How many one-party consent states are there?

36 states plus the District of Columbia on a conservative count. You'll see higher figures — up to 41 — from sources that treat the five contested states (Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon) as one-party. Both readings are defensible; the conservative count is the safer one to act on.

Can I record a phone call without telling the other person?

In a one-party consent state, yes — your own participation is the consent, and no announcement is required. The caveats are that you must genuinely be part of the conversation, the purpose must not be criminal or tortious, and the other party's state law may still reach the call.

Is one-party consent the federal rule?

Yes. 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d) permits a party to a communication to record it. But federal law is a floor rather than a ceiling — states can and do impose stricter requirements, and roughly fourteen of them do.

Does one-party consent let me record two other people talking?

No, and this is the most serious misunderstanding of the rule. One-party consent covers conversations you're a party to. Recording a conversation between two other people is wiretapping — illegal under federal law and in every state.

I'm in a one-party state but my customer isn't. What applies?

Potentially theirs. Courts have split on which state's law governs an interstate call, and all-party states have applied their law to protect residents receiving calls. For a business number that anyone can dial, announcing on every call is the only approach that works without knowing the caller's location.

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One-party consent states

36 states and the District of Columbia let you record a conversation you're part of without telling the other person. Here's the list — and the limits that still apply.

Last reviewed August 31, 2026

One-party consent means exactly what it sounds like: if you're on the call, your own consent is enough, and you don't have to tell anyone you're recording. It's the federal rule and the rule in most of the country. It is not, however, a blanket permission — there are limits inside one-party states that people routinely miss, and the count of one-party states varies between sources for a reason worth understanding. This page has the list, the exceptions, and where the boundaries actually sit.

Not legal advice

This is general information about US call-recording law, not legal advice, and not a substitute for a lawyer who knows your situation. Statutes are amended and courts reinterpret them; anything here can date. If you record calls routinely as part of your business, get it confirmed by a lawyer in your state.

Last reviewed: 31 August 2026.

What one-party consent means

Under a one-party consent rule, a recording is lawful if at least one participant consents — and if you're a participant, you can be that one. You don't have to announce it, ask permission, or tell the other person afterwards.

This is the federal standard, set by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act at 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d). It permits a person who is a party to a communication to record it.

The key word is *party*. One-party consent covers recording a conversation you are actually in. It does not let you record a conversation between two other people — that's not one-party consent, that's wiretapping, and it's illegal in every state.

The list: 36 states plus DC

A–I	I–N	N–S	S–W
Alabama	Iowa	New Jersey	South Dakota
Alaska	Kansas	New Mexico	Tennessee
Arizona	Kentucky	New York	Texas
Arkansas	Louisiana	North Carolina	Utah
Colorado	Maine	North Dakota	Vermont
District of Columbia	Minnesota	Ohio	Virginia
Georgia	Mississippi	Oklahoma	West Virginia
Hawaii	Missouri	Rhode Island	Wisconsin
Idaho	Nebraska	South Carolina	Wyoming
Indiana

Two of these carry an asterisk worth knowing:

Hawaii is one-party for most purposes, but requires all-party consent to record a private conversation in a private place. Phone calls are one-party.
Vermont has no recording statute at all. It's treated as one-party through case law rather than legislation, which makes it the least settled entry on the list.

Why the count varies between sources

You'll see one-party consent described as covering 36, 37, 38, or 39 states depending on where you read it. The lists aren't sloppy — they're making different calls about five genuinely contested states.

Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Nevada and Oregon each have a statute that reads one way and case law or a medium-specific rule that reads another. Michigan's eavesdropping statute reads as all-party, but the state Court of Appeals has held a participant isn't an "eavesdropper" under it. Oregon requires all-party consent for in-person conversations but one-party for phone calls. Nevada is the reverse.

A source that counts all five as one-party reports 41. One that counts none of them reports 36. Both are defensible readings of an unsettled area.

This page counts none of them, because the whole point of knowing the rule is to stay on the right side of it. If a participant is in one of those five, treat it as all-party and announce the recording.

What one-party consent still doesn't allow

The label invites over-confidence. Four limits apply even in a firmly one-party state:

The criminal-or-tortious purpose exception. Section 2511(2)(d) withdraws the one-party protection where the recording is made to commit a crime or a tort. Recording to blackmail, defraud, or harass isn't protected however many parties consented.
You must actually be a party. Leaving a recorder running to capture a conversation you've left, or recording two other people, is wiretapping — a federal felony, not a grey area.
The other party's state may still govern. One-party consent where you sit doesn't help if the person you called is in California. See the interstate problem on the state-by-state page.
Recording isn't the same as publishing. Lawfully recording a call doesn't give you the right to publish it. Privacy torts, defamation, confidentiality obligations and contract terms all continue to apply to what you do with it.

One-party consent in a business context

For a business the analysis rarely stops at your own state, because you don't control where your callers are. A shop in Texas — solidly one-party — taking calls from customers in California, Florida, Illinois and Washington is having a series of conversations that four all-party statutes have a claim over.

This is why call centres announce recording regardless of where they're based. It isn't that they're all in all-party states; it's that they can't know where the caller is before the caller speaks, and the announcement costs nothing.

There's an employment dimension too. Recording your own staff's calls raises separate questions under state employee-monitoring laws and, in some states, notice obligations that exist independently of the wiretap statute. Employees consenting through an employment agreement is common practice, but it covers the employee — not the customer on the other end of the line.

If you take calls from more than one state, the practical answer is the same one the all-party states force: disclose on every call.

FAQ

How many one-party consent states are there?: 36 states plus the District of Columbia on a conservative count. You'll see higher figures — up to 41 — from sources that treat the five contested states (Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon) as one-party. Both readings are defensible; the conservative count is the safer one to act on.
Can I record a phone call without telling the other person?: In a one-party consent state, yes — your own participation is the consent, and no announcement is required. The caveats are that you must genuinely be part of the conversation, the purpose must not be criminal or tortious, and the other party's state law may still reach the call.
Is one-party consent the federal rule?: Yes. 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d) permits a party to a communication to record it. But federal law is a floor rather than a ceiling — states can and do impose stricter requirements, and roughly fourteen of them do.
Does one-party consent let me record two other people talking?: No, and this is the most serious misunderstanding of the rule. One-party consent covers conversations you're a party to. Recording a conversation between two other people is wiretapping — illegal under federal law and in every state.
I'm in a one-party state but my customer isn't. What applies?: Potentially theirs. Courts have split on which state's law governs an interstate call, and all-party states have applied their law to protect residents receiving calls. For a business number that anyone can dial, announcing on every call is the only approach that works without knowing the caller's location.

Disclosure on every call, without having to remember it

RingOwl's AI receptionist opens every call with a recording disclosure before any conversation starts — on by default, in English or Spanish — so a caller from an all-party state is handled the same as one from Texas. You get a transcript and summary of every call. Free 7-day trial, no credit card.

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