Felony Sentencing Chart: Offense Levels, History, and Zones

The federal felony sentencing chart is a grid published by the United States Sentencing Commission that translates two inputs into a recommended prison range in months: an offense level from 1 to 43 on the vertical axis, and a criminal history category from I to VI on the horizontal axis. Where your row and column meet, the cell gives a range that runs from zero months at the top-left corner to life imprisonment across the bottom row.¹ Since the Supreme Court’s 2005 decision in United States v. Booker, the chart is advisory. Judges have to calculate the range and consider it, but they can sentence above or below it.²

How to Read the Chart

Pick a row (offense level) and a column (criminal history category), and read the range in that cell. The higher the level, the more serious the offense; the higher the category, the more extensive the prior record. Both axes push the range up.

A few reference points show how quickly the numbers climb. A first-time offender in Category I at offense level 1 faces 0 to 6 months. The same offender at level 20 faces 33 to 41 months. At level 30, the range jumps to 97 to 121 months. At level 43, every column produces life.¹ Prior record magnifies everything. A defendant at level 20 in Category VI faces 70 to 87 months, more than double the Category I range for the same conduct.

The Four Sentencing Zones

The grid is shaded into four zones that decide whether the sentence has to be served entirely in prison:³

Zone A (0 months minimum): probation alone is available unless the specific offense guideline says otherwise.⁴
Zone B (1–9 months minimum): probation is available only if paired with home detention, community confinement, or intermittent confinement.
Zone C (10–14 months minimum): probation is off the table. At least half the minimum term has to be served in prison; the rest can be supervised release with home detention.
Zone D (15+ months minimum): straight imprisonment, no substitutes.

At the low end of the chart, moving two offense levels can be the difference between probation and a year in custody.

Finding the Offense Level

The vertical axis isn’t a single number pulled from a statute. It gets built in layers.

Base Offense Level

Every federal crime has a base offense level assigned in Chapter 2 of the guidelines. That number reflects the typical seriousness of that category of crime and is set by the statute of conviction. A simple theft starts far below an armed robbery.

Specific Offense Characteristics

The guidelines then add or subtract levels for what actually happened. In a robbery, brandishing a firearm adds 5 levels; discharging one adds 7.⁵ In a fraud case, the loss amount drives the biggest adjustment. The 2025 loss table adds 2 levels for losses above $6,500 and escalates sharply from there, reaching 16 levels for losses over $1.5 million and 30 levels for losses over $550 million.⁶ Two defendants convicted under the same statute can land in very different cells.

Chapter 3 Adjustments

A separate set of adjustments then applies based on role and other factors. An organizer or leader of a criminal operation involving five or more people gets a 4-level increase; someone with a minimal role can receive a 4-level decrease.⁷ Targeting a vulnerable victim adds 2 levels. Obstructing justice, such as destroying evidence or lying to investigators, adds another 2.

Acceptance of Responsibility

A defendant who pleads guilty and genuinely accepts responsibility gets a 2-level reduction. If the level before that reduction was 16 or higher and the government files a motion confirming an early plea, another 1-level reduction is available.⁸ Three levels can shave a year or more off the range in the middle of the table, and losing that reduction by going to trial is part of what defendants weigh when deciding how to plead.

Finding the Criminal History Category

The horizontal axis comes from a point tally of prior convictions. The rules are mechanical:⁹

3 points for each prior sentence of imprisonment over 13 months.
2 points for each prior sentence of at least 60 days not already scored at 3.
1 point for each other prior sentence not already counted, capped at 4 points from this category.
1 additional point for each prior violent-crime sentence grouped with another that didn’t receive points above, capped at 3.
1 additional point if the defendant already has 7 or more points and committed the current offense while on probation, parole, supervised release, or similar supervision.

The total maps to six categories: 0–1 points is Category I, 2–3 is Category II, and so on up through 13 or more for Category VI.¹ A first-time offender almost always sits in Category I. Multiple prior felony sentences can push a defendant to V or VI, where ranges roughly double.

Why the Chart’s Number Is Not Always the Sentence

Reading the cell gives you the recommended range. Three things can move the actual sentence off that number.

Mandatory Minimums

Congress has set mandatory minimums for certain offenses that override the guidelines when they produce a higher floor. Under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), possessing a firearm during a violent crime or drug trafficking offense adds a minimum of 5 years on top of the underlying sentence; brandishing raises the floor to 7 years, discharging to 10, and a second § 924(c) conviction triggers 25 years.¹⁰ If the chart recommends 37 to 46 months but a statute requires 60, the judge has to impose at least 60. The main escape valves are a government motion for substantial assistance and, for first-time low-level nonviolent drug offenders who cooperate fully, a narrow safety-valve provision.¹¹

Departures

A departure moves the sentence off the recommended range using a mechanism the guidelines themselves recognize. Policy statements identify grounds like diminished mental capacity, an unusually minor role, or a criminal history score that overstates the defendant’s actual danger.¹² The most powerful downward departure is for substantial assistance: when the government files a motion confirming the defendant helped investigate other crimes, the judge can sentence below the guidelines range and below a statutory mandatory minimum.¹¹

Variances

A variance is broader. After calculating the range, the judge weighs the sentencing factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a): the nature of the offense, the defendant’s history, deterrence, public safety, rehabilitation, restitution, and the goal of avoiding unwarranted disparities.¹³ If the range is “greater than necessary” to serve those purposes, a downward variance is appropriate. Serious medical conditions, caregiving responsibilities, post-offense rehabilitation, and collateral consequences like immigration removal are common grounds. Either way, the judge states reasons on the record, and the sentence can be appealed for reasonableness.¹²

Felony Class as the Outer Ceiling

The chart operates inside the statutory maximum set by the felony class of the offense. Federal law classifies felonies by the maximum sentence the statute authorizes:¹⁴

Class A: life imprisonment or death.
Class B: 25 years or more.
Class C: 10 to less than 25 years.
Class D: 5 to less than 10 years.
Class E: more than 1 year but less than 5 years.

The class sets the absolute ceiling. The chart then narrows the recommended range inside it.

Supervised Release Is Not on the Chart

A federal felony sentence usually has two parts: the prison term the chart addresses, and a term of supervised release that follows incarceration. The maximum supervised release term depends on the felony class:¹⁵

Class A or B: up to 5 years.
Class C or D: up to 3 years.
Class E: up to 1 year.

During supervised release the defendant reports to a probation officer and follows conditions that can include drug testing, employment requirements, travel restrictions, and electronic monitoring. Violating those conditions can send the defendant back to prison for part or all of the remaining term. It’s easy to overlook this piece when focusing on the months-in-prison column.

State Charts Are Different

The federal sentencing chart applies only to crimes prosecuted in federal court. Roughly 20 states run their own grid-based systems, including Minnesota, Kansas, North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington, and some states maintain multiple grids for drug offenses, property crimes, and crimes against people. The structure looks similar, but the number of offense levels, the way prior convictions are scored, and the ranges in each cell all vary. Some state grids are presumptive; others are advisory. A state case is governed by that state’s sentencing commission’s guidelines, not the federal table.

1
United States Sentencing Commission. Sentencing Table – 2025 Guidelines Manual
2
United States Sentencing Commission. 2012 Report to the Congress – Continuing Impact of United States v Booker on Federal Sentencing
3
United States Sentencing Commission. Sentencing Zones
4
United States Sentencing Commission. 2018 Chapter 5 – Imposition of a Term of Imprisonment
5
United States Sentencing Commission. USSG 2B3.1 – Robbery
6
United States Sentencing Commission. USSG Loss Table
7
United States Sentencing Commission. Annotated 2025 Chapter 3 – Adjustments
8
United States Sentencing Commission. Amendment 775 – Acceptance of Responsibility
9
United States Sentencing Commission. Annotated 2025 Chapter 4 – Criminal History and Criminal Livelihood
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 924 – Penalties
11
Congress.gov. Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Statutes
12
United States Sentencing Commission. 2023 Compilation – Departure Provisions
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3553 – Imposition of a Sentence
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3559 – Sentencing Classification of Offenses
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3583 – Inclusion of a Term of Supervised Release After Imprisonment