Guide Rankings Law Updated June 25, 2026

Public Toplessness Laws by State

Civil-rights protest imagery representing public-toplessness laws

Public Toplessness Laws by State

Ranking - Law

Public-toplessness rules still split between clear legal states, ambiguous states with local-enforcement clashes, and a small group of states where the statutory language remains plainly prohibitive.

Quick Answer

Public Toplessness Laws by State

  1. 1

    Public toplessness laws by state are green in 34 states on this map. New York, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico are in that group.

  2. 2

    Indiana and Tennessee are the clearest red states. Both state-law sources treat exposure of the female breast as public nudity or indecent exposure.

  3. 3

    14 states stay yellow because state law, federal precedent, or city ordinances still collide. Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Washington are in that group.

Map

Public Toplessness Laws by State Map

State Law
Legal
Ambiguous
Illegal
34 states are green on this map. Indiana and Tennessee are red, while Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Washington sit in the yellow ambiguous group.
Public Toplessness Laws by State Map
State State Law
Alabama Legal
Alaska Legal
Arizona Ambiguous
Arkansas Legal
California Legal
Colorado Legal
Connecticut Legal
Delaware Ambiguous
Florida Ambiguous
Georgia Legal
Hawaii Legal
Idaho Legal
Illinois Legal
Indiana Illegal
Iowa Legal
Kansas Legal
Kentucky Legal
Louisiana Legal
Maine Legal
Maryland Ambiguous
Massachusetts Ambiguous
Michigan Ambiguous
Minnesota Ambiguous
Mississippi Ambiguous
Missouri Legal
Montana Legal
Nebraska Legal
Nevada Ambiguous
New Hampshire Legal
New Jersey Ambiguous
New Mexico Legal
New York Legal
North Carolina Legal
North Dakota Legal
Ohio Legal
Oklahoma Ambiguous
Oregon Legal
Pennsylvania Legal
Rhode Island Legal
South Carolina Ambiguous
South Dakota Legal
Tennessee Illegal
Texas Legal
Utah Legal
Vermont Legal
Virginia Ambiguous
Washington Ambiguous
West Virginia Legal
Wisconsin Legal
Wyoming Legal

34 states are green on this map. Indiana and Tennessee are red, while Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Washington sit in the yellow ambiguous group.

Public Toplessness Laws by State Table

State Law

Download as PDF

Print-ready table — Public Toplessness Laws by State

Ambiguous Public Toplessness Laws

City skyline and legal-code imagery representing ambiguous toplessness rules
14 states stay yellow because state law and local enforcement still clash in the current source set.

14 states are yellow on this map because the current source set does not resolve the clash between statewide language and local enforcement. Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Nevada, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Washington are all in that group.

Oklahoma is the sharpest yellow outlier. The provided 2026 list also cites the 2019 Tenth Circuit decision there, but still keeps Oklahoma in the ambiguous bucket.

Illegal Public Toplessness States

Warning sign representing states where public toplessness is illegal
Indiana and Tennessee are the two clear red states on this map.

Indiana and Tennessee are the clearest red states on this map. Indiana defines nudity to include the female breast with less than a fully opaque covering of any part of the nipple, and Tennessee's indecent-exposure law expressly includes female breasts.

Utah looks different from the red states even though the provided 2026 list notes conflicting state-law language there. Utah moves to green on this page because the federal precedent is stronger than a simple red-state label.

Quick Answers

Which states is it legal for a woman to be topless?
34 states are green on this map. New York, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, and Vermont are in that group.
What are the free the nipple laws in New York?
New York is green on this page. People v. Santorelli is the leading state-level precedent in the current source set.
Is public toplessness legal in Utah?
Yes on this map. Utah is treated as green because the provided 2026 list says the 2019 Tenth Circuit decision made topless bans illegal, even though the list also notes conflicting state-law language.
Which states have ambiguous public decency laws for toplessness?
14 states are yellow on this map. Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington make up that group.
Is public toplessness illegal in Indiana?
Yes on this map. Indiana's public-indecency law defines nudity to include the female breast with less than a fully opaque covering of any part of the nipple.
Is public toplessness illegal in Tennessee?
Yes on this map. Tennessee's indecent-exposure law expressly includes female breasts.

Methodology

This page starts with the provided 2026 state list, then checks the major outliers against primary court decisions and statutes. Utah is treated as green because the Tenth Circuit's 2019 Free the Nipple decision created the strongest federal precedent in that circuit, even though the provided list notes conflicting state-law language.

Sources

Information is cross-referenced with official state archives.
Found an error? Report it here.

You Might Also Like