27 US states now require adult websites to verify that visitors are 18 or older, more than half of all states as of October 27, 2026.
Those 27 states are home to about 175.9 million people, or 51.5% of the US population (our calculation). Pornhub blocks or restricts access in 25 of them.
In this article, we’ll break down every porn ban state by law and start date, population covered, Pornhub blocks and penalties, plus court rulings, VPN data, public opinion and laws abroad.
Top Porn Ban State Statistics
- 27 of 50 US states (54%) have an age verification law for adult websites in force as of October 2026.
- About 51.5% of Americans live in a state with a porn age verification law.
- The number of states with a law in force grew from 6 at the end of 2023 to 27 by October 2026.
- Pornhub blocks or restricts access in 25 states, home to 46.6% of the US population.
- After Pornhub blocked a state, total time spent on the top 25 adult sites fell by only about 10%, while time on XVideos rose 33%.
- The US Supreme Court upheld Texas’s age verification law 6–3 on June 27, 2025.
- More than 69 million age checks were completed across 32 UK services in the second half of 2025, 23 times the previous six months.
How Many States Have Porn Age Verification Laws?
According to the Free Speech Coalition’s state law table, 27 states have passed age verification requirements for adult websites. All 27 are in force as of October 2026 (a few under court challenge or partly blocked), per RecordingLaw’s tracker, last checked October 26, 2026.
That’s 27 of 50 states, or 54%. The other 23 states and Washington, D.C. have no such law.
“Porn ban” is a nickname, not a legal term, and it shouldn’t be confused with the countries that ban porn outright. None of these laws bans adult content for adults; they require sites where roughly a third or more of the material is “harmful to minors” to check ages. The ban label stuck because large sites like Pornhub chose to block whole states rather than comply.
You’ll see other counts online, and they measure different things:
| Count | Value | What It Measures | As Of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult-site age verification laws in force | 27 states | Laws aimed at porn sites (FSC, RecordingLaw, AVPA) | September–October 2026 |
| Any age verification law in force | 29 states | Includes social media and app laws | September 2026 |
| States with any age verification measure on record | 43 states | Enacted, pending or proposed measures of any type | September 2026 |
| Older or outdated pages | 25 states | Counts that predate West Virginia and Iowa | December 2025–June 2026 |
Use 27 if you mean porn sites specifically. The higher figures fold in social media and app store rules.
List of Porn Ban States (2026)
Louisiana was the first state with a law in force, on January 1, 2023. Iowa is the most recent, from July 1, 2026.
Pornhub blocks or restricts every one of these states except Louisiana, where it verifies ages, and Ohio, where Pornhub’s parent company Aylo says a federal Section 230 exemption applies.
Here’s the full list of porn ban states, sorted by the date each law took effect:
| State | Law | In Effect Since | Pornhub Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | Act 440 (HB 142) | January 1, 2023 | Verifies ages |
| Utah | SB 287 | May 3, 2023 | Blocked |
| Mississippi | SB 2346 | July 1, 2023 | Blocked |
| Virginia | SB 1515 | July 1, 2023 | Blocked |
| Arkansas | SB 66 (Act 612) | August 1, 2023 | Blocked |
| Texas | HB 1181 | September 1, 2023* | Blocked |
| Montana | SB 544 | January 1, 2024 | Blocked |
| North Carolina | HB 8 | January 1, 2024 | Blocked |
| Idaho | H 498 | July 1, 2024 | Blocked |
| Kansas | SB 394 | July 1, 2024 | Blocked |
| Kentucky | HB 278 | July 15, 2024 | Blocked |
| Nebraska | LB 1092 | July 19, 2024 | Blocked |
| Indiana | SEA 17 | August 16, 2024* | Blocked |
| Alabama | HB 164 | October 1, 2024 | Blocked |
| Oklahoma | SB 1959 | November 1, 2024 | Blocked |
| Florida | HB 3 | January 1, 2025 | Blocked |
| Tennessee | SB 1792 | January 1, 2025* | Blocked |
| South Carolina | H 3424 | January 1, 2025 | Blocked |
| Georgia | SB 351 | July 1, 2025 | Blocked |
| South Dakota | HB 1053 | July 1, 2025 | Blocked |
| Wyoming | HB 43 | July 1, 2025 | Blocked |
| North Dakota | HB 1561 | August 1, 2025 | Blocked |
| Arizona | HB 2112 | September 26, 2025 | Blocked |
| Ohio | HB 96 (budget bill) | September 30, 2025 | Not blocked |
| Missouri | AG rule, then HB 1839 | November 30, 2025 | Blocked |
| West Virginia | HB 4412 | June 12, 2026 | Restricted** |
| Iowa | HF 864 | July 1, 2026 | Blocked |
*Court orders delayed enforcement: Texas was enjoined in August 2023 before a stay let it proceed, Indiana’s July 1, 2024 start was blocked until August 16, 2024, and Tennessee’s law was enforceable after a January 13, 2025 stay. **In West Virginia, Pornhub closed new sign-ups and limited access to existing accounts, while Aylo’s other sites are fully blocked.
Sources: Free Speech Coalition, RecordingLaw, West Virginia Legislature, Iowa Acts ch. 1143, Missouri Attorney General, PCMag, Ohio Capital Journal
Missouri is counted once. Its attorney general’s rule took effect on November 30, 2025, and a statute codifying it followed on August 28, 2026.
Porn Age Verification Laws Over Time
The number of porn ban states went from 1 to 27 in under 4 years. Six laws were in force by the end of 2023, 15 by the end of 2024 and 25 by the end of 2025.
2025 was the busiest year, with 10 laws taking effect. Only 2 have started so far in 2026, and Wisconsin’s governor vetoed a bill in April.
Here’s a breakdown of age verification laws by year:
| Year | Laws Taking Effect | States With A Law (End Of Year) | Share Of US Population Covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 6 | 6 | 16.0% |
| 2024 | 9 | 15 | 27.8% |
| 2025 | 10 | 25 | 50.0% |
| 2026* | 2 | 27 | 51.5% |
*Through October 27, 2026. Population shares use July 2025 estimates for every year.
Sources: Free Speech Coalition, U.S. Census Bureau (our calculation)
The population line crossed half of all Americans at the end of 2025. Florida alone added 23.5 million residents when its law began on January 1, 2025.
How Many People Live in Porn Ban States?
About 175.9 million Americans live in the 27 states with porn age verification laws, based on U.S. Census Bureau estimates for July 2025 (our calculation).
That’s 51.5% of the 341.8 million people in the US. Texas and Florida together account for 31.4% of everyone covered.
Here’s a breakdown of the most populous porn ban states:
| State | Residents (July 2025) | In Effect Since |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | 31,709,821 | 2023 |
| Florida | 23,462,518 | 2025 |
| Ohio | 11,900,510 | 2025 |
| Georgia | 11,302,748 | 2025 |
| North Carolina | 11,197,968 | 2024 |
| Virginia | 8,880,107 | 2023 |
| Arizona | 7,623,818 | 2025 |
| Tennessee | 7,315,076 | 2025 |
| Indiana | 6,973,333 | 2024 |
| Missouri | 6,270,541 | 2025 |
On the other end of the spectrum, the 23 states and D.C. without a law hold 165.9 million people. The biggest are California (39.4 million), New York (20.0 million), Pennsylvania (13.1 million), Illinois (12.7 million) and Michigan (10.1 million).
Which States Does Pornhub Block?
Pornhub blocks or restricts access in 25 states as of October 2026, home to about 159.3 million people, or 46.6% of Americans (our calculation).
That leaves 2 exceptions among the 27 porn ban states. In Louisiana, Pornhub checks ages through a third-party service; in Ohio, Aylo told the Ohio Capital Journal it is exempt as an “interactive computer service.”
Here’s how the US population splits by status:
| Status | States | Residents | Share Of US Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Law in force, Pornhub blocked or restricted | 25 | 159,334,691 | 46.6% |
| Law in force, Pornhub available | 2 | 16,518,699 | 4.8% |
| No law (including D.C.) | 23 + D.C. | 165,931,467 | 48.5% |
Pornhub’s own explanation for blocking is traffic. It said its Louisiana traffic dropped about 80% after verification began, as TechCrunch reported in July 2023. That’s a company claim with no published method.
Age Verification Penalties by State
Penalties range from injunctions only in Ohio to a Class C felony in Tennessee. The most common money penalty is $10,000, charged per violation, per day or per instance depending on the state.
Texas set the template for the steepest fines: up to $10,000 per day of noncompliance plus up to $250,000 if a minor accesses covered material, as described in the Supreme Court’s opinion.
Here’s a breakdown of headline penalties in selected states:
| State | Who Enforces | Headline Penalty |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | Attorney general | Up to $10,000 per day; up to $250,000 more if a minor gets access |
| Arizona | Private lawsuits | Up to $10,000 per day; up to $250,000 if a minor gets access |
| Missouri | Attorney general | Up to $10,000 per day; up to $250,000 more if a minor gets access |
| Indiana | Attorney general and private suits | Civil penalties up to $250,000, per a federal court |
| Kansas | Attorney general and private suits | $500–$10,000 per violation; private damages of at least $50,000 |
| Florida | Attorney general and minors | Up to $50,000 per violation; up to $10,000 in private damages |
| West Virginia | Attorney general and private suits | $10,000 per day (AG); $10,000 per incident (private) |
| Iowa | Attorney general | $1,000 per violation, capped at $10,000 per day |
| Wyoming | Parents or guardians | $5,000 per failure to verify |
| South Dakota | Attorney general | Up to $5,000 per instance; repeat offense is a felony |
| Tennessee | Attorney general, private suits, prosecutors | Class C felony (the only felony-level penalty for sites) |
| Ohio | Attorney general only | Injunctive relief after a 45-day cure period |
Enforcement has already produced payouts. Chaturbate agreed to pay Texas $675,000 to settle a suit under HB 1181, according to 404 Media.
Are Porn Age Verification Laws Legal?
Yes, for now. The US Supreme Court upheld Texas’s HB 1181 age verification law by a 6–3 vote in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton on June 27, 2025.
Justice Thomas wrote for the majority, applying intermediate scrutiny because the law only incidentally burdens adults’ protected speech. Justice Kagan dissented, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson, arguing for strict scrutiny.
The ruling took most of the air out of state-level challenges. Here’s what has happened in court and in legislatures since:
| Date | Event | Result |
|---|---|---|
| June 27, 2025 | Supreme Court decides FSC v. Paxton | Texas law upheld, 6–3 |
| July 2025 | Challenge to Florida’s HB 3 adult-site rules | Plaintiffs dropped it |
| August 2025 | Montana challenge | Dismissed |
| April 3, 2026 | Wisconsin AB 105 | Vetoed; override failed May 13, 2026 |
| June 29, 2026 | US House passes KIDS Act, which includes the SCREEN Act | 267–117 vote |
| August 5, 2026 | Senate Commerce votes on the SCREEN Act | 15–13, stalled for lack of a quorum |
| September 24, 2026 | Utah’s 2026 rule covering VPN users | Blocked by a federal court |
Notably, Utah’s injunction only covers the newer rule applying to anyone physically in the state, including VPN users. The original 2023 verification duty still applies.
What Happens After a State Passes an Age Verification Law?
The best evidence so far says viewing moves elsewhere more than it stops. A 2026 NBER working paper tracking 554,866 machines found that after Pornhub shut down in a state, total time on the top 25 adult sites fell by only about 10%.
Time on Pornhub fell 54%, but time on XVideos rose roughly 33% and XNXX roughly 20%, based on the minute figures reported by economists Brown, Davis and Pope. VPN card transactions jumped 35% in the week after a shutdown.
Here’s what the main studies found:
| Study | Data | Compliant Site | Non-Compliant Sites | VPNs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brown, Davis & Pope (NBER, 2026) | Comscore panel, 554,866 machines, 15-state sample (14 Pornhub shutdowns) | Pornhub time −54% | XVideos +33%, XNXX +20% | Card transactions +35% |
| Lang et al. (Journal of Law & Empirical Analysis, 2026) | Google Trends, states with laws, 3 months after | Pornhub searches −51% | XVideos searches +48.1% | VPN searches +23.6% |
| University of Manchester (SSRN, 2026) | Site traffic, 15 states | “Large drops” for gated sites | Ungated sites +35–40% | Not reported |
In plain terms, only about 10 of every 100 hours of viewing actually went away. Most of the rest shifted to sites that don’t check ages, such as XVideos and XNXX, two of the biggest porn sites by traffic.
VPN Demand After Porn Bans
VPN demand in Utah spiked 847% at its peak after Pornhub blocked the state in May 2023, according to Top10VPN. The UK’s spike in July 2025 was bigger still, at 1,987%.
That UK peak was about 7.2 times the size of the Texas spike in March 2024 (our calculation). France, the other national case, comes third at 570%.
Here’s a breakdown of peak VPN demand spikes by place:
| Place | Trigger | Peak Increase In VPN Demand |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Online Safety Act age checks, July 2025 | 1,987% |
| Utah | Pornhub block, May 2023 | 847% |
| France | Pornhub withdrawal, June 2025 | 570% |
| Texas | Pornhub block, March 2024 | 275% |
| Alabama | Pornhub block, September 2024 | 247% |
| Louisiana | Age checks begin, January 2023 | 246% |
Spikes measure interest, not lasting use. A different tracker, vpnMentor, put Utah’s surge at 967%, which shows how much these figures depend on the dataset.
Public Support for Age Verification
Around 4 in 5 Americans back age checks for porn sites in most polls. A SCOTUSPoll survey of 2,201 US adults in April 2025 found 80% agreed states should be able to have age verification for porn sites, including 88% of Republicans and 75% of Democrats, as reported by the National Catholic Register.
Wording matters, though. When YouGov asked 4,003 US adults in May 2025 about requiring a government ID upload, support fell to 57%, with 21% opposed.
Here’s how the main polls compare:
| Poll | Population | Date | Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cygnal (released by American Principles Project) | 1,048 US likely voters | February 2026 | 81% |
| SCOTUSPoll (YouGov) | 2,201 US adults | April 2025 | 80% |
| All About Cookies | 1,000 US adults | February 2026 | 79% |
| YouGov UK | British adults | March 2026 | 75% |
| YouGov US (ID upload wording) | 4,003 US adults | May 2025 | 57% |
Support doesn’t mean confidence. In the same All About Cookies survey, 85% of Americans said the laws are easily circumvented, and fewer than a third of Britons told YouGov in March 2026 they expect age checks to work. The Cygnal poll was released by a conservative advocacy group.
Age Verification Laws Around the World
The UK enforced the biggest national rollout so far, with “highly effective” age checks required on porn sites from July 25, 2025 under the Online Safety Act, according to Ofcom. Fines can reach £18 million or 10% of worldwide revenue, whichever is greater.
Australia, France and Italy have national rules too, while Canada’s Senate has passed a bill that is still waiting on the House of Commons.
Here’s a breakdown of major age verification rules outside the US:
| Country/Region | Rule | Start Date | Notable Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Online Safety Act | July 25, 2025 | Fines up to £18 million or 10% of global revenue |
| France | SREN law, Arcom standard | January 11, 2025 | Aylo suspended Pornhub in France in June 2025 |
| Italy | AGCOM rules | November 12, 2025 | 48 sites on the regulator’s list |
| Germany | Youth Media Protection treaty (JMStV) | Ongoing | Berlin court upheld Pornhub block orders, April 30, 2025 |
| Ireland | Online Safety Code, Part B | July 21, 2025 | Applies to video-sharing platforms hosting porn |
| Australia | Age-restricted material codes | March 9, 2026 | “I am 18” buttons no longer enough; up to A$49.5 million per breach |
| European Union | Age verification blueprint | July 2025 pilot | 5 member states first to take it up |
| Canada | Bill S-209 | Pending | Passed Senate April 2026 |
UK Online Safety Act by the Numbers
More than 69 million age checks were completed across 32 UK services between July and December 2025, about 23 times the previous six months, according to Ofcom’s 2026 report on age assurance.
By June 2026, 64 of the UK’s top 100 porn sites had age checks in place, and a further 10 blocked UK users.
VPN use rose sharply, then eased. UK daily users of VPN apps more than doubled from about 650,000 before July 25, 2025 to over 1.4 million in mid-August, then fell to around 900,000 by November, per Ofcom’s Online Nation 2025.
Here’s a closer look at the UK figures:
| Metric | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Age checks completed (32 services) | 69 million+ | July–December 2025 |
| Top 100 porn sites with age checks | 64 | June 2026 |
| Pornhub UK unique visitors, change | −31% | July to August 2025 |
| UK visitors to porn sites, change | Down by about a third | After July 25, 2025 |
| Non-compliant sites that gained traffic | 10 of 17 tracked | April 2025–January 2026 |
| Ofcom investigations into adult services | 23, covering 88 services | July 2025–July 2026 |
| Adult providers fined | 7 (largest fine £1.35 million) | July 2025–July 2026 |
Aylo has claimed a far bigger fall, saying Pornhub’s UK visits dropped 77%, as TechRadar reported. The gap is partly measurement: VPN users show up as non-UK visitors in a site’s own data, so Ofcom’s panel-based figure is likely closer to the real change in UK viewers.
What’s Next for Age Verification Laws?
Most of the remaining growth is likely to come from federal action rather than new states. The SCREEN Act, which would set a national age verification mandate for porn sites, passed the House inside the KIDS Act on June 29, 2026 but stalled in the Senate Commerce Committee on August 5, 2026.
Closer to home, Ohio lawmakers are working on a fix to the Section 230 exemption Aylo relies on, with amendments proposing $100,000 per violation, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. Pennsylvania’s SB 603 is still pending.
Abroad, the European Commission has asked each member state to offer at least one compliant age verification tool by December 31, 2026. That recommendation is non-binding.
How We Compiled These Statistics
We built the state list from the Free Speech Coalition’s state law table and RecordingLaw’s tracker (checked October 26, 2026), then confirmed bill numbers and dates against legislature pages, LegiScan and state news coverage. We count laws aimed at commercial adult websites only, not social media or app store age rules.
Population figures are our calculations from U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 estimates (July 1, 2025), applied to every year for consistency. Year-by-year counts, population shares, the viewing-time index and the UK-to-Texas VPN ratio are also our own calculations.
Traffic and VPN figures come from peer-reviewed and working papers, Ofcom and Top10VPN. Company claims (Pornhub’s 80% and 77% drops) are labeled as such.
Key Takeaways
27 US states, home to 51.5% of Americans, now require porn sites to verify ages. That’s up from 6 states at the end of 2023.
Pornhub has answered by blocking 25 of those states, but research suggests total viewing falls only about 10% as traffic shifts to sites that don’t check ages.
With the Supreme Court’s 6–3 ruling behind them, states face few legal hurdles. The open questions are whether a federal law passes and whether enforcement can reach non-compliant sites.
FAQ
How many states have porn age verification laws?
27 US states have porn age verification laws in force as of October 2026. Louisiana was first, on January 1, 2023, and Iowa is the latest, from July 1, 2026. Together they’re home to about 175.9 million people, or 51.5% of the US population.
Is porn banned in any US state?
No state bans legal adult content for adults. The 27 “porn ban states” require sites with a large share of adult material to verify that users are 18+. Pornhub chooses to block access in 25 of them instead of complying, which is where the ban label comes from.
Which states does Pornhub block?
Pornhub blocks or restricts access in 25 states: every state with an age verification law except Louisiana and Ohio. In Louisiana it verifies ages through a third party, and in Ohio its owner says a federal exemption applies.
Did the Supreme Court uphold age verification laws?
Yes. On June 27, 2025, the Supreme Court upheld Texas’s HB 1181 in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton by a 6–3 vote. The majority applied intermediate scrutiny, holding that the law only incidentally burdens adults’ protected speech.
Do age verification laws reduce porn viewing?
Only modestly, according to current research. A 2026 NBER study found total time on the top 25 adult sites fell about 10% after Pornhub blocked a state, while time on XVideos rose 33% and VPN card transactions rose 35%.
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