A data report by Eyes Off Indiana. Data current as of July 1, 2026. All figures in this report are reproducible from public data; see Data and Methods and Data Availability below.

Abstract

Automated license plate readers (ALPRs) photograph and log every passing vehicle, creating searchable records of driver movements. To measure the scale of this infrastructure, Eyes Off Indiana analyzed every ALPR camera location recorded in OpenStreetMap — the crowdsourced dataset behind the DeFlock mapping project — as of July 1, 2026. We identified 110,198 mapped ALPR cameras in the United States, which we assigned to states and to Indiana counties using US Census Bureau boundary files, land areas, and population estimates.

Three findings stand out for Hoosiers:

  • Indiana ranks 9th among the 50 states in total mapped ALPR cameras (about 3,000), despite ranking 17th in population — behind only California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, New York, and Michigan.
  • Indiana ranks 6th per capita, with 43.1 mapped cameras per 100,000 residents — roughly one third higher than the national rate of 32.1.
  • Cameras are documented in 84 of Indiana's 92 counties. Marion County alone accounts for 509 cameras (16.8% of the state total), but the highest per-capita rates appear in small rural counties: Blackford County records 110 cameras per 100,000 residents, the highest rate in the state.

Key Findings at a Glance

Measure Value
Mapped ALPR cameras, United States 110,198
Mapped ALPR cameras, 50 states 109,118
Mapped ALPR cameras, Indiana 3,025
Indiana rank, total cameras 9th of 50
Indiana rank, cameras per 100,000 residents 6th of 50 (43.1; US rate: 32.1)
Indiana rank, cameras per 1,000 sq mi 11th of 50 (83.3; US rate: 30.9)
Indiana counties with at least one mapped camera 84 of 92
Median Indiana county 14–15 cameras
Top county (total) Marion — 509
Top county (per capita) Blackford — 110.0 per 100k

1. Background

ALPR networks — sold to police departments, homeowners associations, and businesses by vendors such as Flock Safety and Motorola Solutions — do not simply check plates against hot lists. They retain time-stamped location records of ordinary drivers, searchable for weeks or months after collection. Indiana currently has no statewide law governing how long this data is kept, who may search it, or with whom it may be shared.

Public debate about ALPRs is often conducted without basic facts: how many cameras exist, where they are, and how Indiana compares with its neighbors. This report addresses that gap with a transparent, reproducible count.

2. Data and Methods

Camera locations. We retrieved every node tagged man_made=surveillance with surveillance:type=ALPR inside the United States boundary from OpenStreetMap via the Overpass API on July 1, 2026 (110,198 nodes). This is the same community-maintained dataset that powers DeFlock.me, the volunteer project that documents ALPR locations nationwide.

Geographic assignment. Each camera coordinate was assigned to a state using US Census Bureau cartographic state boundaries, and to an Indiana county using Census county boundaries (keyed by FIPS code), with a point-in-polygon test. Of the 110,198 nodes, 109,118 fell within the 50 states, 118 in the District of Columbia, and 50 in Puerto Rico; 912 nodes (0.8%) fell in other US territories or outside the simplified coastal boundaries and are excluded.

Denominators. Land areas are from the Census Bureau's 2024 national gazetteer (ALAND_SQMI). Populations are the Census Bureau's Vintage 2024 estimates (July 1, 2024). Rates are reported as cameras per 1,000 square miles of land area and cameras per 100,000 residents.

A note on Indiana's total. The 50-state table assigns cameras with generalized (1:20,000,000) state outlines and records 2,983 cameras in Indiana. Higher-resolution county boundaries capture cameras near the state line and yield the more precise statewide figure of 3,025, which matches a direct Overpass query of the Indiana administrative boundary (3,035) to within 0.3%. County-level figures in Section 4 sum to 3,025.

3. National Results: Where Indiana Stands

California and Texas lead the nation in raw camera counts, as their size would predict. Indiana's position is more notable: with the 17th-largest population and the 38th-largest land area, it holds the 9th-highest camera count in the country.

Table 1. Top 10 states by mapped ALPR cameras, July 1, 2026

Rank State Cameras Per 1,000 sq mi (rank) Per 100k residents (rank)
1 California 16,575 106.3 10 42.0 8
2 Texas 13,429 51.4 18 42.9 7
3 Florida 7,389 137.7 6 31.6 18
4 Georgia 7,259 125.8 7 64.9 1
5 Illinois 5,931 106.8 9 46.7 4
6 Ohio 5,662 138.6 5 47.6 3
7 New York 3,609 76.6 13 18.2 34
8 Michigan 3,320 58.6 16 32.7 16
9 Indiana 2,983 83.3 11 43.1 6
10 Missouri 2,832 41.2 22 45.3 5
Bar chart of the top 15 states by mapped ALPR cameras, with Indiana ranked ninth
Figure 1. Top 15 states by total mapped ALPR cameras. Indiana (highlighted) ranks 9th despite ranking 17th in population.

Adjusting for population sharpens the picture. Georgia — home of ALPR vendor Flock Safety — leads the nation at 64.9 cameras per 100,000 residents, followed by Kansas (59.4), Ohio (47.6), Illinois (46.7), and Missouri (45.3). Indiana is 6th at 43.1 per 100,000 — about 34% above the national rate of 32.1. Every neighboring state except Michigan also ranks in the per-capita top 20, placing the lower Midwest among the most densely ALPR-covered regions in the country relative to population.

Bar chart of the top 15 states by mapped ALPR cameras per 100,000 residents, with Indiana ranked sixth
Figure 2. Top 15 states by mapped ALPR cameras per 100,000 residents (Census Vintage 2024 estimates). Indiana ranks 6th.

By land-area density, small urbanized states dominate — Rhode Island (240.8 per 1,000 sq mi), New Jersey (179.2), and Delaware (179.1) — while Indiana ranks 11th at 83.3, nearly triple the national rate of 30.9. The complete 50-state table appears in Appendix A.

4. Indiana County Results

Mapped ALPR cameras are documented in 84 of Indiana's 92 counties. The distribution follows population — Marion County's 509 cameras lead the state, and the five most-camera'd counties (Marion, Hamilton, Lake, Allen, St. Joseph) hold 38% of the state total — but the technology is no longer an urban phenomenon. The median Indiana county has 14–15 mapped cameras, and 26 counties record 20 or more.

Choropleth map of Indiana counties shaded by number of mapped ALPR cameras
Figure 3. Mapped ALPR cameras by Indiana county, July 1, 2026. The six highest-count counties are labeled.

Table 2. Top 15 Indiana counties by mapped ALPR cameras

Rank County Cameras Population (2024) Per 1,000 sq mi (rank) Per 100k residents (rank)
1 Marion 509 981,628 1,285.4 1 51.9 23
2 Hamilton 213 379,704 540.1 2 56.1 20
3 Lake 202 502,955 404.9 4 40.2 40
4 Allen 116 399,295 176.5 12 29.1 57
5 St. Joseph 111 273,744 242.5 8 40.5 38
6 Hendricks 110 190,629 270.3 7 57.7 16
7 Vanderburgh 108 180,387 462.7 3 59.9 13
8 Johnson 105 170,614 327.7 5 61.5 12
9 Clark 104 127,479 279.2 6 81.6 5
10 Elkhart 101 207,436 218.1 10 48.7 26
11 Porter 99 175,860 236.8 9 56.3 19
12 LaPorte 78 111,348 130.4 15 70.1 8
13 Madison 77 134,222 170.4 13 57.4 17
14 Tippecanoe 59 191,650 118.3 18 30.8 53
15 Hancock 58 88,810 189.6 11 65.3 10
Bar chart of the top 15 Indiana counties by mapped ALPR cameras, led by Marion County with 509
Figure 4. Top 15 Indiana counties by total mapped ALPR cameras.

Per-capita rates tell a different story. Marion County, with by far the most cameras, ranks only 23rd per capita. The highest rates belong to small counties:

Table 3. Top 10 Indiana counties by mapped ALPR cameras per 100,000 residents

Rank County Per 100k residents Cameras Population (2024)
1 Blackford 110.0 13 11,816
2 Tipton 97.9 15 15,324
3 Spencer 84.2 17 20,192
4 Greene 83.3 26 31,219
5 Clark 81.6 104 127,479
6 Sullivan 77.0 16 20,768
7 Dearborn 71.9 37 51,435
8 LaPorte 70.1 78 111,348
9 Randolph 65.7 16 24,337
10 Hancock 65.3 58 88,810

Blackford County — population 11,816 — records 13 mapped cameras, a per-capita rate more than double the state average and higher than any of Indiana's metropolitan counties. Rural residents of Blackford, Tipton, Spencer, Greene, and Sullivan counties pass a mapped ALPR camera at rates their counterparts in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Bloomington do not approach. Monroe County (Bloomington), which ended its Flock contract in 2025, ranks 70th per capita.

Eight counties — Benton, Fountain, Franklin, Jay, Martin, Ohio, Pike, and Switzerland — have no mapped cameras. As discussed under Limitations, this may reflect an absence of cameras or an absence of volunteer mapping coverage.

The complete 92-county table appears in Appendix B.

5. Discussion

Three patterns in these data bear on Indiana's policy debate:

Indiana is an outlier, not a bystander. Indiana hosts more mapped ALPR cameras than New York or Pennsylvania — states with roughly double and triple its population. Whatever is driving ALPR adoption, Indiana is adopting faster than nearly every other state relative to its size. A state near the top of the national distribution has a correspondingly strong interest in rules governing the technology.

Coverage is statewide, so policy must be statewide. With cameras documented in 84 of 92 counties and a median county count of 14–15, ALPR surveillance in Indiana cannot be dismissed as an Indianapolis issue. City-by-city ordinances and agency-by-agency policies leave most of the network — and most Hoosiers — outside any binding rule. Only statewide standards on retention, access, auditing, and sharing reach the network as it actually exists.

Small-county rates deserve scrutiny. The highest per-capita rates occur in counties with the fewest residents — and, typically, the smallest agencies, with the least capacity for auditing and oversight. A dozen cameras in a county of 12,000 people can log a large share of local daily travel, yet these are precisely the deployments least likely to attract press attention or formal policy.

6. Limitations

These figures measure mapped cameras, not all cameras. OpenStreetMap's ALPR coverage is maintained by volunteers, and DeFlock's own verification efforts suggest true camera counts exceed mapped counts in most places. Three consequences follow:

  • All figures are floors, not ceilings. A county with zero mapped cameras may simply lack a volunteer who has mapped it.
  • Comparisons may reflect mapping effort as well as deployment. States and counties with active contributor communities will rank higher, all else equal. Alaska's single mapped camera, for example, almost certainly understates its actual deployment.
  • Counts change daily. OpenStreetMap is continuously edited; these figures are a snapshot taken July 1, 2026.

Additionally, camera coordinates were assigned using generalized Census cartographic boundaries; a small number of cameras near state lines and coastlines (0.8% nationally) could not be assigned and are excluded from state totals.

Appendix A. All 50 states, ranked by mapped ALPR cameras

Rank State Cameras Per 1,000 sq mi (rank) Per 100k residents (rank)
1 California 16,575 106.3 10 42.0 8
2 Texas 13,429 51.4 18 42.9 7
3 Florida 7,389 137.7 6 31.6 18
4 Georgia 7,259 125.8 7 64.9 1
5 Illinois 5,931 106.8 9 46.7 4
6 Ohio 5,662 138.6 5 47.6 3
7 New York 3,609 76.6 13 18.2 34
8 Michigan 3,320 58.6 16 32.7 16
9 Indiana 2,983 83.3 11 43.1 6
10 Missouri 2,832 41.2 22 45.3 5
11 North Carolina 2,809 57.8 17 25.4 25
12 Virginia 2,704 68.5 14 30.7 19
13 Tennessee 2,614 63.4 15 36.2 12
14 Colorado 2,309 22.3 27 38.8 11
15 Arizona 2,197 19.3 29 29.0 21
16 Alabama 2,090 41.3 21 40.5 9
17 Wisconsin 1,917 35.4 25 32.2 17
18 Pennsylvania 1,851 41.4 20 14.2 37
19 Kansas 1,763 21.6 28 59.3 2
20 Washington 1,763 26.5 26 22.2 31
21 Louisiana 1,563 36.2 24 34.0 13
22 Kentucky 1,543 39.1 23 33.6 14
23 South Carolina 1,476 49.1 19 26.9 22
24 New Jersey 1,318 179.2 2 13.9 38
25 Minnesota 1,290 16.2 31 22.3 30
26 Oklahoma 1,215 17.7 30 29.7 20
27 Massachusetts 932 119.5 8 13.1 40
28 Utah 913 11.1 35 26.1 24
29 New Mexico 830 6.8 38 39.0 10
30 Connecticut 824 170.2 4 22.4 28
31 Arkansas 822 15.8 32 26.6 23
32 Maryland 787 81.0 12 12.6 41
33 Iowa 784 14.0 34 24.2 26
34 Mississippi 687 14.6 33 23.3 27
35 Nevada 675 6.1 40 20.7 32
36 Oregon 442 4.6 42 10.3 42
37 Nebraska 402 5.2 41 20.0 33
38 Delaware 349 179.1 3 33.2 15
39 Idaho 293 3.5 43 14.6 36
40 Rhode Island 249 240.8 1 22.4 29
41 West Virginia 178 7.4 36 10.1 44
42 North Dakota 126 1.8 45 15.8 35
43 South Dakota 124 1.6 47 13.4 39
44 New Hampshire 66 7.4 37 4.7 45
45 Wyoming 60 0.6 48 10.2 43
46 Maine 51 1.7 46 3.6 48
47 Montana 45 0.3 49 4.0 46
48 Hawaii 43 6.7 39 3.0 49
49 Vermont 24 2.6 44 3.7 47
50 Alaska 1 0.0 50 0.1 50

District of Columbia (118 cameras) and Puerto Rico (50) are tabulated separately and excluded from the 50-state ranking.

Appendix B. All 92 Indiana counties, ranked by mapped ALPR cameras

Rank County Cameras Population (2024) Per 1,000 sq mi (rank) Per 100k residents (rank)
1 Marion 509 981,628 1,285.4 1 51.9 23
2 Hamilton 213 379,704 540.1 2 56.1 20
3 Lake 202 502,955 404.9 4 40.2 40
4 Allen 116 399,295 176.5 12 29.1 57
5 St. Joseph 111 273,744 242.5 8 40.5 38
6 Hendricks 110 190,629 270.3 7 57.7 16
7 Vanderburgh 108 180,387 462.7 3 59.9 13
8 Johnson 105 170,614 327.7 5 61.5 12
9 Clark 104 127,479 279.2 6 81.6 5
10 Elkhart 101 207,436 218.1 10 48.7 26
11 Porter 99 175,860 236.8 9 56.3 19
12 LaPorte 78 111,348 130.4 15 70.1 8
13 Madison 77 134,222 170.4 13 57.4 17
14 Tippecanoe 59 191,650 118.3 18 30.8 53
15 Hancock 58 88,810 189.6 11 65.3 10
16 Vigo 52 106,166 128.8 16 49.0 25
17 Boone 45 78,773 106.4 19 57.1 18
18 Delaware 39 112,951 99.5 20 34.5 48
19 Kosciusko 38 80,669 71.5 23 47.1 28
20 Dearborn 37 51,435 121.3 17 71.9 7
21 Grant 30 66,458 72.4 22 45.1 32
22 Dubois 28 43,629 65.5 26 64.2 11
23 Greene 26 31,219 47.9 35 83.3 4
24 Monroe 26 140,702 65.9 25 18.5 70
25 Shelby 25 45,654 60.8 27 54.8 22
26 Bartholomew 23 84,741 56.5 30 27.1 59
27 Floyd 23 81,931 154.9 14 28.1 58
28 Henry 23 49,081 58.7 28 46.9 29
29 Noble 21 47,811 51.1 32 43.9 33
30 Warrick 21 66,339 54.6 31 31.7 52
31 Howard 20 84,082 68.2 24 23.8 67
32 Jackson 20 47,420 39.2 42 42.2 36
33 Knox 20 35,872 38.8 43 55.8 21
34 Marshall 20 46,464 45.1 36 43.0 35
35 Morgan 20 73,825 49.5 34 27.1 60
36 Wabash 18 30,777 43.6 39 58.5 15
37 Adams 17 36,584 50.2 33 46.5 30
38 Huntington 17 36,944 44.4 37 46.0 31
39 Spencer 17 20,192 42.8 40 84.2 3
40 Wayne 17 66,410 42.3 41 25.6 63
41 DeKalb 16 44,330 44.1 38 36.1 47
42 Randolph 16 24,337 35.4 45 65.7 9
43 Sullivan 16 20,768 35.8 44 77.0 6
44 Lawrence 15 45,192 33.4 46 33.2 49
45 Putnam 15 37,804 31.2 50 39.7 41
46 Tipton 15 15,324 57.6 29 97.9 2
47 Montgomery 14 38,633 27.7 52 36.2 46
48 Blackford 13 11,816 78.7 21 110.0 1
49 Harrison 13 39,978 26.9 54 32.5 50
50 Jefferson 12 32,921 33.3 47 36.5 45
51 LaGrange 12 41,122 31.6 49 29.2 56
52 Wells 12 28,798 32.6 48 41.7 37
53 Posey 11 25,067 26.9 53 43.9 34
54 Cass 10 37,559 24.3 56 26.6 61
55 Decatur 10 26,421 26.8 55 37.8 44
56 Miami 9 35,613 24.1 57 25.3 64
57 Starke 9 23,463 29.1 51 38.4 42
58 Newton 7 14,131 17.4 63 49.5 24
59 Steuben 7 34,862 22.7 58 20.1 68
60 Whitley 7 34,885 20.9 60 20.1 69
61 Brown 6 15,650 19.2 62 38.3 43
62 Fulton 6 20,004 16.3 65 30.0 55
63 Orange 6 19,824 15.1 66 30.3 54
64 White 6 24,833 11.9 69 24.2 66
65 Crawford 5 10,523 16.4 64 47.5 27
66 Perry 5 19,320 13.1 68 25.9 62
67 Pulaski 5 12,421 11.5 70 40.3 39
68 Vermillion 5 15,516 19.5 61 32.2 51
69 Warren 5 8,451 13.7 67 59.2 14
70 Clinton 4 32,895 9.9 73 12.2 78
71 Gibson 4 33,038 8.2 76 12.1 79
72 Jennings 4 27,634 10.6 71 14.5 75
73 Owen 4 21,851 10.4 72 18.3 71
74 Parke 4 16,508 9.0 75 24.2 65
75 Scott 4 24,751 21.0 59 16.2 73
76 Washington 4 28,345 7.8 78 14.1 77
77 Carroll 3 20,747 8.1 77 14.5 76
78 Jasper 3 33,387 5.4 81 9.0 80
79 Rush 3 16,759 7.4 79 17.9 72
80 Daviess 2 34,097 4.7 82 5.9 82
81 Fayette 2 23,335 9.3 74 8.6 81
82 Clay 1 26,424 2.8 83 3.8 83
83 Ripley 1 29,214 2.2 84 3.4 84
84 Union 1 6,884 6.2 80 14.5 74
85 Benton 0 8,853 0.0 0.0
86 Fountain 0 16,833 0.0 0.0
87 Franklin 0 23,136 0.0 0.0
88 Jay 0 20,164 0.0 0.0
89 Martin 0 9,864 0.0 0.0
90 Ohio 0 5,996 0.0 0.0
91 Pike 0 12,116 0.0 0.0
92 Switzerland 0 9,988 0.0 0.0

Counties with zero mapped cameras are listed alphabetically; rate rankings are not meaningful at zero.

Data Availability

Camera locations: OpenStreetMap contributors, retrieved via the Overpass API (query: man_made=surveillance and surveillance:type=ALPR), July 1, 2026, © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. The same data may be explored interactively at DeFlock.me. Boundaries and denominators: US Census Bureau cartographic boundary files, 2024 national gazetteer, and Vintage 2024 population estimates. The complete state and county datasets (CSV/JSON) and analysis scripts are available from Eyes Off Indiana on request.

Suggested Citation

Eyes Off Indiana. Indiana by the Numbers: A 50-State, 92-County Census of License Plate Surveillance. July 1, 2026. https://eyesoffindiana.org/articles/indiana-alpr-surveillance-by-the-numbers


Indiana ranks near the top of the nation in license plate surveillance and near the bottom in rules governing it. If you believe a network of 3,000 cameras deserves statewide standards for retention, access, and oversight, sign the Eyes Off Indiana petition and contact your state representative.