Where Do Otters Actually Live in the US?

Otters live in 44 US states and are confirmed absent from 1 more, based on 22,875 verified iNaturalist and GBIF records. This page covers every state at once instead of one near-identical page per state.

By Tim, founder of Easy Street Markets. I maintain the wildlife database and verify every animal and source myself.

The states with the strongest confirmed populations are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California and Colorado, and 38 more. These are real, verified iNaturalist and GBIF occurrence records, not modeled range estimates.

Otters have zero confirmed wild sightings in Hawaii, despite tens of thousands of nationwide observation records for the species. That is a real, checked absence, not a missing page.

A small number of states (3) have only a handful of unverified or vagrant records, too few to confirm otters as an established population there.

Not found (1)

Hawaii

Unconfirmed (3)

Only a handful of unverified or vagrant records exist for otters in Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, too few to confirm an established population.

Frequently asked questions

What states do otters live in?+

Otters have confirmed wild populations in 44 US states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Where are otters not found in the US?+

Otters have no confirmed wild sightings in Hawaii.

Full otters guides by state