The felony theft amount by state ranges from $200 in New Jersey, the lowest in the country, to $2,500 in Texas and Wisconsin, the highest. Pennsylvania sits at $2,000, Virginia at $1,000, California at $950, and Florida at $750. Prior convictions, aggregation of separate incidents, and the type of property taken can push a smaller theft over the line.
The label matters more than the sentence
If you have just been charged, the number on the receipt is doing more work than it looks like. It sets the grade of the offense, and the grade is what follows you.
The clearest example is federal. Under [18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/922), it is unlawful for a person convicted of "a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year" to possess a firearm. Read that carefully: the trigger is the sentence the offense is punishable by, not the sentence a judge actually hands down. A probationary or suspended sentence on a felony theft count still crosses that federal line, because the maximum attached to the charge is what counts.
That is the structural point behind everything below. A plea that keeps a conviction one grade lower is worth more than a plea that shaves months off a sentence, and it is worth asking your lawyer to price that trade before you take anything.
Verified thresholds and statute citations
The table covers states where the current statutory text was read directly. Treat it as a starting point for your own state code lookup, not as a national chart. Thresholds move by legislation, and aggregator sites go stale.
StateFelony lineStatuteFelony regardless of value
New Jersey$200 (fourth degree crime)N.J.S.A. 2C:20-2Grading ladder is value-based Florida$750 (third degree grand theft)Fla. Stat. 812.014Property of $40 or more taken from a dwelling or its unenclosed curtilage; petit theft with two or more prior theft convictions California$950 (grand theft)Penal Code 487, 490.3, 666.1Two or more qualifying prior theft convictions under 666.1 Virginia$1,000 (grand larceny)Va. Code 18.2-95$5 or more taken from the person; any firearm PennsylvaniaMore than $2,000 (third degree felony)18 Pa.C.S. 3903Grading ladder is value-based Texas$2,500 (state jail felony)Penal Code 31.03(e)Theft under $2,500 with two or more prior theft convictions of any grade WisconsinAbove $2,500 (Class I felony)Wis. Stat. 943.20(3)Firearms, a domestic animal, or property taken from a patient or resident (Class H)
One reading rule before you use any chart, including this one. Some statutes say "more than" a figure and others say "at or above" it, and the difference decides cases at the margin. In New Jersey a $200 theft is graded differently from a $199 theft. Pennsylvania's felony tier begins when the amount exceeds $2,000. Wisconsin's misdemeanor tier covers value not exceeding $2,500 while the Class I felony tier runs from $2,500 to $5,000. Read the statute's own words, not a summary of them.
The low end: New Jersey at $200
N.J.S.A. 2C:20-2 grades theft in four steps. Under $200 is a disorderly persons offense. From $200 to $500 it is a crime of the fourth degree. Above $500 and under $75,000 it is third degree. At $75,000 or more it is second degree.
New Jersey does not use the word "felony." It uses "crime," and a disorderly persons offense is the rough equivalent of a misdemeanor. The fourth degree line at $200 is where a New Jersey theft becomes a crime, and that is the line other states would call the felony line. It is the lowest in the country by a wide margin: a $200 theft that would be a Class B misdemeanor in Texas is an indictable crime in New Jersey.
The high end: Texas, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania
Texas Penal Code 31.03(e) runs seven tiers: under $100 is a Class C misdemeanor, $100 to under $750 Class B, $750 to under $2,500 Class A, $2,500 to under $30,000 a state jail felony, $30,000 to under $150,000 third degree, $150,000 to under $300,000 second degree, and $300,000 or more first degree.
Wis. Stat. 943.20(3) tracks a similar shape from a Class A misdemeanor up through Class F for value over $100,000. 18 Pa.C.S. 3903 sets its third degree felony above $2,000, with a third degree misdemeanor under $50 and a second degree misdemeanor from $50 to under $200.
A high threshold does not mean a small case is safe. In Texas, the priors rule sits directly underneath that $2,500 figure, and it does not care about the amount at all.
Mechanism one: how the number gets valued
The grade of the offense turns on a dollar figure the state has to prove, and that figure is contested territory more often than defendants expect. Retail price, replacement cost, and what the item was actually worth at the time and place it was taken can be three different numbers. Where an item sits between tiers, the valuation method is the case.
Questions worth putting to your lawyer early: what value is the state alleging, what evidence supports it, and does moving that number by a modest amount drop the charge a grade.
Mechanism two: aggregation
Separate small incidents can be combined into one count. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas all use closely related language. Texas, at Penal Code 31.09, provides that "when amounts are obtained in violation of this chapter pursuant to one scheme or continuing course of conduct, whether from the same or several sources, the conduct may be considered as one offense and the amounts aggregated in determining the grade of the offense." New Jersey's clause reaches amounts "committed pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct, whether from the same person or several persons."
The defense question in those states is narrow and important: were these genuinely one scheme, or several unrelated incidents the state has bundled together? The statutes condition aggregation on the scheme, not on convenience.
California moved further in 2024. AB 2943, chaptered on August 16, 2024, amended Penal Code 487 so the $950 grand theft figure can be reached "over the course of distinct but related acts, including acts committed against multiple victims or in counties other than the county of the current offense." Proposition 36, approved November 5, 2024 and effective December 18, 2024, added Penal Code 490.3, which allows "one or more acts of theft or shoplifting" to be "aggregated into a single count or charge." The dollar figure in California did not change. What can be added up to reach it did.
Mechanism three: prior convictions
In three of these states, priors convert a petty theft into a felony without regard to the amount.
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Texas: under 31.03(e)(4)(D), theft under $2,500 is a state jail felony if the defendant "has been previously convicted two or more times of any grade of theft." A single prior also bumps a sub-$100 theft from Class C to Class B.
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Florida: under Fla. Stat. 812.014, petit theft by a person previously convicted two or more times of any theft is a third degree felony.
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California: Penal Code 666.1, added by Proposition 36, makes theft or shoplifting with two or more qualifying prior theft convictions punishable by up to a year in county jail or under Penal Code 1170(h). The same section expressly contemplates referral to theft diversion or deferred entry of judgment.
Whether a particular record qualifies is a real fight, not a formality. Ask what specifically the state is counting, whether out of state convictions qualify under your state's definition, and whether the statute has any time limit on how old a prior can be.
Where the dollar figure is irrelevant
Several states pull categories of property out of the value ladder entirely. Va. Code 18.2-95, last amended in 2024, sets grand larceny at $1,000 or more for goods, but at $5 or more when taken from the person, and applies to any firearm regardless of value. Wisconsin charges Class H regardless of value for firearms, a domestic animal, or property taken from a patient or resident. Florida makes property worth $40 or more taken from a dwelling or its unenclosed curtilage a third degree felony, which is how a package taken from a porch becomes a felony case.
If your case is near the line
These are questions to raise with counsel, not a strategy to run on your own.
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What value is the state alleging, and how is it proven?
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Is the state aggregating incidents, and does the statute's "one scheme or course of conduct" requirement hold up on these facts?
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Do the alleged priors actually qualify under the enhancement statute?
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Is theft diversion or deferred entry of judgment available? California's 666.1 names it directly.
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Can a negotiated disposition keep the conviction below the felony line, given what 922(g)(1) attaches to a felony grade?
Checking your own state
Thresholds are legislative, and legislatures move them. California's aggregation rules changed twice in 2024 without the $950 number changing at all. Look up your state's theft or larceny grading section in the official state code rather than a summary site, then read the tier language and the exceptions underneath it. Bring the section number to your first meeting with a lawyer.
Related reading
Sources
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Texas Penal Code Sec. 31.09, Aggregation of Amounts Involved in Theft
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[18 U.S.C. 922, Cornell Legal Information Institute](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/922)
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