What is California's road fatality rate?

California has a road fatality rate of 10.4 per 100,000 population and 1.3 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This is 14.8% below the national average.

How many road fatalities occurred in California in 2023?

In 2023, California recorded 4,061 road fatalities. The state's total fatalities across the 2015-2023 period are 35,718.

What is the leading cause of road fatalities in California?

The leading cause is nighttime, accounting for 57.0% of all fatalities (20,358 deaths over the reporting period).

Are road fatalities increasing or decreasing in California?

Road fatalities in California are increasing with a +19.9% change over the reporting period (2015-2023). Fatalities went from 3,387 in 2015 to 4,061 in 2023.

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

California's fatality rate of 10.4 per 100K is 14.8% lower than the national average of 12.2 per 100K. According to NHTSA FARS, California ranks #34 of 51 states by fatality rate (highest first), the same sort as /rankings/deadliest-states. See /methodology#corpus-placement.

What percentage of California's road fatalities involve alcohol?

Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for 27.3% of road fatalities in California, representing 9,739 deaths over the reporting period. Speeding accounts for 28.9% and pedestrian incidents for 25.7%.

Are rural or urban roads more dangerous in California?

In California, urban roads account for more fatalities: 11,318 rural vs. 24,359 urban deaths. Rural roads account for 31.7% of all fatalities.

STATE FATALITY DATA - 2023

California: larger FARS fatality book

California holds a larger FARS book (35,718 across 2015-2023, #1/51 by volume) with 4,061 deaths in 2023.

Compiled by PlainRoadSafety · September 3, 2026

4,061
Deaths (2023): 10.4
Per 100k residents: Below average; 1.3
Per 100M VMT: -478
2022–2023 deaths

Larger fatality book

California ranks #1 of 51 by total FARS fatalities (35,718 across 2015-2023) - top-third book size.

California in the larger-book third

According to NHTSA FARS, California carries a top-third fatality book (35,718 across 2015-2023, volume rank #1/51) at 10.4/100k.

#34 of 51
among US states by rate: 10.4/100k
2023 fatality rate: #1/51
by total FARS fatalities: Nighttime
leading contributing factor

NHTSA fatality milepost

Milepost CA · California #34 of 51 · 10.4/100k

California · 10.4/100k · 4,061 in 2023 · #34 of 51

BAND 10.4/100k
POST #34 of 51
RATE 1.3/100M
RANK 35,718 book
VMT near Washington
BOOK 28.9% spd
ALC 25.7% ped
SPD -14.8% 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

39/100

California

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 B-

10.4/100k

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

Exposure-Adjusted Rate D

1.28/100M VMT

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

Pedestrian Safety F

25.7%

Share of fatalities that were pedestrians (NHTSA FARS)

Impaired-Driving Control D

27.3%

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

Safety Trend F

+19.9%

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

Pedestrian-led roadside pattern in California

After vehicle-to-vehicle crashes, California's 2023 FARS first-harm leader is Pedestrian at 25.5%, 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 36.6% · 1,525
Pedestrian 25.5% · 1,063
Curb 7.1% · 296
Rollover/Overturn 5.4% · 226
Pedalcyclist 3.6% · 150

Light condition

Daylight 35.5% · 1,479
Dark - Lighted 33.9% · 1,412
Dark - Not Lighted 24.5% · 1,023
Dusk 2.7% · 111
Dawn 2.0% · 84

Roadway class

State Highway 25.0% · 1,041
Interstate 13.5% · 563
Not Signed 12.5% · 521
U.S. Highway 4.1% · 173
Unknown/Not Reported 2.8% · 117

Weather at crash

Clear 81.0% · 3,376
Cloudy 11.2% · 465
Rain 5.3% · 221
Fog, Smog, Smoke 0.4% · 17
Severe Crosswinds 0.2% · 9

Maryland

10
California

10
Washington

10
Ohio

11
Virginia

11
Vermont

11

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

Nighttime

57
Speeding

29
Alcohol-Impaired

27
Unrestrained

27
Pedestrian

26
Weather-Related

15

What this shows Nighttime is the top contributing cause in California, involved in 57.0% of all road deaths. Note: categories overlap as a single crash may involve multiple factors.

California vs all states by fatality rate

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

10 Lower than most a lower per-capita rate than 65% 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

California plotted against a representative sample of 26 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.

California 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 California's own, highlighted) for its exact figures.

Fatality Trend Analysis (2015–2023)

On a larger fatality book (#1/51), California went from 3,387 in 2015 to 4,061 in 2023.

Year	Fatalities	Rate	Alcohol	Speeding	Pedestrian
2015	3,387	8.7	1,093	993	819
2016	3,837	9.8	1,148	1,122	933
2017	3,884	10.0	1,169	1,079	940
2018	3,798	9.7	1,081	958	978
2019	3,719	9.5	1,005	1,079	1,011
2020	3,980	10.2	1,156	1,241	1,013
2021	4,513	11.6	1,030	1,441	1,179
2022	4,539	11.6	1,073	1,246	1,213
2023	4,061	10.4	984	1,151	1,106

Los Angeles leads California's county fatality book

Los Angeles County alone accounts for 19.6% of California's 32,331 FARS fatalities over 2015-2023 (6,321 deaths); on a per-100k basis, Trinity sits higher at 51.1/100k.

#	County	Total Fatalities	Latest Year	Avg Annual	Trend
1	LOS ANGELES (37)	6,321	807	702.3	↑ increasing
2	SAN BERNARDINO (71)	2,891	378	321.2	↑ increasing
3	RIVERSIDE (65)	2,529	330	281.0	↑ increasing
4	SAN DIEGO (73)	2,176	278	241.8	↑ increasing
5	ORANGE (59)	1,693	218	188.1	↑ increasing
6	KERN (29)	1,469	176	163.2	↑ increasing
7	SACRAMENTO (67)	1,457	204	161.9	↑ increasing
8	FRESNO (19)	1,303	151	144.8	↑ increasing
9	SAN JOAQUIN (77)	1,001	136	111.2	↑ increasing
10	SANTA CLARA (85)	959	122	106.6	↑ increasing
11	ALAMEDA (1)	764	88	84.9	↑ increasing
12	STANISLAUS (99)	690	86	76.7	↑ increasing
13	CONTRA COSTA (13)	666	95	74.0	↑ increasing
14	TULARE (107)	646	82	71.8	↑ increasing
15	MERCED (47)	494	59	54.9	↑ increasing
16	VENTURA (111)	461	71	51.2	↑ increasing
17	MONTEREY (53)	387	39	43.0	↑ increasing
18	SOLANO (95)	378	43	42.0	↑ increasing
19	BUTTE (7)	315	35	35.0	↑ increasing
20	SONOMA (97)	314	29	34.9	↑ increasing

Showing top 20 of 58 counties by total fatalities.

States With Similar Fatality Rates

Washington and Ohio are the nearest fatality-rate neighbours to California at 10.4 per 100k.

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

Washington

10.4 per 100K

810 fatalities (2023)

Ohio

10.5 per 100K

1,242 fatalities (2023)

Virginia

10.5 per 100K

913 fatalities (2023)

Vermont

10.7 per 100K

69 fatalities (2023)

Maryland

10.0 per 100K

621 fatalities (2023)

Illinois

9.9 per 100K

1,241 fatalities (2023)

Los Angeles County and related California 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 California (#34 of 51; volume #1/51). See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainRoadSafety · vintage 2026-09-03

Verify with NHTSA FARS → · Verify with Census →