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One of the most frequently asked questions surrounding human trafficking in the U.S. is ‘where does it happen’, ‘what are the top states for human trafficking’, and ‘is it happening in your neighborhood’. Chances are, it is happening in your area. Trafficking happens almost everywhere. However, it is true that certain areas (generally those that are more densely populated) have a higher rate of human trafficking cases reported to the national human trafficking hotline.

Unfortunately, due to the clandestine nature of this crime, it is difficult to estimate the true number of cases that occur in each area. The figures below represent the number of cases of human trafficking reported to the national hotline (as reported by the National Human Trafficking  Hotline run by Polaris) in 2017, 2016 and 2015. The states are ordered from the highest number of cases reported to the lowest number of cases reported in 2017. While data for 2018 is available HERE, the available 2018 data only represents cases reported to the hotline through June of 2018 and thus appear artificially low (even though the trend on the number of cases reported to the hotline has been steadily increasing since the conception of the hotline).

However, an upward trend of reported trafficking cases may not be an indicator that trafficking in the U.S. is becoming more prevalent, as it is estimated that the vast majority of trafficking cases go unreported. An increase in reported cases may also indicate that more trafficking victims and onlookers know about the hotline and trust the resource enough to make that (potentially life-saving) call to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

Read more on the top-3 states (California, Texas, and Florida) below the table.

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For further reading on the  3 states with the highest number of trafficking cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2017, read the following state-specific trafficking reports:

California:

(Note on California Resources: Unfortunately, there has not been a state-funded report on the state of Human Trafficking for all of California since 2012, below are some more recent, privately-funded reports and a 2019 report that covers just Orange County).

• California: Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Region IX (2016)
  • A short overview of statistics, relevant laws & state efforts (2 Pages)
• 2019 Orange County Human Trafficking Victim Report, provided by the Orange County task force
  • Recent statistics, demographics, and discussion of locally-specific issues for Orange County, California (26-pages)

• NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING RESOURCE CENTER (NHTRC) DATA BREAKDOWN (2015)
  • Data breakdown of caller & victim demographics reported to the NHTRC (6 pages)
• Judicial Toolkit and Overview of Trafficking in California, prepared by the Center for Families, Children & the Courts’ Judicial Council of California (2017).
  • A Comprehensive toolkit & overview report (116 pages)
  • Reviews California-specific legislation, organizations providing different services,
  • promising practices, and descriptions of other California-specific issues.

Texas:

• Report to the Texas Legislature Human Trafficking Prevention Task Forc, provided by the Texas Office of the Attorney General (2018)
  • 31-page report on the state of trafficking in Texas and specific recommendations
• Human Trafficking by the Numbers:  The Initial Benchmark of Prevalence and Economic Impact for Texas , publuished by the University of Texas at Austin, School of Social Work (2016)
  • Follow the link to read the 1-paragraph abstract of the report
  • Download the full report for a comprehensive analysis (110-pages)
• Texas: Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking, provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Region VI (2016)
  • A short overview of statistics, relevant laws & state efforts (2 Pages)

Florida:

• Statewide Council on Human Trafficking, Anual Report (2018): “Florida: An All Hands On Deck Approach to Combat Trafficking” Provided by the FL Statewide Council on Human Trafficking
  • Official, recent,  Florida-wide overview on the state of Human Trafficking in FL (40-pages)
• Florida-specific statistical breakdown from the National Human Trafficking Hotline

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Article by Sonia Lunn