The US state with the highest number of active missing-person investigations has been identified — though the picture is more complicated than the raw totals suggest.
Figures from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) indicate that around 600,000 people are reported missing in the US every year.
‘a national centralized repository and resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases across the United States’.
Many of those reports are ultimately closed, but some searches and investigations continue for long periods, sometimes stretching into months or even years.
One case that drew attention last year involved Kaura Taylor, a Texas resident. Her mother reported her missing in May 2025, and she was later found safe in Scotland in the UK after relocating and joining a tribe.
More recently, Nancy Guthrie — the 84-year-old mother of TODAY host Savannah Guthrie — was reported missing by relatives in February.
She is thought to have been taken from her home in Tucson, Arizona, during the early hours of February 1, and she has not yet been located.
Texas and Arizona both appear in the top ten states for open missing-person cases. As of this year, Texas ranks second with 2,879 active cases, while Arizona sits in fifth place with 1,094.
California ranks first, with 3,764 open cases according to World Population Review.
However, totals alone don’t tell the full story: despite having the most cases overall, California’s missing-person rate is fairly typical, at about 7.61 missing people per 100,000 residents.
By contrast, the highest per-capita rate is reported in Alaska. Newsweek cites Alaska at 178.08 missing people per 100,000 residents.
That figure is far above the rest of the country — for comparison, Hawaii is listed as the next-highest with 20.13 per 100,000 people.
For families, the hope is always for swift answers. But in some instances, clarity comes far too late — as happened with Christina Marie Plante, whose relatives waited decades for an update.
Plante disappeared at 13 years old in Arizona in 1994. Then, after years with little public progress, the Gila County Sheriff’s Office posted a surprise update on Facebook on April 1.
They said the long-running case had been closed after she was found “alive and well”.
“Investigators have confirmed her identity, and her status as a missing person has been officially resolved,” a press release said.