{"chart":{"slug":"us-traffic-deaths-per-year","title":"How many people die in traffic crashes in the U.S. each year?","takeaway":"39,254 people died in traffic crashes in the U.S. in 2024, against a recent high of 43,230 in 2021 and the 1979 peak of 51,093. The lowest year since 1975 was 2011, with 32,479 deaths. FARS counts people who died within 30 days of a crash on a public road; the 2024 number comes from NHTSA's annual report file and may be revised slightly.","topic":"Road safety","chart_type":"line","ranking":false,"x_label":"Year","y_label":"People killed","unit":null,"points_count":50,"source":{"name":"NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)","url":"https://www.nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars"},"license":{"name":"Public domain (U.S. government work)","url":"https://www.usa.gov/government-copyright"},"data_as_of":"2024-12-31","updated_at":"2026-10-17T18:50:41.773Z","url":"https://chart.ly/charts/us-traffic-deaths-per-year","api_url":"https://chart.ly/api/v1/charts/us-traffic-deaths-per-year","csv_url":"https://chart.ly/charts/us-traffic-deaths-per-year/data.csv","image_url":"https://chart.ly/charts/us-traffic-deaths-per-year/image.png","embed_url":"https://chart.ly/charts/us-traffic-deaths-per-year/embed","credit":"NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), via Chartly (https://chart.ly/charts/us-traffic-deaths-per-year)","credit_html":"NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), via \u003ca href=\"https://chart.ly/charts/us-traffic-deaths-per-year\"\u003eChartly\u003c/a\u003e","average_label":null,"zero_axis":true,"data":[{"label":"1975","value":44525},{"label":"1976","value":45523},{"label":"1977","value":47878},{"label":"1978","value":50331},{"label":"1979","value":51093},{"label":"1980","value":51091},{"label":"1981","value":49301},{"label":"1982","value":43945},{"label":"1983","value":42589},{"label":"1984","value":44257},{"label":"1985","value":43825},{"label":"1986","value":46087},{"label":"1987","value":46390},{"label":"1988","value":47087},{"label":"1989","value":45582},{"label":"1990","value":44599},{"label":"1991","value":41508},{"label":"1992","value":39250},{"label":"1993","value":40150},{"label":"1994","value":40716},{"label":"1995","value":41817},{"label":"1996","value":42065},{"label":"1997","value":42013},{"label":"1998","value":41501},{"label":"1999","value":41717},{"label":"2000","value":41945},{"label":"2001","value":42196},{"label":"2002","value":43005},{"label":"2003","value":42884},{"label":"2004","value":42836},{"label":"2005","value":43510},{"label":"2006","value":42708},{"label":"2007","value":41259},{"label":"2008","value":37423},{"label":"2009","value":33883},{"label":"2010","value":32999},{"label":"2011","value":32479},{"label":"2012","value":33782},{"label":"2013","value":32893},{"label":"2014","value":32744},{"label":"2015","value":35484},{"label":"2016","value":37806},{"label":"2017","value":37473},{"label":"2018","value":36835},{"label":"2019","value":36355},{"label":"2020","value":39007},{"label":"2021","value":43230},{"label":"2022","value":42721},{"label":"2023","value":41025},{"label":"2024","value":39254}],"annotations":[]},"docs":"https://chart.ly/developers","terms":"Free to use with credit: wherever you show or quote a chart's data, name Chartly with a link to that chart's url (each chart's credit line does both) and credit its source as its license asks.","credit":"NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), via Chartly (https://chart.ly/charts/us-traffic-deaths-per-year)"}