Which states have the highest and lowest traffic death rates?

In 2024, Mississippi had the highest traffic death rate, 1.81 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles, followed by Arizona (1.74) and South Carolina (1.67). Massachusetts (0.59), Rhode Island (0.68) and Utah (0.77) had the lowest; the U.S. rate was 1.19. Rates also reflect how much driving is on rural roads and how each state estimates its miles driven, so they are not a ranking of drivers.

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Key facts

Measure: Deaths per 100 million vehicle miles. Written from the data below.

  • Mississippi has the highest figure, 1.81, followed by Arizona (1.74) and South Carolina (1.67).
  • Massachusetts has the lowest figure, 0.59, followed by Rhode Island (0.68) and Utah (0.77).
  • The highest is 3.1 times the lowest.
  • U.S. overall: 1.19. Of the 51 compared, 23 are above it, 26 below, and 2 the same.

This chart is one of the 50 in The U.S. in 50 charts, 2026, a yearly report of the key numbers on how the country is doing.

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Source and date

Source
NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and FHWA Highway Statistics (table VM-2)
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “Which states have the highest and lowest traffic death rates?” Chart. Data: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and FHWA Highway Statistics (table VM-2), https://www.nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars (data as of December 31, 2024). https://chart.ly/charts/traffic-death-rate-by-state (accessed November 5, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly. Developers can also get them as JSON (how).

State Deaths per 100 million vehicle miles
Mississippi 1.81
Arizona 1.74
South Carolina 1.67
Arkansas 1.53
Tennessee 1.52
Montana 1.49
West Virginia 1.49
Nevada 1.47
Kentucky 1.44
Oregon 1.44
New Mexico 1.43
South Dakota 1.4
Oklahoma 1.39
Louisiana 1.36
Texas 1.35
District of Columbia 1.33
Alabama 1.32
Alaska 1.27
Delaware 1.27
Florida 1.26
Colorado 1.25
North Carolina 1.24
Washington 1.21
California 1.19
Idaho 1.19
U.S. overall 1.19
Pennsylvania 1.18
Maine 1.17
Missouri 1.17
Georgia 1.15
Nebraska 1.15
Illinois 1.13
Michigan 1.1
Wyoming 1.1
Kansas 1.07
Iowa 1.05
Virginia 1.04
Maryland 1.01
Connecticut 1
Ohio 1
Hawaii 0.96
New Hampshire 0.96
Indiana 0.94
New York 0.91
North Dakota 0.9
Wisconsin 0.86
New Jersey 0.84
Vermont 0.82
Minnesota 0.81
Utah 0.77
Rhode Island 0.68
Massachusetts 0.59

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