We use borehole breakouts in nonvertical drill holes to constrain the directions of the three principal stresses and their relative magnitudes. In this paper we start by modifying previously published breakout selection criteria to work with highly deviated borehole data. We present a forward modeling technique using genetic algorithms and a nongradient N-dimensional optimizer to find the best fitting stress state for a set of breakout data. The stress state is parameterized by three Euler angles and the stress state ratio ϕ. A technique is developed to determine the 95% confidence weighted misfit between a model and the data. We then map out the 95% misfit confidence limits on the best fitting stress state. This technique is applied to data published by Qian and Pedersen <1991>. Removing their constraint of a vertical principal stress direction reduces the misfit between the stress state and the breakout data. We find that the best fitting stress state they report with a vertical principal stress direction lies outside our 95% confidence limits. We also invert breakouts in the offshore Santa Maria Basin, California. These data show a thrust faulting stress state with the maximum principal stress, S1, at N148.5 ¿E plunging 31.5¿. The 95% confidence range for the azimuth of S1 ranges from N143.0 ¿E to N198.1 ¿E. The stress ratio ϕ was found to be 0.8210.5841.¿ 1997 American Geophysical Union