What is Mississippi's road fatality rate?

Mississippi has a road fatality rate of 24.9 per 100,000 population and 1.8 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This is 103.9% above the national average.

How many road fatalities occurred in Mississippi in 2023?

In 2023, Mississippi recorded 732 road fatalities. The state's total fatalities across the 2015-2023 period are 6,303.

What is the leading cause of road fatalities in Mississippi?

The leading cause is nighttime, accounting for 46.0% of all fatalities (2,898 deaths over the reporting period).

Are road fatalities increasing or decreasing in Mississippi?

Road fatalities in Mississippi are increasing with a +8.1% change over the reporting period (2015-2023). Fatalities went from 677 in 2015 to 732 in 2023.

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

Mississippi's fatality rate of 24.9 per 100K is 103.9% higher than the national average of 12.2 per 100K. According to NHTSA FARS, Mississippi ranks #1 of 51 states by fatality rate (highest first), the same sort as /rankings/deadliest-states. See /methodology#corpus-placement.

What percentage of Mississippi's road fatalities involve alcohol?

Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for 18.7% of road fatalities in Mississippi, representing 1,178 deaths over the reporting period. Speeding accounts for 14.8% and pedestrian incidents for 11.3%.

Are rural or urban roads more dangerous in Mississippi?

In Mississippi, rural roads account for more fatalities: 4,424 rural vs. 1,863 urban deaths. Rural roads account for 70.2% of all fatalities.

STATE FATALITY DATA - 2023

Mississippi: higher-rate fatality band

Mississippi is in the higher per-capita third: 732 traffic deaths in 2023 at 24.9 per 100,000 (#1 of 51).

Compiled by PlainRoadSafety · September 3, 2026

732
Deaths (2023): 24.9
Per 100k residents: Well above average; 1.8
Per 100M VMT: +29
2022–2023 deaths

Higher per-capita fatality band

Mississippi ranks #1 of 51 by deaths per 100,000 residents (24.9/100k) - top-third rate among 51 states and D.C.

Mississippi in the higher-rate third

According to NHTSA FARS, Mississippi sits in the higher-rate third at 24.9 per 100k (#1 of 51), 104% above the U.S. 12.2 benchmark, with nighttime the largest contributing factor.

#1 of 51
higher-rate third: 24.9/100k
2023 fatality rate: #20/51
by total FARS fatalities: Nighttime
leading contributing factor

FARS milepost strip

Milepost MS · Mississippi #1 of 51 · 24.9/100k

Mississippi · 24.9/100k · 732 in 2023 · #1 of 51

RUR 24.9/100k
VS-US #1 of 51
PHOTO 1.8/100M
YOY 6,303 book
FARS near Wyoming
NHTSA 14.8% spd
MILE 11.3% ped
BAND +103.9% 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

26/100

Mississippi

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

24.9/100k

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

Exposure-Adjusted Rate F

1.79/100M VMT

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

Pedestrian Safety B-

11.3%

Share of fatalities that were pedestrians (NHTSA FARS)

Impaired-Driving Control A+

18.7%

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

Safety Trend F

+8.1%

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

Tree/fixed-object pattern in Mississippi

Tree (Standing Only) is Mississippi's top non-vehicle first-harm event in 2023 FARS (14.9%), pointing to roadside departure rather than intersection conflict. 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 39.7% · 291
Tree (Standing Only) 14.9% · 109
Pedestrian 11.5% · 84
Rollover/Overturn 8.5% · 62
Ditch 5.5% · 40

Light condition

Daylight 47.9% · 351
Dark - Not Lighted 34.4% · 252
Dark - Lighted 11.9% · 87
Dawn 2.5% · 18
Dark - Unknown Lighting 1.5% · 11

Roadway class

State Highway 31.2% · 229
County 23.2% · 170
U.S. Highway 21.3% · 156
Interstate 13.8% · 101
Municipal 10.1% · 74

Weather at crash

Clear 82.1% · 602
Rain 8.6% · 63
Cloudy 5.9% · 43
Fog, Smog, Smoke 0.7% · 5
Freezing Rain or Drizzle 0.1% · 1

Alabama

19
Arkansas

19
South Carolina

20
New Mexico

21
Wyoming

25
Mississippi

25

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

Nighttime

46
Unrestrained

44
Weather-Related

22
Alcohol-Impaired

19
Speeding

15
Pedestrian

11

What this shows Nighttime is the top contributing cause in Mississippi, involved in 46.0% of all road deaths. Note: categories overlap as a single crash may involve multiple factors.

Mississippi vs all states by fatality rate

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

25 Higher risk than most in the bottom 1% 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

Mississippi 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.

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

Fatality Trend Analysis (2015–2023)

In the higher-rate third, Mississippi moved from 677 deaths in 2015 to 732 in 2023 (+8.1%).

Year	Fatalities	Rate	Alcohol	Speeding	Pedestrian
2015	677	23.0	146	95	63
2016	687	23.4	120	80	58
2017	685	23.3	132	59	71
2018	663	22.6	127	47	89
2019	642	21.8	143	120	65
2020	748	25.4	124	129	105
2021	766	26.1	134	122	93
2022	703	23.9	133	139	81
2023	732	24.9	119	140	86

Per-capita county spikes in Mississippi: Scott and Covington

Fatalities are spread across 82 Mississippi counties (no single county exceeds 12% of the book). Per-capita leaders are Scott (69.1/100k) and Covington (66.4/100k), while volume still ranks Hinds first.

#	County	Total Fatalities	Latest Year	Avg Annual	Trend
1	HINDS (49)	420	57	46.7	↑ increasing
2	HARRISON (47)	255	28	28.3	↑ increasing
3	JACKSON (59)	217	24	24.1	↑ increasing
4	DE SOTO (33)	178	20	19.8	↑ increasing
5	LAUDERDALE (75)	155	21	17.2	↑ increasing
6	LEE (81)	151	16	16.8	↑ increasing
7	RANKIN (121)	148	18	16.4	↑ increasing
8	MARSHALL (93)	139	15	15.4	↑ increasing
9	FORREST (35)	132	22	14.7	↑ increasing
10	PEARL RIVER (109)	115	17	12.8	↑ increasing
11	MADISON (89)	114	17	12.7	↑ increasing
12	PANOLA (107)	112	18	12.4	↑ increasing
13	WASHINGTON (151)	110	19	12.2	↑ increasing
14	SCOTT (123)	105	19	11.7	↑ increasing
15	JONES (67)	104	16	11.6	↑ increasing
16	PIKE (113)	93	6	10.3	↔ stable
17	HANCOCK (45)	89	13	9.9	↑ increasing
18	LAMAR (73)	88	12	9.8	↑ increasing
19	COPIAH (29)	86	13	9.6	↑ increasing
20	NESHOBA (99)	86	8	9.6	↔ stable

Showing top 20 of 82 counties by total fatalities.

States With Similar Fatality Rates

Among higher-rate peers, Wyoming (24.7/100k) and New Mexico (20.7/100k) sit closest to Mississippi's 24.9 per 100k.

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

Wyoming

24.7 per 100K

144 fatalities (2023)

New Mexico

20.7 per 100K

437 fatalities (2023)

South Carolina

19.5 per 100K

1,047 fatalities (2023)

Arkansas

19.4 per 100K

596 fatalities (2023)

Alabama

19.1 per 100K

974 fatalities (2023)

Tennessee

18.6 per 100K

1,323 fatalities (2023)

Scott-rate peers and Mississippi 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 Mississippi (#1 of 51; volume #20/51). See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainRoadSafety · vintage 2026-09-03

Verify with NHTSA FARS → · Verify with Census →