What is Nebraska's road fatality rate?

Nebraska has a road fatality rate of 11.5 per 100,000 population and 1.1 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This is 5.8% below the national average.

How many road fatalities occurred in Nebraska in 2023?

In 2023, Nebraska recorded 227 road fatalities. The state's total fatalities across the 2015-2023 period are 2,095.

What is the leading cause of road fatalities in Nebraska?

The leading cause is unrestrained, accounting for 49.3% of all fatalities (1,033 deaths over the reporting period).

Are road fatalities increasing or decreasing in Nebraska?

Road fatalities in Nebraska are decreasing with a -7.7% change over the reporting period (2015-2023). Fatalities went from 246 in 2015 to 227 in 2023.

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

Nebraska's fatality rate of 11.5 per 100K is 5.8% lower than the national average of 12.2 per 100K. According to NHTSA FARS, Nebraska ranks #29 of 51 states by fatality rate (highest first), the same sort as /rankings/deadliest-states. See /methodology#corpus-placement.

What percentage of Nebraska's road fatalities involve alcohol?

Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for 29.6% of road fatalities in Nebraska, representing 620 deaths over the reporting period. Speeding accounts for 16.7% and pedestrian incidents for 7.8%.

Are rural or urban roads more dangerous in Nebraska?

In Nebraska, rural roads account for more fatalities: 1,481 rural vs. 613 urban deaths. Rural roads account for 70.7% of all fatalities.

STATE FATALITY DATA - 2023

Nebraska: smaller FARS fatality book

Nebraska holds a smaller FARS book (2,095 across 2015-2023, #39/51 by volume) with 227 deaths in 2023.

Compiled by PlainRoadSafety · September 3, 2026

227
Deaths (2023): 11.5
Per 100k residents: Near average; 1.1
Per 100M VMT: -17
2022–2023 deaths

Smaller fatality book

Nebraska ranks #39 of 51 by total FARS fatalities (2,095 across 2015-2023) - bottom-third book size.

Nebraska in the smaller-book third

According to NHTSA FARS, Nebraska carries a bottom-third fatality book (2,095 across 2015-2023, volume rank #39/51) at 11.5/100k.

#29 of 51
among US states by rate: 11.5/100k
2023 fatality rate: #39/51
by total FARS fatalities: Unrestrained
leading contributing factor

227 2023 Fatalities, By Roadway Setting

71%

Rural 161 (70.9%)
Urban 65 (28.6%)
Trafficway Not in State Inventory 1 (0.4%)

Highway fatality milepost

Milepost NE · Nebraska #29 of 51 · 11.5/100k

Nebraska · 11.5/100k · 227 in 2023 · #29 of 51

RUR 11.5/100k
VS-US #29 of 51
PHOTO 1.1/100M
YOY 2,095 book
FARS near Iowa
NHTSA 16.7% spd
MILE 7.8% ped
BAND -5.8% 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 →

C+

Road Safety Index

63/100

Nebraska

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 C

11.5/100k

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 A+

7.8%

Share of fatalities that were pedestrians (NHTSA FARS)

Impaired-Driving Control F

29.6%

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)

Rollover-heavy crash pattern in Nebraska

Rollover/overturn leads Nebraska's non-vehicle first-harm events in 2023 FARS (13.7%), with State 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 48.9% · 111
Rollover/Overturn 13.7% · 31
Tree (Standing Only) 6.6% · 15
Pedestrian 5.3% · 12
Ditch 4.4% · 10

Light condition

Daylight 54.2% · 123
Dark - Not Lighted 23.8% · 54
Dark - Lighted 14.1% · 32
Dusk 3.5% · 8
Dawn 2.2% · 5

Roadway class

State Highway 29.1% · 66
U.S. Highway 29.1% · 66
County 19.4% · 44
Municipal 13.2% · 30
Interstate 8.8% · 20

Weather at crash

Clear 72.2% · 164
Cloudy 15.4% · 35
Rain 6.2% · 14
Snow 2.2% · 5
Blowing Snow 0.9% · 2

Vermont

11
Michigan

11
Nebraska

12
Iowa

12
Colorado

12
Nevada

12

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

Unrestrained

49
Nighttime

40
Alcohol-Impaired

30
Weather-Related

26
Speeding

17
Pedestrian

8

What this shows Unrestrained is the top contributing cause in Nebraska, involved in 49.3% of all road deaths. Note: categories overlap as a single crash may involve multiple factors.

Nebraska vs all states by fatality rate

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

12 Lower than most a lower per-capita rate than 55% 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

Nebraska 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.

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

Fatality Trend Analysis (2015–2023)

On a smaller fatality book (#39/51), Nebraska went from 246 in 2015 to 227 in 2023.

Year	Fatalities	Rate	Alcohol	Speeding	Pedestrian
2015	246	12.4	79	37	19
2016	218	11.0	82	36	12
2017	228	11.5	75	37	20
2018	230	11.6	71	29	24
2019	248	12.5	76	49	20
2020	233	11.8	80	39	18
2021	221	11.2	56	36	15
2022	244	12.3	53	40	23
2023	227	11.5	48	46	13

Douglas leads Nebraska's county fatality book

Douglas County alone accounts for 17.6% of Nebraska's 1,849 FARS fatalities over 2015-2023 (325 deaths); on a per-100k basis, Box Butte sits higher at 65.5/100k.

#	County	Total Fatalities	Latest Year	Avg Annual	Trend
1	DOUGLAS (55)	325	40	36.1	↑ increasing
2	LANCASTER (109)	158	16	17.6	↑ increasing
3	SARPY (153)	89	8	9.9	↑ increasing
4	HALL (79)	60	9	6.7	↑ increasing
5	LINCOLN (111)	53	7	5.9	↓ decreasing
6	CASS (25)	52	9	5.8	↔ stable
7	DODGE (53)	50	3	5.6	↑ increasing
8	BUFFALO (19)	46	8	5.1	↔ stable
9	MADISON (119)	42	4	4.7	↓ decreasing
10	SCOTTS BLUFF (157)	42	2	4.7	↓ decreasing
11	SEWARD (159)	41	1	4.6	↔ stable
12	DAWSON (47)	40	3	4.4	↓ decreasing
13	SAUNDERS (155)	36	7	4.0	↑ increasing
14	YORK (185)	34	2	3.8	↑ increasing
15	ADAMS (1)	30	3	3.3	↓ decreasing
16	KEITH (101)	30	3	3.3	↓ decreasing
17	PLATTE (141)	25	0	2.8	↓ decreasing
18	MERRICK (121)	22	4	2.4	↔ stable
19	BOX BUTTE (13)	21	7	2.3	↔ stable
20	CEDAR (27)	21	1	2.3	↓ decreasing

Showing top 20 of 91 counties by total fatalities.

States With Similar Fatality Rates

Iowa and Michigan are the nearest fatality-rate neighbours to Nebraska at 11.5 per 100k.

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

Iowa

11.8 per 100K

377 fatalities (2023)

Michigan

10.9 per 100K

1,094 fatalities (2023)

Colorado

12.2 per 100K

720 fatalities (2023)

Nevada

12.2 per 100K

389 fatalities (2023)

Vermont

10.7 per 100K

69 fatalities (2023)

Ohio

10.5 per 100K

1,242 fatalities (2023)

Douglas County and related Nebraska 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 Nebraska (#29 of 51; volume #39/51). See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainRoadSafety · vintage 2026-09-03

Verify with NHTSA FARS → · Verify with Census →