AbstractImprovements have been made to an existing method for implementing realistic pairing corrections in particle-hole state densities. The threshold energy for the pairing“single particle”states is used to replace the usual equispacing model Pauli energy, resulting in an improvement in the calculated state densities for low exciton numbers. Remaining discrepancies between the simple state densities and the results of a detailed pairing calculation are attributable to deficiencies in the original equispacing model state density formula. An ad hoc improvment to this formula is proposed. The method is extended to state densities for two types of fermions, and questions associated with its practical implementation are discussed.