Filmmaking

America lost one in nine movie theaters

The 50 states had 3,919 indoor movie theaters in 2025, down from 4,410 in 2019, an 11% drop.

Sections2
  • Hawaii lost the largest share, about a quarter (27 to 20); West Virginia (−23%) and New Mexico (−22%) were next.
  • 47 states lost theaters; only Delaware and Virginia gained, and Rhode Island held steady at 13.
  • California lost the most theaters, 40 (463 to 423), followed by Texas (37) and Pennsylvania (33).

Full ranking by state

Measure: private indoor movie theater establishments (NAICS 512131), annual average count—each theater site counts once; drive-ins are excluded. Period: 2019 and 2025. Data compiled: 11 November 2026.

Download: movie-theaters-change-by-state.csv

News outlets and researchers may quote these numbers with attribution to WeAreTheMovies.com and a link back to this page.

Ranks follow the percent change from 2019 to 2025, from the deepest cut to the biggest gain. The Change column gives the difference in theater sites and the percent change to one decimal place. Tied states share a rank.

Rank State 2019 2025 Change
1 Hawaii 27 20 −7 (−25.9%)
2 West Virginia 30 23 −7 (−23.3%)
3 New Mexico 37 29 −8 (−21.6%)
4 Pennsylvania 153 120 −33 (−21.6%)
5 North Carolina 132 104 −28 (−21.2%)
6 Maine 36 29 −7 (−19.4%)
7 Connecticut 53 43 −10 (−18.9%)
8 New Jersey 93 76 −17 (−18.3%)
9 Kentucky 56 46 −10 (−17.9%)
10 Arkansas 45 37 −8 (−17.8%)
11 Vermont 17 14 −3 (−17.6%)
12 Indiana 106 88 −18 (−17.0%)
13 Nevada 42 35 −7 (−16.7%)
13 Wisconsin 108 90 −18 (−16.7%)
13 Wyoming 24 20 −4 (−16.7%)
16 Louisiana 50 42 −8 (−16.0%)
17 Ohio 152 128 −24 (−15.8%)
18 Alabama 49 42 −7 (−14.3%)
19 Oregon 91 79 −12 (−13.2%)
20 Kansas 61 53 −8 (−13.1%)
21 Alaska 16 14 −2 (−12.5%)
22 Nebraska 41 36 −5 (−12.2%)
23 New York 232 204 −28 (−12.1%)
24 Colorado 94 83 −11 (−11.7%)
25 Tennessee 90 80 −10 (−11.1%)
26 South Carolina 46 41 −5 (−10.9%)
27 North Dakota 28 25 −3 (−10.7%)
28 Minnesota 103 92 −11 (−10.7%)
29 Florida 226 203 −23 (−10.2%)
30 Maryland 60 54 −6 (−10.0%)
31 Texas 372 335 −37 (−9.9%)
32 Iowa 93 84 −9 (−9.7%)
33 Idaho 33 30 −3 (−9.1%)
34 Montana 34 31 −3 (−8.8%)
35 California 463 423 −40 (−8.6%)
36 Arizona 83 76 −7 (−8.4%)
37 Missouri 97 89 −8 (−8.2%)
38 Massachusetts 89 82 −7 (−7.9%)
39 Oklahoma 66 61 −5 (−7.6%)
40 Michigan 112 104 −8 (−7.1%)
40 Utah 70 65 −5 (−7.1%)
42 Mississippi 30 28 −2 (−6.7%)
43 Washington 123 116 −7 (−5.7%)
44 New Hampshire 23 22 −1 (−4.3%)
44 South Dakota 23 22 −1 (−4.3%)
46 Illinois 151 146 −5 (−3.3%)
47 Georgia 125 123 −2 (−1.6%)
48 Rhode Island 13 13 0 (0.0%)
49 Virginia 102 108 +6 (+5.9%)
50 Delaware 10 11 +1 (+10.0%)

Method

Sources

BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages 2019, annual averages — motion picture theaters

  • Publisher: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW).
  • Dataset: QCEW open data, 2019 annual averages by industry (512131.csv).
  • URL: QCEW 2019 annual file for NAICS 512131
  • Fields used: area_fips, own_code, agglvl_code, annual_avg_estabs. Filter: own_code = 5 (private), agglvl_code = 58 (state, six-digit industry).
  • Reference period: calendar year 2019.
  • File last modified: 28 August 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2026.

BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages 2025, annual averages — motion picture theaters

  • Publisher: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW).
  • Dataset: QCEW open data, 2025 annual averages by industry (512131.csv).
  • URL: QCEW 2025 annual file for NAICS 512131
  • Fields used: area_fips, own_code, agglvl_code, annual_avg_estabs. Filter: own_code = 5 (private), agglvl_code = 58 (state, six-digit industry).
  • Reference period: calendar year 2025.
  • File last modified: 21 August 2026. Retrieved 11 November 2026.

Formula and ranking rules

Each state's figure is the annual average count of private NAICS 512131 establishments, for 2019 and for 2025. The change subtracts the 2019 figure from the 2025 figure; the percent change divides that change by the 2019 figure. Only the 50 states appear; the District of Columbia is not ranked.

Sorting uses the exact percent change, not the rounded value in the table, from largest loss to largest gain. Ranks are competition ranks (1, 2, 2, 4): states with exactly the same percent change share a rank and the next rank skips a place.

Limits

  • NAICS 512131 covers indoor motion picture theaters and excludes drive-in theaters (NAICS 512132) by definition. A state with many drive-ins will look smaller on this measure than its total cinema venue count.
  • QCEW counts sites that have employees covered by unemployment insurance, not screens, seats or attendance. Volunteer-run venues without paid staff are not counted.
  • Small states have few theaters, so a change of a handful of sites moves their percent change a long way.
  • The 2019 data use NAICS 2017 codes and the 2025 data NAICS 2022 codes. The code 512131 and its title are the same in both.
  • 2025 is the most recent complete year in QCEW; on 11 November 2026, the 2026 data covered only the first quarter.
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