What is Idaho's road fatality rate?

Idaho has a road fatality rate of 14.0 per 100,000 population and 1.4 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This is 14.7% above the national average.

How many road fatalities occurred in Idaho in 2023?

In 2023, Idaho recorded 275 road fatalities. The state's total fatalities across the 2015-2023 period are 2,149.

What is the leading cause of road fatalities in Idaho?

The leading cause is unrestrained, accounting for 48.9% of all fatalities (1,051 deaths over the reporting period).

Are road fatalities increasing or decreasing in Idaho?

Road fatalities in Idaho are increasing with a +27.3% change over the reporting period (2015-2023). Fatalities went from 216 in 2015 to 275 in 2023.

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

Idaho's fatality rate of 14.0 per 100K is 14.7% higher than the national average of 12.2 per 100K. According to NHTSA FARS, Idaho ranks #20 of 51 states by fatality rate (highest first), the same sort as /rankings/deadliest-states. See /methodology#corpus-placement.

What percentage of Idaho's road fatalities involve alcohol?

Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for 30.1% of road fatalities in Idaho, representing 647 deaths over the reporting period. Speeding accounts for 21.7% and pedestrian incidents for 7.0%.

Are rural or urban roads more dangerous in Idaho?

In Idaho, rural roads account for more fatalities: 1,605 rural vs. 530 urban deaths. Rural roads account for 74.7% of all fatalities.

STATE FATALITY DATA - 2023

Idaho: smaller FARS fatality book

Idaho holds a smaller FARS book (2,149 across 2015-2023, #38/51 by volume) with 275 deaths in 2023.

Compiled by PlainRoadSafety · September 3, 2026

275
Deaths (2023): 14.0
Per 100k residents: Above average; 1.4
Per 100M VMT: +60
2022–2023 deaths

Smaller fatality book

Idaho ranks #38 of 51 by total FARS fatalities (2,149 across 2015-2023) - bottom-third book size.

Idaho in the smaller-book third

According to NHTSA FARS, Idaho carries a bottom-third fatality book (2,149 across 2015-2023, volume rank #38/51) at 14.0/100k.

#20 of 51
among US states by rate: 14.0/100k
2023 fatality rate: #38/51
by total FARS fatalities: Unrestrained
leading contributing factor

275 2023 Fatalities, By Roadway Setting

71%

Rural 194 (70.5%)
Urban 81 (29.5%)

NHTSA fatality milepost

Milepost ID · Idaho #20 of 51 · 14.0/100k

Idaho · 14.0/100k · 275 in 2023 · #20 of 51

PHOTO 14.0/100k
YOY #20 of 51
FARS 1.4/100M
NHTSA 2,149 book
MILE near Oregon
BAND 21.7% spd
POST 7.0% ped
RATE +14.7% 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

37/100

Idaho

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 F

14.0/100k

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

Exposure-Adjusted Rate F

1.39/100M VMT

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

Pedestrian Safety A+

7.0%

Share of fatalities that were pedestrians (NHTSA FARS)

Impaired-Driving Control F

30.1%

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

Safety Trend F

+27.3%

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

Rollover-heavy crash pattern in Idaho

Rollover/overturn leads Idaho's non-vehicle first-harm events in 2023 FARS (15.3%), with Not Signed the most common roadway class. 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 42.9% · 118
Rollover/Overturn 15.3% · 42
Pedestrian 10.9% · 30
Tree (Standing Only) 4.4% · 12
Pedalcyclist 2.9% · 8

Light condition

Daylight 54.5% · 150
Dark - Not Lighted 29.8% · 82
Dusk 5.8% · 16
Dark - Lighted 5.1% · 14
Dawn 3.3% · 9

Roadway class

Not Signed 38.5% · 106
State Highway 23.3% · 64
U.S. Highway 23.3% · 64
Interstate 13.8% · 38
Parkway Marker or Forest Route Marker [Specify:] 0.4% · 1

Weather at crash

Clear 73.1% · 201
Cloudy 16.7% · 46
Rain 5.1% · 14
Snow 1.5% · 4
Fog, Smog, Smoke 1.1% · 3

North Dakota

14
Oregon

14
Idaho

14
Texas

14
North Carolina

14
Georgia

15

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

Unrestrained

49
Nighttime

36
Alcohol-Impaired

30
Weather-Related

26
Speeding

22
Distracted

15

What this shows Unrestrained is the top contributing cause in Idaho, involved in 48.9% of all road deaths. Note: categories overlap as a single crash may involve multiple factors.

Idaho vs all states by fatality rate

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

14 Around the middle a lower per-capita rate than 37% 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

Idaho 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.

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

Fatality Trend Analysis (2015–2023)

On a smaller fatality book (#38/51), Idaho went from 216 in 2015 to 275 in 2023.

Year	Fatalities	Rate	Alcohol	Speeding	Pedestrian
2015	216	11.0	79	43	8
2016	253	12.9	75	53	17
2017	245	12.5	71	48	15
2018	234	11.9	58	47	17
2019	224	11.4	83	48	12
2020	214	10.9	75	62	14
2021	273	13.9	78	60	21
2022	215	10.9	68	47	16
2023	275	14.0	60	58	31

Per-capita county spikes in Idaho: Jerome and Idaho

Fatalities are spread across 44 Idaho counties (no single county exceeds 12% of the book). Per-capita leaders are Jerome (70.6/100k) and Idaho (44.7/100k), while volume still ranks Ada first.

#	County	Total Fatalities	Latest Year	Avg Annual	Trend
1	ADA (1)	207	31	23.0	↑ increasing
2	CANYON (27)	198	30	22.0	↑ increasing
3	KOOTENAI (55)	131	19	14.6	↑ increasing
4	BONNEVILLE (19)	106	18	11.8	↑ increasing
5	TWIN FALLS (83)	87	12	9.7	↑ increasing
6	JEROME (53)	86	18	9.6	↑ increasing
7	BANNOCK (5)	82	8	9.1	↑ increasing
8	ELMORE (39)	77	11	8.6	↑ increasing
9	BINGHAM (11)	74	9	8.2	↑ increasing
10	BONNER (17)	67	7	7.4	↑ increasing
11	IDAHO (49)	63	8	7.0	↔ stable
12	NEZ PERCE (69)	62	7	6.9	↑ increasing
13	CASSIA (31)	52	8	5.8	↑ increasing
14	BOISE (15)	48	7	5.3	↑ increasing
15	PAYETTE (75)	37	9	4.1	↑ increasing
16	BLAINE (13)	36	5	4.0	↔ stable
17	GOODING (47)	35	4	3.9	↔ stable
18	FREMONT (43)	34	4	3.8	↔ stable
19	MINIDOKA (67)	31	5	3.4	↑ increasing
20	SHOSHONE (79)	31	2	3.4	↓ decreasing

Showing top 20 of 44 counties by total fatalities.

States With Similar Fatality Rates

Oregon and Texas are the nearest fatality-rate neighbours to Idaho at 14.0 per 100k.

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

Oregon

13.9 per 100K

587 fatalities (2023)

Texas

14.1 per 100K

4,291 fatalities (2023)

North Carolina

14.4 per 100K

1,561 fatalities (2023)

North Dakota

13.5 per 100K

106 fatalities (2023)

Georgia

14.6 per 100K

1,615 fatalities (2023)

West Virginia

14.7 per 100K

260 fatalities (2023)

Jerome-rate peers and Idaho 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 Idaho (#20 of 51; volume #38/51). See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainRoadSafety · vintage 2026-09-03

Verify with NHTSA FARS → · Verify with Census →