The headline numbers
These are counts from the open OpenStreetMap ALPR dataset — the cameras that volunteers have actually recorded on the ground. Flock Safety has separately described its own US network as exceeding 120,000 cameras, which suggests the community map is broadly in the right range nationally even where it is patchy locally.
How the cameras are distributed
Two patterns are worth knowing before you read the table.
Coverage is very uneven, and partly that is mapping effort. The dataset is densest where the volunteer community has been most active. A low number for a state can mean few cameras, few mappers, or both. It is a floor, never a ceiling.
About 27,000 US readers sit outside any city or town boundary. They are on county roads, interstate ramps and rural junctions between municipalities. That is why state totals are meaningfully larger than the sum of their town pages, and why a "back roads" route is not the camera-free option people assume.
Every state, ranked
| State | Plate readers | Flock Safety | Outside towns |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 21,171 | 16,932 | 1,301 |
| Texas | 17,342 | 15,860 | 3,388 |
| Georgia | 10,125 | 9,260 | 3,759 |
| Florida | 9,635 | 7,311 | 2,480 |
| Illinois | 8,067 | 5,802 | 1,061 |
| Ohio | 6,924 | 6,277 | 1,517 |
| New York | 4,652 | 2,110 | 826 |
| North Carolina | 3,852 | 3,385 | 1,036 |
| Pennsylvania | 3,825 | 1,397 | 1,571 |
| Indiana | 3,776 | 3,406 | 916 |
| Michigan | 3,715 | 3,057 | 1,105 |
| Tennessee | 3,641 | 3,169 | 615 |
| Virginia | 3,543 | 3,228 | 697 |
| Missouri | 3,409 | 2,493 | 401 |
| Alabama | 2,916 | 2,501 | 498 |
| Colorado | 2,738 | 2,313 | 314 |
| Arizona | 2,698 | 2,237 | 182 |
| New Jersey | 2,347 | 1,201 | 926 |
| Washington | 2,308 | 1,985 | 270 |
| Louisiana | 2,180 | 1,712 | 618 |
| South Carolina | 2,140 | 1,958 | 768 |
| Wisconsin | 2,113 | 1,861 | 484 |
| Kansas | 2,081 | 1,322 | 396 |
| Kentucky | 1,853 | 1,806 | 311 |
| Minnesota | 1,649 | 1,421 | 128 |
| Oklahoma | 1,506 | 1,231 | 144 |
| Massachusetts | 1,221 | 976 | 0 |
| Mississippi | 1,153 | 985 | 259 |
| Arkansas | 1,082 | 961 | 128 |
| Utah | 1,071 | 816 | 79 |
| New Mexico | 1,038 | 712 | 137 |
| Connecticut | 1,010 | 646 | 0 |
| Maryland | 999 | 744 | 84 |
| Nevada | 979 | 739 | 57 |
| Iowa | 876 | 803 | 93 |
| Nebraska | 643 | 417 | 256 |
| Oregon | 538 | 357 | 84 |
| Delaware | 501 | 400 | 233 |
| Idaho | 468 | 346 | 64 |
| North Dakota | 457 | 125 | 37 |
| Rhode Island | 324 | 295 | 0 |
| West Virginia | 241 | 196 | 69 |
| South Dakota | 180 | 155 | 29 |
| District of Columbia | 105 | 91 | 0 |
| Montana | 87 | 72 | 8 |
| Wyoming | 72 | 66 | 8 |
| New Hampshire | 68 | 16 | 0 |
| Maine | 66 | 46 | 0 |
| Vermont | 30 | 18 | 0 |
Counts include plate readers from all vendors, not only Flock Safety. "Outside towns" counts readers that fall outside any incorporated place or New England town boundary. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Down to your town
We publish a page for over a thousand US cities and towns with at least eight documented readers — the camera count, the brand split, the operators, and a map of the exact positions with the direction each one faces.
Start from coverage by state and drill down, or open the full map and go straight to your street.
Towns with fewer than eight documented readers do not get their own page — a page with two pins is not worth reading — but they are all listed in the table on their state's page, and every camera appears on the map regardless.
The number that actually matters is yours
National totals are abstract. Arm alerts for a week and History will tell you how many readers you personally passed, and how many were pointed at you.
Know before you pass one.
Flock Camera draws a view cone on every camera with a recorded bearing and warns you before you pass one. Free, with no account.

Last reviewed 2026-08-15. Camera data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Flock Camera is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Flock Safety, Inc.