While human trafficking is certainly a global problem, there are thousands of human trafficking cases within the United States. According to the Polaris Project, in 2020, 10,583 situations of human trafficking were reported to the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline involving 16,658 individual victims. So which states have the highest rates of human trafficking?
WorldPopulationReview.com has an interactive map that allows you to view up-to-date human trafficking statistics by state. According to their data, there are 4 states that have the highest rates of human trafficking in the United States: California, Texas, Florida, and New York.
California
In 2019, there were 1,507 human trafficking cases reported in the state of California. 1,118 of these cases were sex trafficking cases, 158 were labor trafficking, 69 were both sex and labor, and the remaining cases were unspecified. Illicit massage, spa businesses, and hotels/motels are common fronts for human trafficking in California.
Texas
Texas also has one of the highest human trafficking rates in the United States. In 2019, the National Hotline received 1,080 human trafficking calls in Texas. The most common trafficking cases include adult labor trafficking, child sex trafficking, adult sex trafficking, and some child labor trafficking.
Florida & New York
Florida and New York may see lower numbers, but they are still in the top 5 states with the highest rates of human trafficking. In 2019, Florida had 896 cases and New York had 454 cases. Both of these states are business and tourism hubs, which may play a role in their trafficking rates.
When you hear about human trafficking on the news, you typically hear of international cases and may mistakenly think, “Thank goodness it doesn’t happen here.” But this couldn’t be further from the truth.