NATIONAL RANKING

Deadliest States for Driving

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Fatality Analysis Reporting System, these are all 51 U.S. jurisdictions ranked by road fatality rate per 100,000 residents in the latest complete census year. PlainRoadSafety's September 2026 refresh sorts that published rate from deadliest to safest.

Mississippi
#1 Deadliest State
24.9
Highest rate per 100k

Download the FARS state extract cited on this page: fars-state-fatality-statistics.csv (NHTSA FARS · CC BY 4.0).

Mississippi

#1 deadliest state at 24.9 per 100k residents

12.2

U.S. rate per 100k (2023)

1.4x

Gap between deadliest (MS) and safest (LA) state

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Mississippi

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Showing all 10 states.

Top 10 Deadliest States by Fatality Rate

Road deaths per 100,000 population. Higher values indicate more dangerous roads relative to population size.

  1. 1
    Mississippi 25 per 100k
    MS
  2. 2
    Wyoming 25 per 100k
    WY
  3. 3
    New Mexico 21 per 100k
    NM
  4. 4
    South Carolina 20 per 100k
    SC
  5. 5
    Arkansas 19 per 100k
    AR
  6. 6
    Alabama 19 per 100k
    AL
  7. 7
    Tennessee 19 per 100k
    TN
  8. 8
    Montana 18 per 100k
    MT
  9. 9
    Kentucky 18 per 100k
    KY
  10. 10
    Louisiana 18 per 100k
    LA

Source NHTSA FARS · 2023

The bar to make this top 10 list

Where Louisiana's rate (#10) sits among every state and D.C. on PlainRoadSafety

18 Among the safer states a lower per-capita rate than 90% of 10 states

States and D.C., banded by fatality rate per 100,000 residents

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source NHTSA FARS · 2023

# State Rate / 100K VMT Rate Total Fatalities Latest Year Drunk % Speed % Trend
1 Mississippi (MS) 24.9 1.8 6,303 732 18.7% 14.8% ↑ increasing
2 Wyoming (WY) 24.7 1.5 1,153 144 31.3% 31.0% ↑ increasing
3 New Mexico (NM) 20.7 1.6 3,684 437 23.8% 24.6% ↓ decreasing
4 South Carolina (SC) 19.5 1.7 9,435 1,047 31.1% 41.1% ↓ decreasing
5 Arkansas (AR) 19.4 1.5 5,243 596 24.0% 22.0% ↓ decreasing
6 Alabama (AL) 19.1 1.4 8,643 974 21.9% 26.7% ↔ stable
7 Tennessee (TN) 18.6 1.6 10,379 1,323 24.3% 16.2% ↔ stable
8 Montana (MT) 18.4 1.5 1,840 208 43.5% 33.2% ↓ decreasing
9 Kentucky (KY) 18.0 1.7 6,977 814 23.5% 16.3% ↑ increasing
10 Louisiana (LA) 17.7 1.5 7,293 811 29.5% 19.9% ↓ decreasing

Understanding Fatality Rates

The fatality rate per 100,000 population normalizes crash deaths by state population, enabling fair comparisons between large and small states. A higher rate means more road deaths relative to the number of people living there. The VMT rate (per 100 million vehicle miles traveled) accounts for driving volume, which can provide additional context – a state may have a high per-capita rate partly because its residents drive more miles.

Safest States → ← Rankings Hub

Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) Rates are per 100,000 population