Traffic Deaths by State

No state recorded more traffic deaths in 2024 than Texas: 4,160. That's 284 more than second-place California's 3,876. Texas and California are the country's two most populous states, so a large total is expected. Mississippi tells a different story. It recorded 753 traffic deaths in 2024. That total ranks 18th, in the upper-middle of the pack. But Mississippi has just under 2.95 million residents. Those 753 deaths work out to 25.59 for every 100,000 people. That's the highest traffic death rate in the nation, 93% higher than Texas's own rate of 13.29.

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." Texas and California's size means their totals will almost always lead the country. Their raw death count, raw population, and raw everything else usually lead the same way. Mississippi's total looks unremarkable next to them. Then population enters the picture. A mid-sized state with a modest death count carries the country's steepest overall traffic death rate.

Neither number is the "real" one. A journalist covering Texas's roads has a genuine 4,160-death story. A journalist covering Mississippi'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.

This ranking counts every traffic death. That means car, pedestrian, motorcyclist, large-truck, and bicyclist deaths. All five combine into one total per state. 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 deaths by state
• Motorcycle deaths by state
• Truck accident deaths by state
• Bicycle deaths by state
• Drunk driving deaths by state