How many people die in traffic crashes in the U.S. each year?

39,254 people died in traffic crashes in the U.S. in 2024, down from a recent high of 43,230 in 2021 and well below 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.

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Key facts

Measure: People killed. Written from the data below.

  • The latest figure, for 2024, is 39,254.
  • That is down 12% from 44,525 in 1975.
  • The highest was 51,093 in 1979.
  • The lowest was 32,479 in 2011.

Source and date

Source
NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “How many people die in traffic crashes in the U.S. each year?” Chart. Data: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), https://www.nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars (data as of December 31, 2024). https://chart.ly/charts/us-traffic-deaths-per-year (accessed October 15, 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.

Year People killed
1975 44,525
1976 45,523
1977 47,878
1978 50,331
1979 51,093
1980 51,091
1981 49,301
1982 43,945
1983 42,589
1984 44,257
1985 43,825
1986 46,087
1987 46,390
1988 47,087
1989 45,582
1990 44,599
1991 41,508
1992 39,250
1993 40,150
1994 40,716
1995 41,817
1996 42,065
1997 42,013
1998 41,501
1999 41,717
2000 41,945
2001 42,196
2002 43,005
2003 42,884
2004 42,836
2005 43,510
2006 42,708
2007 41,259
2008 37,423
2009 33,883
2010 32,999
2011 32,479
2012 33,782
2013 32,893
2014 32,744
2015 35,484
2016 37,806
2017 37,473
2018 36,835
2019 36,355
2020 39,007
2021 43,230
2022 42,721
2023 41,025
2024 39,254

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