Junkyard statistics by state (2026)

Junk Cars Nation lists 7,139 junkyards, auto recyclers, scrap yards and junk car buyers in 3,551 cities across all 50 states and DC (listings checked September 2026). This page ranks every state and the 25 biggest cities, splits the counts by type of business, and offers the table as a CSV. Quote it with a link; the numbers are reproducible from our directory and are refreshed with each data release.

Key figures

7,139 businesses that take junk cars or sell their parts: 4,106 junkyards, 1,154 auto recyclers and parts yards, 1,273 junk car buyers, tow and junk-removal services, and 606 scrap and recycling yards.
California has the most listed yards (771), followed by Texas (612), Florida (583), Pennsylvania (360), Ohio (314). The fewest are in District of Columbia (3) and Hawaii (12).
Per person, Rhode Island has the most junkyards: 3.5 listings per 100,000 residents, then New Hampshire (3.2), Wyoming (3.1), Wisconsin (3.1). The national figure is 2.1 per 100,000. The fewest per person are in District of Columbia (0.4). Population: Census Bureau Vintage 2024 estimates for July 1, 2024.
Houston, TX is the biggest junkyard city in the directory with 120 listings, ahead of Phoenix (64), Los Angeles (62), Chicago (56).
3,551 cities have at least one listing; 3,205 have a full city page.
423 car models from 42 makes have a page counting NHTSA complaints and recalls by model year; the most-reported model is the Ford F-150 with 44,577 owner complaints.

Junkyards by state

All 50 states and DC, ranked by listed businesses. "Buyers & tow" are the junk car buyers, towing and junk-removal services that pick up whole cars. Download as CSV.

#	State	All listings	Per 100k people	Junkyards	Auto recyclers	Buyers & tow	Scrap yards	Cities
1	California	771	2.0	399	201	140	31	234
2	Texas	612	2.0	356	103	90	63	195
3	Florida	583	2.5	312	84	140	47	185
4	Pennsylvania	360	2.8	217	49	61	33	234
5	Ohio	314	2.6	204	33	55	22	151
6	New York	297	1.5	162	43	54	38	165
7	Georgia	252	2.3	138	33	66	15	117
8	Illinois	251	2.0	145	19	50	37	141
9	North Carolina	248	2.2	162	32	36	18	120
10	Michigan	247	2.4	153	30	42	22	151
11	Wisconsin	182	3.1	100	27	33	22	112
12	Missouri	179	2.9	94	35	32	18	106
13	New Jersey	178	1.9	98	23	42	15	125
14	Indiana	175	2.5	102	25	33	15	99
15	Tennessee	157	2.2	85	35	22	15	80
16	Massachusetts	150	2.1	103	12	25	10	94
17	Virginia	148	1.7	85	16	31	16	78
18	Arizona	133	1.8	66	26	27	14	37
19	Washington	131	1.6	75	25	23	8	71
20	Oklahoma	111	2.7	66	17	19	9	55
21	Oregon	107	2.5	54	26	23	4	52
22	Alabama	104	2.0	54	22	18	10	61
23	Colorado	104	1.7	68	9	23	4	42
24	Kentucky	100	2.2	58	26	12	4	69
25	Minnesota	100	1.7	65	14	16	5	77
26	South Carolina	98	1.8	53	23	9	13	63
27	Iowa	97	3.0	69	17	7	4	67
28	Maryland	93	1.5	61	3	20	9	52
29	Louisiana	92	2.0	51	12	16	13	46
30	Arkansas	83	2.7	42	23	9	9	54
31	Kansas	82	2.8	48	14	11	9	45
32	Mississippi	68	2.3	45	7	12	4	47
33	Connecticut	63	1.7	41	3	8	11	41
34	New Hampshire	45	3.2	30	6	5	4	31
35	Idaho	44	2.2	31	7	4	2	27
36	Utah	42	1.2	29	4	8	1	24
37	Rhode Island	39	3.5	20	8	8	3	21
38	Nebraska	35	1.7	17	11	4	3	21
39	West Virginia	35	2.0	21	7	4	3	26
40	Maine	31	2.2	20	7	2	2	28
41	Nevada	29	0.9	17	8	2	2	7
42	Montana	26	2.3	16	5	5	0	12
43	New Mexico	25	1.2	15	5	3	2	11
44	South Dakota	23	2.5	9	7	2	5	12
45	Delaware	21	2.0	14	4	2	1	13
46	Wyoming	18	3.1	6	3	5	4	14
47	North Dakota	16	2.0	11	2	3	0	14
48	Vermont	13	2.0	9	1	1	2	10
49	Alaska	12	1.6	5	2	4	1	4
50	Hawaii	12	0.8	3	0	6	3	9
51	District of Columbia	3	0.4	2	0	0	1	1
	United States	7,139	2.1	4,106	1,154	1,273	606	3,551

The 25 cities with the most junkyards

#	City	Listings	Mix
1	Houston, TX	120	62 junkyards, 23 scrap and recycling yards, 16 auto recyclers and parts yards, 12 junk car buyers and 7 towing and pickup services
2	Phoenix, AZ	64	31 junkyards, 13 auto recyclers and parts yards, 7 scrap and recycling yards, 7 towing and pickup services, 4 junk car buyers and 2 junk removal haulers
3	Los Angeles, CA	62	38 junkyards, 14 auto recyclers and parts yards, 5 junk car buyers, 2 towing and pickup services, 2 scrap and recycling yards and 1 junk removal hauler
4	Chicago, IL	56	35 junkyards, 9 scrap and recycling yards, 7 towing and pickup services, 2 auto recyclers and parts yards, 2 junk car buyers and 1 junk removal hauler
5	Philadelphia, PA	49	28 junkyards, 7 junk car buyers, 6 towing and pickup services, 5 auto recyclers and parts yards, 2 scrap and recycling yards and 1 junk removal hauler
6	San Diego, CA	45	20 junkyards, 13 auto recyclers and parts yards, 7 junk car buyers, 3 scrap and recycling yards, 1 junk removal hauler and 1 towing and pickup service
7	Rancho Cordova, CA	44	24 auto recyclers and parts yards, 19 junkyards and 1 scrap and recycling yard
8	Tampa, FL	43	29 junkyards, 6 towing and pickup services, 3 scrap and recycling yards, 3 junk car buyers and 2 auto recyclers and parts yards
9	Orlando, FL	42	23 junkyards, 7 auto recyclers and parts yards, 5 towing and pickup services, 4 junk car buyers, 2 scrap and recycling yards and 1 junk removal hauler
10	Charlotte, NC	35	20 junkyards, 7 junk car buyers, 4 auto recyclers and parts yards, 2 towing and pickup services and 2 scrap and recycling yards
11	Portland, OR	34	15 junkyards, 9 auto recyclers and parts yards, 4 towing and pickup services, 3 junk car buyers, 2 scrap and recycling yards and 1 junk removal hauler
12	Indianapolis, IN	33	17 junkyards, 7 towing and pickup services, 4 auto recyclers and parts yards, 3 scrap and recycling yards and 2 junk car buyers
13	Columbus, OH	33	14 junkyards, 8 junk car buyers, 8 auto recyclers and parts yards, 2 towing and pickup services and 1 junk removal hauler
14	Milwaukee, WI	32	15 junkyards, 8 towing and pickup services, 6 scrap and recycling yards, 2 auto recyclers and parts yards and 1 junk removal hauler
15	San Antonio, TX	31	19 junkyards, 8 auto recyclers and parts yards, 2 junk car buyers, 1 scrap and recycling yard and 1 towing and pickup service
16	Detroit, MI	30	20 junkyards, 5 junk car buyers, 2 scrap and recycling yards, 2 towing and pickup services and 1 auto recyclers and parts yard
17	Cleveland, OH	30	20 junkyards, 6 scrap and recycling yards and 4 towing and pickup services
18	Dallas, TX	29	17 junkyards, 8 auto recyclers and parts yards, 2 junk car buyers, 1 towing and pickup service and 1 junk removal hauler
19	Denver, CO	28	14 junkyards, 5 towing and pickup services, 3 junk car buyers, 3 scrap and recycling yards, 2 auto recyclers and parts yards and 1 junk removal hauler
20	Jacksonville, FL	27	14 junkyards, 5 scrap and recycling yards, 2 junk removal haulers, 2 junk car buyers, 2 auto recyclers and parts yards and 2 towing and pickup services
21	Chula Vista, CA	26	15 junkyards, 7 auto recyclers and parts yards, 3 scrap and recycling yards and 1 junk car buyer
22	Sun Valley, CA	26	13 auto recyclers and parts yards, 8 junkyards, 3 towing and pickup services and 2 scrap and recycling yards
23	New York, NY	26	18 junkyards, 5 scrap and recycling yards and 3 junk car buyers
24	Miami, FL	25	10 junkyards, 6 towing and pickup services, 5 junk car buyers and 4 scrap and recycling yards
25	Oklahoma City, OK	24	15 junkyards, 3 auto recyclers and parts yards, 2 scrap and recycling yards, 2 junk car buyers, 1 towing and pickup service and 1 junk removal hauler

How the counts are made

Each listing is one business location with a street address, a city and a business type, checked September 2026. Locations that match on name and street, phone and ZIP, or website and street number are merged, so a yard with two phone numbers counts once. Businesses without a street address are kept off the counts above. Types come from how the business describes itself: a junkyard or salvage yard, an auto recycler or used parts seller, a junk car buyer, a towing or junk-removal service, or a scrap and recycling yard. A state's "cities" are places with at least one listing.

"Per 100k people" divides each state's listings by the Census Bureau's Vintage 2024 population estimate for July 1, 2024 (NST-EST2024-ALLDATA). Counts describe our directory, not every business in the country. Yards close and open, so a state's count moves between data releases; the release date is in the table's CSV. To cite a figure, link to this page and name the date.

For what the national industry looks like beyond our listings, the car recycling guide gives the USGS figures for scrapped vehicles and shredders, with sources.