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Daily Driver Advocate
Verified June 2026

Independent Research Project

Car Fatality Statistics & Facts

A plain-English factsheet for U.S. fatal traffic crash data. The page uses the current FARS dataset in this codebase to answer the stats people usually look for first: total deaths, fatal crashes, deaths per day, state rankings, per-capita rates, demographics, and historical context.

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Method note: This page uses NHTSA FARS fatal crash and person records, plus Census resident population estimates for per-capita rates. FARS tracks crashes involving a motor vehicle on a public trafficway that result in a death within 30 days; it does not include injury-only or property-damage-only crashes.1,2,4,5,6,7

2024 Car Fatality Statistics

In 2024, FARS recorded 39,254 people killed in 36,297fatal traffic crashes in the United States. That works out to about 107.3 deaths per day and one fatal crash roughly every 14.5 minutes. 1,2,4

2024 traffic fatalities
39,254
Deaths in U.S. fatal traffic crashes, down 4.3% from 41,025 in 2023.
2024 fatal crashes
36,297
Fatal crash events in FARS, down 3.9% from 37,769 in 2023.
Deaths per day
107.3
A plain-English average for 2024. Because 2024 was a leap year, this divides fatalities by 366 days.
Fatality rate
11.54
Deaths per 100,000 residents in 2024, down 5.3% from 2023.

Most Useful Facts

Search-result pages often stop at the national death count. For commuters, the more helpful picture is the mix of raw volume, per-capita burden, who was killed, and whether the latest year is unusual in context.1,2,4,5,6,7

The 2024 total was below the post-pandemic peak, but still not low historically.

The national fatality count fell from 41,025 in 2023 to 39,254 in 2024. The post-1975 low in this dataset is still 32,479 deaths in 2011.

Population-adjusted risk tells a different story than raw deaths.

The 2024 fatality rate was 11.54 deaths per 100,000 residents, compared with 20.66 in 1975, a 44.1% decrease.

Most fatalities fall into three broad person groups.

Drivers, passengers, and pedestrians together accounted for 96.1% of 2024 fatalities in the generated FARS overview.

Fatal Crash State Statistics

Texas had the highest number of fatal crashes in 2024, with 3,774 crashes and4,160 fatalities. But Mississippi had the highest population-adjusted fatal crash rate, at 23.04 fatal crashes per 100,000 residents. The difference matters: large states tend to lead in total deaths, while per-capita rates show where the fatal-crash burden is highest relative to population. 1,2,5,6

Highest fatal crash totals
  1. 1. Texas
    4,160 fatalities
    3,774
    fatal crashes
  2. 2. California
    3,876 fatalities
    3,583
    fatal crashes
  3. 3. Florida
    3,138 fatalities
    2,931
    fatal crashes
  4. 4. North Carolina
    1,619 fatalities
    1,509
    fatal crashes
  5. 5. Georgia
    1,403 fatalities
    1,312
    fatal crashes

The top three states by fatal crash count, Texas, California, and Florida, represented 28.4% of all 2024 fatal crashes in the state table.

Highest per-capita rates
  1. 1. Mississippi
    2,943,045 residents
    23.04
    per 100k
  2. 2. New Mexico
    2,130,256 residents
    17.74
    per 100k
  3. 3. Arkansas
    3,088,354 residents
    17.71
    per 100k
  4. 4. Wyoming
    587,618 residents
    17.36
    per 100k
  5. 5. Alabama
    5,157,699 residents
    17.35
    per 100k

Lowest per-capita fatal crash rate in the 2024 state file: Rhode Island, at 4.32 fatal crashes per 100,000 residents.

Who Is Counted in Fatal Crash Deaths?

FARS is person-level as well as crash-level, so this page can separate crash events from the people killed in those crashes. In 2024, drivers made up 62.8% of fatalities, passengers made up 15.3%, and pedestrians made up 18.0%. 1,2,4

Drivers
24,636
62.8% of 2024 fatalities.
Passengers
6,022
15.3% of 2024 fatalities.
Pedestrians
7,080
18.0% of 2024 fatalities.
Median age
43
Largest age band: 25-34, with 6,921 deaths.

When and Where Fatal Crashes Happened

The 2024 overview also flags road context. A majority of fatal crashes were coded as urban, but a large share remained rural. More than half occurred at night or in dark conditions, while most were coded under clear weather.1,2,4

Urban
59.3%
21,527 fatal crashes.
Rural
39.8%
14,442 fatal crashes.
Night or dark
54.1%
19,656 fatal crashes.
Clear weather
74.8%
27,161 fatal crashes.

Historical Context

The current on-disk series runs from 1975 through 2024. The highest fatal crash count in that series was 45,284 in 1980, and the highest fatality count was 51,093 in 1979. The latest fatality rate, 11.54 deaths per 100,000 residents, is far below the early FARS-era rate, but above the lowest annual death count in the series. 1,2,4,5,6,7

One fatal crash about every
14.5 min
A time-scale translation of the national 2024 fatal crash count.
Highest fatality year
1979
51,093 deaths in the FARS series used here.
Lowest fatality year
2011
32,479 deaths in the FARS series used here.
Long-run average
41,612
Average annual fatalities from 1975 through 2024.

Explore the Reports

Use these report pages for the working data views. The hub is meant to sit above them as the quick entry point for readers and journalists. 1,2,4,5,6,7

Year-by-year trend

Fatal Car Accidents by Year

Use this report for the 1975-2024 national trend line, including the fatal crash count and the population-adjusted fatality rate.

State comparison

Fatal Car Accidents by State

Use this report for the 2024 state map, ranked table, and per-capita comparisons.

Source Context and Limitations

This page is an independent research project, not a government page, legal service, or safety regulator. It covers the 50 states plus D.C. using the FARS files currently present in this repository. It should not be read as a count of all crashes, all injuries, or all insurance claims. 1,2,3,5,6,7

Primary Source Directory

  1. NHTSA FARS 2024 downloads page
    Issuing authority: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
    Direct URL: https://www.nhtsa.gov/file-downloads?p=nhtsa/downloads/FARS/2024/
  2. FARS2024NationalCSV.zip (latest year used on this site)
    Issuing authority: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
    Direct URL: https://static.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/downloads/FARS/2024/National/FARS2024NationalCSV.zip
  3. FARS2024NationalAuxiliaryCSV.zip
    Issuing authority: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
    Direct URL: https://static.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/downloads/FARS/2024/National/FARS2024NationalAuxiliaryCSV.zip
  4. FARS manuals and codebook PDF
    Issuing authority: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
    Direct URL: https://static.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/downloads/FARS/Links%20for%20FARS%20Manuals.pdf
  5. Census Vintage 2024 state population totals table
    Issuing authority: U.S. Census Bureau
    Direct URL: https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-state-total.html
  6. Census Vintage 2024 raw population CSV
    Issuing authority: U.S. Census Bureau
    Direct URL: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2024/state/totals/NST-EST2024-ALLDATA.csv
  7. Census historical state population source index
    Issuing authority: U.S. Census Bureau
    Direct URL: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest.html