Oklahoma has the largest percentage of missing people in America, with Louisiana and Arkansas also above average, the latest federal statistics show.
The data also points to wide regional variation, with Southern states having some of the highest percentages of missing people. The information is collected by the National U.S. Missing Persons Database [NamUS], which is operated by the Department of Justice.
Every day, roughly 2,300 Americans are reported missing. Newsweek is embarking on a yearlong project to raise awareness of missing persons and amplify the stories of those impacted.
One expert told Newsweek that the real figures for missing people are higher than the federal statistics show.
Oklahoma has the highest percentage of missing people in the NamUS figures, at 16 missing per 100,000 residents, followed by Arizona at 14.2. Louisiana has 12 missing people per 100,000, Arkansas has 11.6, and Florida 7.7.
Massachusetts had the lowest at 2.7 per 100,000. The states around the Great Lakes also had some of the lowest: Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana each have 3.3 per 100,000; Minnesota has 3.4.
Despite alarming headlines about missing children in Cleveland last year, Ohio also has a low rate at 3.5 per 100,000.
New York has 5.5 per 100,000, New Jersey has 4.1 and Connecticut 6.2. Maine is somewhat of an anomaly in the Northeast with 10.3, higher than any other state in the region.
The figures are significantly higher on the West Coast. Oregon has one of the top rates of missing people in America at 12.5 per 100,000. Washington State has 10.8, and California has 8.6.
Dr. Jesse Goliath, who has launched a separate project for Mississippi called the Mississippi Repository for Missing and Unidentified Persons, told Newsweek that the real figures are higher than the federal statistics show.
"In general, there is no federal requirement for reporting missing persons cases to NamUS. So, without mandatory reporting by law enforcement, the number of actual missing persons in each state is actually much higher than reported," Goliath said.
Goliath, an assistant anthropology professor at Mississippi State University, said his research has shown that the real missing-persons figures in Mississippi are much higher.
"For example, in Mississippi, NamUS only has 188 missing-persons cases. Our database, Mississippi Repository, has 497 missing-persons cases," he added.
"The other factor influencing those numbers is jurisdiction differences and police resources. In Mississippi and other rural states, the county sheriffs are usually the only agencies that have the money to support full-time missing-persons investigators. In the larger states with bigger cities, there are more investigators at the city, county, and state levels," Goliath said.
There are also regional differences in how missing people statistics are collected, he added.
"One additional factor to consider is how people are reported missing. Each state has a different process or procedures for how to report a missing person and specific criteria, for example, who is eligible for a silver alert or amber alert," Goliath said.
In response to Goliath's findings, Chuck Heurich, senior physical scientist at the Office of Justice Programs, which oversees NamUS, told Newsweek that NamUS relies on accurate public and professional reporting.
"The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System was created to help professionals resolve cases and to empower families to assist in the search for their loved ones. NamUs is a voluntary program used by law enforcement, medical examiners, coroners, and the public, which has helped resolve over four thousand missing persons cases," he said. "The number of missing persons reported in the database is dependent on our public and professional users."
John T. Majoy, a police chief and the president of the Cleveland Family Center for Missing Children and Adults, told Newsweek that it is difficult to pinpoint the difference between some of the states.
"Perhaps Oklahoma has more juvenile facilities where juvenile offenders flee from or perhaps different criteria when it comes to runaways and how they are reported. An example would be those juveniles are truant from school or perhaps custody disputes where the child may be listed as missing," Majoy said.
He added that does not diminish the concerns about any missing child or adult.
"When we look at missing children or person statistics, we have to be careful not to rush to judgment on these and create panic, as all would agree one is too many," he said.
Majoy, who is chief of police at Newburgh Heights Police Department in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, worked last year to counter misleading media headlines about the number of missing children in the city.
It followed data from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's website, which noted that 1,072 children had been reported missing in 2023 in the "Cleveland-Akron area."
The statistics included all open cases in Ohio dating back to 1928 when 4-year-old Melvin Horst went missing in what remains the state's oldest unsolved missing-persons case. That context was missing from many of the reports, as well as the fact that most missing minors are returned to their families.
Majoy told Newsweek last October that most children are found and returned to their families. He added that some media outlets are manipulating the statistics to grab public attention. This has, in turn, spawned conspiracy theories about missing children.
Majoy said that over 90 percent of children returned to their families in a short space of time.
Update 02/15/24, 10:00 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a statement from NamUS.
About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
