What is Alaska's road fatality rate?

Alaska has a road fatality rate of 8.2 per 100,000 population and 1.1 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This is 32.8% below the national average.

How many road fatalities occurred in Alaska in 2023?

In 2023, Alaska recorded 60 road fatalities. The state's total fatalities across the 2015-2023 period are 651.

What is the leading cause of road fatalities in Alaska?

The leading cause is weather-related, accounting for 45.0% of all fatalities (293 deaths over the reporting period).

Are road fatalities increasing or decreasing in Alaska?

Road fatalities in Alaska are decreasing with a -7.7% change over the reporting period (2015-2023). Fatalities went from 65 in 2015 to 60 in 2023.

How does Alaska compare to the national average for road safety?

Alaska's fatality rate of 8.2 per 100K is 32.8% lower than the national average of 12.2 per 100K. According to NHTSA FARS, Alaska ranks #43 of 51 states by fatality rate (highest first), the same sort as /rankings/deadliest-states. See /methodology#corpus-placement.

What percentage of Alaska's road fatalities involve alcohol?

Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for 33.2% of road fatalities in Alaska, representing 216 deaths over the reporting period. Speeding accounts for 37.8% and pedestrian incidents for 17.4%.

Are rural or urban roads more dangerous in Alaska?

In Alaska, rural roads account for more fatalities: 362 rural vs. 285 urban deaths. Rural roads account for 55.6% of all fatalities.

STATE FATALITY DATA - 2023

Alaska: lower-rate fatality band

Alaska is in the lower per-capita third: 60 traffic deaths in 2023 at 8.2 per 100,000 (#43 of 51).

Compiled by PlainRoadSafety · September 3, 2026

60
Deaths (2023): 8.2
Per 100k residents: Below average; 1.1
Per 100M VMT: -22
2022–2023 deaths

Smaller fatality book

Alaska ranks #48 of 51 by total FARS fatalities (651 across 2015-2023) - bottom-third book size.

Alaska in the lower-rate third

According to NHTSA FARS, Alaska sits in the lower-rate third at 8.2 per 100k (#43 of 51), 33% below the U.S. 12.2 benchmark, with weather-related the largest contributing factor.

#43 of 51
lower-rate third: 8.2/100k
2023 fatality rate: #48/51
by total FARS fatalities: Weather-Related
leading contributing factor

NHTSA fatality milepost

Milepost AK · Alaska #43 of 51 · 8.2/100k

Alaska · 8.2/100k · 60 in 2023 · #43 of 51

BOOK 8.2/100k
ALC #43 of 51
SPD 1.1/100M
PED 651 book
RUR near Utah
VS-US 37.8% spd
PHOTO 17.4% ped
YOY -32.8% vs US

Stamps derive from this state's NHTSA FARS row (per-100k rate, corpus rank, VMT rate, fatality book, nearest-rate peer, alcohol/speeding/pedestrian shares, vs-national gap), not a trip-risk forecast. PlainRoadSafety is informational only. See our disclaimer. Verify with NHTSA FARS → · Read with methodology → · Understanding road fatality data → · States ranked →

Road Safety Index

59/100

Alaska

Benchmarked against all 51 states (50 states + DC) on fatality rate, exposure-adjusted rate, pedestrian and impaired-driving fatality share, and safety trend from NHTSA FARS, US Census Bureau, and FHWA sources, not enforcement, infrastructure spend, or road-condition ratings.

Fatality Rate A-

8.2/100k

Fatalities per 100,000 residents (NHTSA FARS + Census PEP population)

Exposure-Adjusted Rate B

1.07/100M VMT

Fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (NHTSA FARS + FHWA Highway Statistics)

Pedestrian Safety F

17.4%

Share of fatalities that were pedestrians (NHTSA FARS)

Impaired-Driving Control F

33.2%

Share of fatalities that were alcohol-impaired (NHTSA FARS)

Safety Trend B-

-7.7%

Change in fatalities over the reporting period; negative is declining (NHTSA FARS)

Pedestrian-led roadside pattern in Alaska

After vehicle-to-vehicle crashes, Alaska's 2023 FARS first-harm leader is Pedestrian at 21.3%, a pedestrian-forward pattern relative to fixed-object states. Counts come from the NHTSA FARS accident microdata for 2023 (first harmful event, weather, light, route, and rural/urban setting), not from the seeded state rollup alone.

First harmful event

Motor Vehicle In-Transport 44.3% · 27
Pedestrian 21.3% · 13
Ditch 6.6% · 4
Tree (Standing Only) 6.6% · 4
Curb 3.3% · 2

Light condition

Daylight 54.1% · 33
Dark - Not Lighted 19.7% · 12
Dark - Lighted 9.8% · 6
Dusk 9.8% · 6
Dark - Unknown Lighting 1.6% · 1

Roadway class

Not Signed 55.7% · 34
Unknown/Not Reported 31.1% · 19
State Highway 6.6% · 4

Weather at crash

Clear 45.9% · 28
Cloudy 27.9% · 17
Rain 13.1% · 8
Snow 6.6% · 4

Minnesota

7
Alaska

8
Utah

8
Connecticut

9
New Hampshire

9
Pennsylvania

9

What this shows Alaska sits among the five nearest fatality-rate peers on the per-100k scale.

Weather-Related

45
Nighttime

42
Speeding

38
Unrestrained

33
Alcohol-Impaired

33
Pedestrian

17

What this shows Weather-Related is the top contributing cause in Alaska, involved in 45.0% of all road deaths. Note: categories overlap as a single crash may involve multiple factors.

Alaska vs all states by fatality rate

Where this state's deaths-per-100k sits among every state and D.C. on PlainRoadSafety

8 Among the safer states a lower per-capita rate than 82% of 51 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 over Census population · 2026-09-03

Alaska plotted against a representative sample of 27 of 51 states and D.C. by deaths per 100,000 residents (x) and deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (y). Dashed lines mark the national median across all 51, computed from the full corpus.

Alaska can rank differently on each axis: population density pushes the per-capita rate one way, and rural-highway commute length pushes the per-mile rate another. Hover or tap any point (including Alaska's own, highlighted) for its exact figures.

Fatality Trend Analysis (2015–2023)

In the lower-rate third, Alaska moved from 65 deaths in 2015 to 60 in 2023 (-7.7%).

Year	Fatalities	Rate	Alcohol	Speeding	Pedestrian
2015	65	8.9	24	20	12
2016	84	11.5	39	33	12
2017	79	10.8	22	25	14
2018	80	10.9	32	40	14
2019	67	9.1	25	29	6
2020	64	8.7	20	20	13
2021	70	9.5	24	27	17
2022	82	11.2	17	28	13
2023	60	8.2	13	24	12

Anchorage leads Alaska's county fatality book

Anchorage County alone accounts for 27.0% of Alaska's 585 FARS fatalities over 2015-2023 (158 deaths); on a per-100k basis, Kenai Peninsula sits higher at 14.7/100k.

#	County	Total Fatalities	Latest Year	Avg Annual	Trend
1	ANCHORAGE (20)	158	15	17.6	↑ increasing
2	MATANUSKA-SUSITNA (170)	153	13	17.0	↑ increasing
3	KENAI PENINSULA (122)	74	9	8.2	↑ increasing
4	FAIRBANKS NORTH STAR (90)	65	5	7.2	↔ stable
5	VALDEZ-CORDOVA (261)	16	2	1.8	↔ stable
6	JUNEAU CITY AND BOR (110)	14	2	1.6	↔ stable
7	SOUTHEAST FAIRBANKS (240)	12	5	1.3	↔ stable
8	NOME (180)	11	0	1.2	↔ stable
9	YUKON-KOYUKUK (290)	11	2	1.2	↔ stable
10	BETHEL (50)	9	0	1.0	↔ stable
11	DENALI (68)	7	0	0.8	↔ stable
12	KETCHIKAN GATEWAY (130)	6	1	0.7	↔ stable
13	PRINCE OF WALES-OUTER (201)	5	0	0.6	↔ stable
14	WRANGELL-PETERSBURG (280)	5	0	0.6	↔ stable
15	NORTH SLOPE (185)	4	0	0.4	↔ stable
16	PETERSBURG (195)	4	0	0.4	↔ stable
17	ALEUTIANS WEST (16)	3	0	0.3	↔ stable
18	COPPER RIVER CA (66)	3	3	0.3	↔ stable
19	HAINES (100)	3	0	0.3	↔ stable
20	NORTHWEST ARCTIC (188)	3	0	0.3	↔ stable

Showing top 20 of 31 counties by total fatalities.

States With Similar Fatality Rates

Among lower-rate peers, Utah (8.2/100k) and Connecticut (8.5/100k) bracket Alaska's 8.2 per 100k.

6 of 50 other states are shown here, ranked by closeness to Alaska's fatality rate.

Utah

8.2 per 100K

280 fatalities (2023)

Connecticut

8.5 per 100K

308 fatalities (2023)

Minnesota

7.1 per 100K

409 fatalities (2023)

New Hampshire

9.3 per 100K

130 fatalities (2023)

Pennsylvania

9.3 per 100K

1,211 fatalities (2023)

Maine

9.7 per 100K

135 fatalities (2023)

Anchorage County and related Alaska road data

Contextual links from this profile to rankings, tools, research, and peer geographies on PlainRoadSafety.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from official public datasets for Alaska (#43 of 51; volume #48/51). See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainRoadSafety · vintage 2026-09-03

Verify with NHTSA FARS → · Verify with Census →