has produced persistent corruption convictions at the city council, police department, and judicial levels, including a major 2003 FBI investigation of the city's parking authority.

10. Florida (Score: 78)

Florida's corruption profile reflects both its size and its unique political environment. Multiple congressional representatives have been convicted of corruption, and South Florida in particular has seen persistent municipal corruption cases, including several mayors convicted of bribery and fraud. The state's school board systems have produced repeated corruption scandals, and the convergence of real estate development, tourism interests, and political power has created persistent opportunities for corrupt deal-making at the local level.

Data Source & Methodology