What is Montana's road fatality rate?

Montana has a road fatality rate of 18.4 per 100,000 population and 1.5 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This is 50.7% above the national average.

How many road fatalities occurred in Montana in 2023?

In 2023, Montana recorded 208 road fatalities. The state's total fatalities across the 2015-2023 period are 1,840.

What is the leading cause of road fatalities in Montana?

The leading cause is unrestrained, accounting for 55.3% of all fatalities (1,018 deaths over the reporting period).

Are road fatalities increasing or decreasing in Montana?

Road fatalities in Montana are decreasing with a -7.1% change over the reporting period (2015-2023). Fatalities went from 224 in 2015 to 208 in 2023.

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

Montana's fatality rate of 18.4 per 100K is 50.7% higher than the national average of 12.2 per 100K. According to NHTSA FARS, Montana ranks #8 of 51 states by fatality rate (highest first), the same sort as /rankings/deadliest-states. See /methodology#corpus-placement.

What percentage of Montana's road fatalities involve alcohol?

Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for 43.5% of road fatalities in Montana, representing 801 deaths over the reporting period. Speeding accounts for 33.2% and pedestrian incidents for 7.8%.

Are rural or urban roads more dangerous in Montana?

In Montana, rural roads account for more fatalities: 1,548 rural vs. 283 urban deaths. Rural roads account for 84.1% of all fatalities.

STATE FATALITY DATA - 2023

Montana: higher-rate fatality band

Montana is in the higher per-capita third: 208 traffic deaths in 2023 at 18.4 per 100,000 (#8 of 51).

Compiled by PlainRoadSafety · September 3, 2026

208
Deaths (2023): 18.4
Per 100k residents: Well above average; 1.5
Per 100M VMT: -7
2022–2023 deaths

Higher alcohol-impaired share

Montana ranks #1 of 51 by alcohol-impaired share (43.5%) - top-third alcohol involvement.

Montana in the higher-rate third

According to NHTSA FARS, Montana sits in the higher-rate third at 18.4 per 100k (#8 of 51), 51% above the U.S. 12.2 benchmark, with unrestrained the largest contributing factor.

#8 of 51
higher-rate third: 18.4/100k
2023 fatality rate: #40/51
by total FARS fatalities: Unrestrained
leading contributing factor

208 2023 Fatalities, By Roadway Setting

79%

Rural 164 (78.8%)
Urban 41 (19.7%)
Trafficway Not in State Inventory 3 (1.4%)

Highway fatality milepost

Milepost MT · Montana #8 of 51 · 18.4/100k

Montana · 18.4/100k · 208 in 2023 · #8 of 51

PED 18.4/100k
RUR #8 of 51
VS-US 1.5/100M
PHOTO 1,840 book
YOY near Tennessee
FARS 33.2% spd
NHTSA 7.8% ped
MILE +50.7% 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

31/100

Montana

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

18.4/100k

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

Exposure-Adjusted Rate F

1.52/100M VMT

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

Pedestrian Safety A+

7.8%

Share of fatalities that were pedestrians (NHTSA FARS)

Impaired-Driving Control F

43.5%

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

Safety Trend C+

-7.1%

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

Rollover-heavy crash pattern in Montana

Rollover/overturn leads Montana's non-vehicle first-harm events in 2023 FARS (16.8%), with U.S. Highway 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 35.6% · 74
Rollover/Overturn 16.8% · 35
Pedestrian 9.6% · 20
Post, Pole or Other Supports 9.6% · 20
Fence 2.9% · 6

Light condition

Daylight 47.6% · 99
Dark - Not Lighted 36.1% · 75
Dark - Lighted 9.6% · 20
Dawn 3.4% · 7
Dusk 3.4% · 7

Roadway class

U.S. Highway 33.7% · 70
Not Signed 25.5% · 53
State Highway 13.5% · 28
Interstate 13.0% · 27
Secondary Route 9.1% · 19

Weather at crash

Clear 58.7% · 122
Cloudy 29.3% · 61
Snow 5.8% · 12
Rain 3.8% · 8
Blowing Snow 0.5% · 1

Louisiana

18
Oklahoma

18
Kentucky

18
Montana

18
Tennessee

19
Alabama

19

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

Unrestrained

55
Alcohol-Impaired

44
Nighttime

42
Weather-Related

40
Speeding

33
Distracted

9

What this shows Unrestrained is the top contributing cause in Montana, involved in 55.3% of all road deaths. Note: categories overlap as a single crash may involve multiple factors.

Montana vs all states by fatality rate

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

18 Higher risk than most a lower per-capita rate than 14% 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

Montana 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.

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

Fatality Trend Analysis (2015–2023)

In the higher-rate third, Montana moved from 224 deaths in 2015 to 208 in 2023 (-7.1%).

Year	Fatalities	Rate	Alcohol	Speeding	Pedestrian
2015	224	19.8	97	85	14
2016	190	16.8	95	58	11
2017	186	16.4	72	57	14
2018	181	16.0	88	63	15
2019	184	16.2	81	52	16
2020	213	18.8	108	80	17
2021	239	21.1	110	82	18
2022	215	19.0	72	65	18
2023	208	18.4	78	69	20

Per-capita county spikes in Montana: Big Horn and Carbon

Fatalities are spread across 55 Montana counties (no single county exceeds 12% of the book). Per-capita leaders are Big Horn (70.6/100k) and Carbon (61.3/100k), while volume still ranks Yellowstone first.

#	County	Total Fatalities	Latest Year	Avg Annual	Trend
1	YELLOWSTONE (111)	162	27	18.0	↑ increasing
2	FLATHEAD (29)	143	23	15.9	↑ increasing
3	MISSOULA (63)	135	23	15.0	↑ increasing
4	BIG HORN (3)	109	9	12.1	↑ increasing
5	CASCADE (13)	83	8	9.2	↑ increasing
6	GALLATIN (31)	77	17	8.6	↑ increasing
7	LAKE (47)	75	8	8.3	↑ increasing
8	LEWIS AND CLARK (49)	56	8	6.2	↑ increasing
9	GLACIER (35)	44	3	4.9	↑ increasing
10	JEFFERSON (43)	41	3	4.6	↔ stable
11	LINCOLN (53)	40	9	4.4	↔ stable
12	PARK (67)	40	6	4.4	↔ stable
13	ROSEBUD (87)	40	5	4.4	↔ stable
14	RAVALLI (81)	39	7	4.3	↔ stable
15	SANDERS (89)	35	4	3.9	↔ stable
16	ROOSEVELT (85)	33	3	3.7	↔ stable
17	CARBON (9)	29	7	3.2	↔ stable
18	POWELL (77)	29	4	3.2	↑ increasing
19	SILVER BOW (93)	27	2	3.0	↑ increasing
20	BEAVERHEAD (1)	25	5	2.8	↑ increasing

Showing top 20 of 55 counties by total fatalities.

States With Similar Fatality Rates

Among higher-rate peers, Tennessee (18.6/100k) and Kentucky (18.0/100k) sit closest to Montana's 18.4 per 100k.

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

Tennessee

18.6 per 100K

1,323 fatalities (2023)

Kentucky

18.0 per 100K

814 fatalities (2023)

Louisiana

17.7 per 100K

811 fatalities (2023)

Oklahoma

17.7 per 100K

718 fatalities (2023)

Alabama

19.1 per 100K

974 fatalities (2023)

Arizona

17.5 per 100K

1,304 fatalities (2023)

Big Horn-rate peers and Montana 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 Montana (#8 of 51; volume #40/51). See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainRoadSafety · vintage 2026-09-03

Verify with NHTSA FARS → · Verify with Census →