Pedestrian Deaths by State

No state recorded more pedestrian deaths in 2024 than California: 1,090. That is 327 more than second-place Texas. The number leads the country mostly because California leads the country in people. Adjust for population and the ranking flips almost completely. New Mexico posted 90 pedestrian deaths in 2024. That total ranks 27th, squarely in the middle of the pack. But New Mexico has just over 2.1 million residents. Those 90 deaths work out to 4.22 for every 100,000 people. That is the highest rate in the nation. It runs 53% above California's 2.76.

The gap between the two rankings is the finding. A raw total answers "where did the most people die." The rate answers a different question: "where is a resident's risk highest." California's size means its total will almost always lead the country. Its raw crash count, raw population, and raw everything else usually lead the same way. New Mexico's total looks ordinary next to it. Then population enters the picture. A small state with a modest death count carries the country's steepest pedestrian death rate.

Neither number is the "real" one. A journalist covering California's roads has a genuine 1,090-death story. A journalist covering New Mexico's roads has a genuine highest-rate-in-the-nation story. The table below carries both numbers for every state. A state's share of the national total and its rate against the other 50 sit one column apart, not in separate lookups.

That is also why this page ranks every state on both measures. A dozen states sit near the top of the rate list without ever cracking the top ten by raw total. A handful of the largest states rank lower on the rate column than their totals would suggest. Both patterns are real. Both come from the same record. It covers every U.S. state and the District of Columbia from 2000 through 2024. The rates and totals here use the most recent complete year, 2024. The yearly averages behind them use the five years from 2020 through 2024.

Which years the numbers cover: totals and rates use the latest complete year, 2024. Which states are counted: all 50 plus the District of Columbia (51 rows). See our data sources page for the full source list.

More State Crash Rankings

• Pedestrian accident statistics
• Motorcycle deaths by state
• Bicycle deaths by state
• The Vanishing Driver: hit-and-run accountability by state