What US states are KKK most prominent and active in 2026?
Executive summary
In 2026 the most consistent reporting points to a cluster of Ku Klux Klan activity concentrated in traditional Southern strongholds — notably Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee — with states such as Texas, Arkansas and North Carolina also frequently named in contemporary listings [1]. At the same time national trackers and datasets stress that hate groups, including Klan factions, can be found across the country, while the absolute number of identified KKK organizations today is small and hard to pin down [2] [3].
1. Where most sources place the Klan today: the Deep South and nearby states
Multiple contemporary compilations and state-by-state rankings repeatedly single out Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee as states with relatively higher concentrations of KKK activity, and add Texas, Arkansas and North Carolina to that group of states still grappling with active Klan cells or historical legacies that enable local resurfacing [1]. Those same sources and regional press histories trace continuity from the Klan’s strongest mid-20th‑century presence to the present in those states, even as modern Klan chapters are smaller, more clandestine and periodically reorganize [4] [5].
2. National context: active hate groups are in every state, but Klan numbers are small
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s hate‑map project documents that hate groups operate in all 50 states, underscoring that the problem is national rather than solely regional — however the SPLC’s broad “hate group” category covers many ideologies and does not equate the distribution of Klan chapters with overall hate‑group totals [2] [6]. Independent compilations and statistical snapshots have suggested the Klan’s footprint has contracted: one recent charted figure shows only ten Ku Klux Klan groups nationwide as of 2023, highlighting that contemporary KKK structures are far smaller than their historic peaks [3].
3. Historical legacy versus current activity: the data and its limits
Scholars and digital mapping projects stress that the Klan once extended nationwide — establishing chapters in all 50 states during its 1915–1940 surge — and that historical membership and infrastructure shape where modern iterations reappear, but contemporary maps cannot fully capture clandestine organizing or informal networks [7] [8]. Reporting and aggregated lists therefore combine verified active cells, local incidents and historical continuity, but most sources caution that exact membership counts are elusive because the group operates secretly and membership is often kept confidential [1].
4. Reading the sources: agendas, methods and what they mean for 2026 assessments
Data providers and news aggregators differ in emphasis: population‑style rankings (e.g., state lists) highlight concentration by state and may foreground Southern examples [1], advocacy trackers like SPLC map broad hate‑group activity nationwide [2], and statistical outlets can report very low absolute numbers for Klan groups [3]; each approach carries implicit priorities — geographic concentration, overall hate‑group prevalence, or numerical counts — that can skew perceptions if taken alone. Given those methodological differences, the most defensible 2026 conclusion is a dual one: the Klan’s remaining, identifiable activity is most visible in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee, with notable mentions of Texas, Arkansas and North Carolina in various compilations, but the organization’s nationwide footprint today is small and difficult to quantify precisely [1] [2] [3].