hate group membership on the rise in the US

The 2011 figures are the eleventh consecutive annual increase and the highest number since the SPLC began enumerating hate group totals in the 1980s. In 2000 there were just 602 of these groups nationally. While 2011 hate crime numbers are not yet tabulated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the agency counted 6,624 hate crimes in 2010 in the United States, an increase of only 26 from a 14 year low recorded the previous year. A 2010 analysis by the Institute for Homeland Security Solutions found that from 1999-2009 white supremacist and anti-government domestic extremist plots were only surpassed by those undertaken by radical Salafist and al-Qaeda followers during the decade.

California, the nation's most populous state, led the nation with 84 hate groups last year according to the SPLC, followed by Georgia with 65, Florida with 55 and New Jersey with 47. The report broke down the number of hate groups in the United States by type and number for 2011:

Ku Klux Klan 152

Neo Nazi 170

White Nationalist 146

Racist Skinheads 133

Christian Identity 55

Neo-Confederate 32

Black Separatists 140

General Hate 190