Which U.S. states had the highest concentration of TPUSA chapters in 2025?
Executive summary
Turning Point USA (TPUSA) reported roughly 900 college chapters and about 1,200 high‑school chapters in mid‑September 2025, and its website claimed presence on “over 3,500 campuses” and “over 900+ chapters” for college programs [1] [2]. Available sources do not provide a ranked list or definitive county‑by‑state counts showing which U.S. states had the highest concentration of TPUSA chapters in 2025; reporting instead documents national totals, localized surges of inquiries, and state efforts to expand chapters [2] [3] [4].
1. National picture: TPUSA’s headline totals and claims
TPUSA publicly touted large national figures in 2025: the organization’s site and recent reporting cited roughly 900 college chapters, around 1,200 high‑school chapters, and a presence on “over 3,500 campuses,” while the TPUSA homepage also used language of “over 900+ chapters” and said it is active on 3,500 campuses [1] [2]. Those numbers describe national scale but do not break down chapters by state or provide per‑capita concentrations [1] [2].
2. Surge after Charlie Kirk’s death changed demand but not verified distribution
News outlets reported a large spike in inquiries to start TPUSA chapters after Charlie Kirk’s killing, with TPUSA spokespeople quoting tens of thousands of inquiries (54,000 in one local interview; 32,000 in other reporting) and saying the group was “on the cusp of having a TPUSA or Club America chapter in every HS and College campus in America,” but these are counts of inquiries and organizational ambition rather than audited, state‑level chapter counts [3] [4] [2]. Those surges indicate expanding interest but do not answer which states had the highest existing concentration in 2025 [3] [2].
3. State‑level activity: examples of activism and government promotion
Several state and local stories show active pushes to create TPUSA chapters in particular places: Oklahoma’s superintendent announced a plan to facilitate a TPUSA Club America chapter in every high school in the state and the state issued a press release promoting Club America chapters [5] [4]. Missouri local actors and lawmakers offered monetary incentives to students to start TPUSA chapters in at least one district [6]. These items document concentrated efforts but are scene‑specific and not a comprehensive state ranking [5] [6] [4].
4. Local reporting of new chapters — patchwork evidence, not a national map
Local outlets documented individual college and high‑school chapters being chartered — for example, UMass Amherst and other Massachusetts campuses added or re‑chartered TPUSA chapters, and Western Massachusetts reported multiple new campus chapters after the surge [3]. But these stories provide case studies of localized growth; they do not compile or validate which states had the densest TPUSA networks in 2025 [3].
5. Organizational materials and limitations of publicly available data
TPUSA’s own recruitment pages and a 2025 chapter handbook indicate organized processes for starting chapters and staff support (field representatives) for chapters, and the national site counts staff and chapters without supplying a state‑by‑state ledger in the cited materials [7] [8] [9] [10]. The chapter handbook and TPUSA Students pages confirm the mechanism for establishing chapters but do not include a public, independently verified state breakdown [7] [8] [10].
6. Conflicting appearances: claimed chapters vs. campus denials
At least one campus reported confusion where TPUSA online listings suggested a chapter existed but the university said an official chapter request was denied — Southern Adventist University’s administrators said an application had been denied despite social media activity suggesting a TPUSA account [11]. This demonstrates that organizational listings and local institutional records can diverge, complicating any attempt to determine precise concentrations by state from public sources [11].
7. What can and cannot be concluded from current reporting
Available sources allow firm statements about TPUSA’s national scale (roughly 900 college chapters, ~1,200 high‑school chapters, and thousands of inquiries in the fall of 2025) and about notable state‑level initiatives in Oklahoma and Missouri [1] [2] [5] [6]. Available sources do not provide a verified, state‑by‑state ranking of TPUSA chapter concentration for 2025; there is no single public dataset in the reporting that answers which states had the highest concentration [1] [2] [5] [6].
8. How to get a definitive answer
To determine state concentrations you would need TPUSA’s internal chapter registry (state‑tagged), an independent audit of campus student‑organization registries across states, or a compiled dataset from TPUSA and state education records. Current public reporting cites totals and anecdotes but not a validated, granular list of chapters by state [1] [2] [3]. Available sources do not mention a published, verifiable state ranking for 2025 [1] [2].