NHTSA FARS final release
U.S. Pedestrian Fatalities, 2015–2024: Final FARS Trend
Pedestrian fatalities rose from 5,494 in 2015 to 7,080 in 2024, based on final NHTSA FARS person files.
- 7,080
- 2024 pedestrian fatalities
- 18.0%
- share of all fatalities
- 2022
- series peak year
This analysis is rebuilt from 10 annual U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration final person files. The official 2024 archive used here was last modified April 1, 2026. Review the data methodology or compare the portal's pedestrian-safety guide.
Answer in brief
Final FARS records show 7,080 pedestrian fatalities in 2024, 1,586 more than in 2015 (28.9% higher). Pedestrians represented 18.0% of all traffic fatalities in 2024. The series peak was 7,593 in 2022.
Pedestrian fatalities, 2015–2024
Fatal-person rows coded as pedestrians in final national FARS files
Annual final-release counts
| Year | Pedestrian | All traffic | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 5,494 | 35,484 | 15.5% |
| 2016 | 6,080 | 37,806 | 16.1% |
| 2017 | 6,075 | 37,473 | 16.2% |
| 2018 | 6,374 | 36,835 | 17.3% |
| 2019 | 6,272 | 36,355 | 17.3% |
| 2020 | 6,565 | 39,007 | 16.8% |
| 2021 | 7,470 | 43,230 | 17.3% |
| 2022 | 7,593 | 42,721 | 17.8% |
| 2023 | 7,367 | 41,025 | 18.0% |
| 2024 | 7,080 | 39,254 | 18.0% |
What this series can and cannot show
The direction is clear in the final national counts, but the aggregate does not identify why it changed. It contains no denominator for pedestrian trips, walking distance, or time spent near traffic, and it cannot isolate road design, vehicle mix, speed, lighting, or individual behavior as a cause. Those questions require exposure measures and case-level analysis.
To compare the same road-safety outcome by geography, use the state profiles and deadliest-state ranking. Those pages provide a geographic denominator; this national series does not.
Methodology
PlainRoadSafety rebuilds this series from NHTSA's final annual FARS national person files.
A fatal-person row is counted as a pedestrian when INJ_SEV=4 and
PER_TYP=5. The yearly pedestrian count and all-fatality count therefore come
from the same source file and release, avoiding mixed-vintage denominators.
Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), final national person files, 2015–2024 Pedestrian = PER_TYP 5; fatal injury = INJ_SEV 4.