Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
In which U.S. states do KKK chapters still hold meetings or public events in 2025?
Executive summary
Available reporting and research shows that organized Ku Klux Klan activity in 2025 is limited to a relatively small number of states, concentrated largely in the South and in pockets elsewhere; advocacy groups report “just over thirty” active Klan groups (ADL) and Statista/SPLC data counted about ten Klan groups in 2023 [1] [2]. The Southern Poverty Law Center and recent news items document active chapters, recruitment and propaganda—examples and coverage point to states such as Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and Texas among those with ongoing Klan presence [3] [4] [5] [6] [1].
1. What the tracking organizations say about where the Klan operates
The Anti-Defamation League’s 2023 assessment described “just over thirty active Klan groups” nationwide and noted that many are small, disjointed and concentrated geographically—calling out North Carolina’s Loyal White Knights as one of the more active examples historically [1]. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s extremist files (updated 2025) catalog ongoing Klan organizations and names specific state-based entities and reorganizations —for instance, noting Maryland White Knights, Sacred White Knights and other chapter-level shifts in 2024–2025 [4]. Statista’s chart based on SPLC data reported ten KKK groups in 2023, underscoring that counts vary by methodology and that the Klan now exists as multiple local cells rather than a single national apparatus [2].
2. States repeatedly identified in recent reporting and datasets
Multiple sources repeatedly list southern states—Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina—as places with continued Klan activity; World Population Review’s 2025 state-level summary calls out Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee among states with higher concentrations, while the Encyclopedia of Arkansas and SPLC materials document active groups in Arkansas [3] [5] [4]. Contemporary incidents and local reporting show Klan propaganda and organizing appearing in Kentucky and parts of Tennessee in 2024–25, with local police investigations into flyer distributions [6] [7].
3. What “active” means — meetings, events, flyers, online recruitment
Researchers and civil‑rights monitors distinguish between different kinds of activity: public rallies and cross-burnings, clandestine meetings, leafleting, and online recruitment. The ADL stresses that today’s Klan groups often are small and shift names and leadership, but still hold events and recruit [1]. The Guardian documented Klan flyers distributed across Kentucky in January 2025—an example of public propaganda rather than a formal statewide convention—but it demonstrates continuing organized outreach [6]. SPLC’s 2025 files also describe groups reorganizing and recruiting via both fringe and mainstream social platforms [4].
4. Data limits and why exact state lists vary
No single public dataset provides a definitive 2025 roster of every state with in-person Klan meetings; counts differ because groups are decentralized, sometimes short‑lived, and operate covertly [1]. The ADL and SPLC use different thresholds and collection methods, producing different totals (ADL ~30+ groups vs. Statista/SPLC’s 10 Klan groups counted in 2023), and media summaries like World Population Review offer state-level snapshots that blend historical presence with current reports [1] [2] [3]. Because groups can dissolve, rename, or resurface quickly, a state may have recent incidents without a long‑term, continuously active chapter—available sources do not provide a single, exhaustive 2025 state-by-state list.
5. Historical context that shapes present geography
The Klan’s strongest historical footholds were in the post‑Civil War and early 20th‑century South; encyclopedias and histories emphasize deep roots in states like Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi—context that helps explain why modern small chapters persist in those regions [8] [9]. Federal law‑enforcement histories show the long arc of Klan activity and recurring federal responses, underlining that local presence today often reflects longstanding social and political fault lines [10].
6. What journalists and watchdogs recommend readers watch for
Because organized Klan groups are small and fluid, watchdogs advise monitoring local civil‑rights group reports, SPLC and ADL updates, and local news coverage for concrete incidents—flyer campaigns, public rallies, recruitment calls—and not relying on a single national map [4] [1] [6]. Local investigations (for example, police probes into distributed flyers) are the best contemporaneous indicators of on‑the‑ground activity [6].
Conclusion — how to interpret the record in 2025
Reporting and nonprofit tracking agree that the KKK remains an active but diminished, fragmented movement concentrated mainly in the South with episodes elsewhere; sources cite a few dozen small groups nationally and name particular state chapters and incidents in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and Texas among others [1] [4] [3] [6] [5]. Because of decentralization and differing counting methods, available sources do not offer a single definitive list of every state holding Klan meetings in 2025—monitoring SPLC, ADL and vetted local reporting is the most reliable way to track where chapters are currently meeting or staging public events [4] [1].