What is Oregon's road fatality rate?

Oregon has a road fatality rate of 13.9 per 100,000 population and 1.6 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This is 13.8% above the national average.

How many road fatalities occurred in Oregon in 2023?

In 2023, Oregon recorded 587 road fatalities. The state's total fatalities across the 2015-2023 period are 4,673.

What is the leading cause of road fatalities in Oregon?

The leading cause is nighttime, accounting for 43.4% of all fatalities (2,030 deaths over the reporting period).

Are road fatalities increasing or decreasing in Oregon?

Road fatalities in Oregon are increasing with a +31.6% change over the reporting period (2015-2023). Fatalities went from 446 in 2015 to 587 in 2023.

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

Oregon's fatality rate of 13.9 per 100K is 13.8% higher than the national average of 12.2 per 100K. According to NHTSA FARS, Oregon ranks #21 of 51 states by fatality rate (highest first), the same sort as /rankings/deadliest-states. See /methodology#corpus-placement.

What percentage of Oregon's road fatalities involve alcohol?

Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for 24.9% of road fatalities in Oregon, representing 1,163 deaths over the reporting period. Speeding accounts for 25.4% and pedestrian incidents for 16.0%.

Are rural or urban roads more dangerous in Oregon?

In Oregon, rural roads account for more fatalities: 2,655 rural vs. 2,017 urban deaths. Rural roads account for 56.8% of all fatalities.

STATE FATALITY DATA - 2023

Oregon road fatality profile

According to NHTSA FARS, Oregon ranks #21 of 51 by fatality rate. 587 traffic deaths in 2023, 13.9 per 100,000.

Compiled by PlainRoadSafety · September 3, 2026

587
Deaths (2023): 13.9
Per 100k residents: Above average; 1.6
Per 100M VMT: -15
2022–2023 deaths

State FARS profile

Oregon: 13.9/100k (#21 of 51), book 4,673, alcohol 24.9%.

What NHTSA FARS shows for Oregon

According to NHTSA FARS, Oregon ranks #21 of 51 by fatality rate (13.9/100k vs U.S. 12.2); nighttime leads contributing factors.

#21 of 51
among US states by rate: 13.9/100k
2023 fatality rate: #28/51
by total FARS fatalities: Nighttime
leading contributing factor

587 2023 Fatalities, By Roadway Setting

53%

Rural 311 (53.0%)
Urban 276 (47.0%)

Highway fatality milepost

Milepost OR · Oregon #21 of 51 · 13.9/100k

Oregon · 13.9/100k · 587 in 2023 · #21 of 51

BAND 13.9/100k
POST #21 of 51
RATE 1.6/100M
RANK 4,673 book
VMT near Idaho
BOOK 25.4% spd
ALC 16.0% ped
SPD +13.8% 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

28/100

Oregon

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

13.9/100k

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

Exposure-Adjusted Rate F

1.59/100M VMT

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

Pedestrian Safety F

16.0%

Share of fatalities that were pedestrians (NHTSA FARS)

Impaired-Driving Control C-

24.9%

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

Safety Trend F

+31.6%

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

Pedestrian-led roadside pattern in Oregon

After vehicle-to-vehicle crashes, Oregon's 2023 FARS first-harm leader is Pedestrian at 16.4%, 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 41.4% · 243
Pedestrian 16.4% · 96
Tree (Standing Only) 8.0% · 47
Rollover/Overturn 5.6% · 33
Ditch 4.3% · 25

Light condition

Daylight 47.5% · 279
Dark - Not Lighted 23.5% · 138
Dark - Lighted 17.7% · 104
Dusk 4.1% · 24
Dawn 2.4% · 14

Roadway class

Not Signed 42.2% · 248
State Highway 27.1% · 159
U.S. Highway 22.1% · 130
Interstate 8.5% · 50

Weather at crash

Clear 65.6% · 385
Cloudy 16.9% · 99
Rain 8.9% · 52
Fog, Smog, Smoke 1.7% · 10
Snow 0.9% · 5

North Dakota

14
Oregon

14
Idaho

14
Texas

14
North Carolina

14
Georgia

15

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

Nighttime

43
Weather-Related

34
Unrestrained

28
Speeding

25
Alcohol-Impaired

25
Pedestrian

16

What this shows Nighttime is the top contributing cause in Oregon, involved in 43.4% of all road deaths. Note: categories overlap as a single crash may involve multiple factors.

Oregon 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 39% 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

Oregon 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.

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

Fatality Trend Analysis (2015–2023)

Between 2015 and 2023, road fatalities in Oregon increased by 31.6%, going from 446 to 587 annual deaths.

Year	Fatalities	Rate	Alcohol	Speeding	Pedestrian
2015	446	10.5	166	117	69
2016	498	11.8	147	142	71
2017	439	10.4	150	138	70
2018	502	11.9	142	112	77
2019	493	11.6	170	114	82
2020	507	12.0	156	99	71
2021	599	14.1	57	138	86
2022	602	14.2	99	190	123
2023	587	13.9	76	135	101

Multnomah leads Oregon's county fatality book

Multnomah County alone accounts for 13.5% of Oregon's 4,227 FARS fatalities over 2015-2023 (570 deaths); on a per-100k basis, Malheur sits higher at 43.7/100k.

#	County	Total Fatalities	Latest Year	Avg Annual	Trend
1	MULTNOMAH (51)	570	90	63.3	↑ increasing
2	MARION (47)	365	48	40.6	↑ increasing
3	LANE (39)	351	41	39.0	↑ increasing
4	CLACKAMAS (5)	293	30	32.6	↑ increasing
5	DOUGLAS (19)	229	34	25.4	↑ increasing
6	WASHINGTON (67)	224	42	24.9	↑ increasing
7	JACKSON (29)	223	29	24.8	↑ increasing
8	LINN (43)	191	35	21.2	↑ increasing
9	DESCHUTES (17)	179	23	19.9	↑ increasing
10	JOSEPHINE (33)	156	14	17.3	↑ increasing
11	KLAMATH (35)	152	24	16.9	↑ increasing
12	YAMHILL (71)	104	14	11.6	↑ increasing
13	UMATILLA (59)	103	17	11.4	↑ increasing
14	CLATSOP (7)	98	9	10.9	↑ increasing
15	COOS (11)	94	19	10.4	↑ increasing
16	LINCOLN (41)	94	7	10.4	↑ increasing
17	POLK (53)	88	9	9.8	↑ increasing
18	TILLAMOOK (57)	74	11	8.2	↔ stable
19	WASCO (65)	74	8	8.2	↑ increasing
20	MALHEUR (45)	73	14	8.1	↑ increasing

Showing top 20 of 36 counties by total fatalities.

States With Similar Fatality Rates

Idaho and Texas are the nearest fatality-rate neighbours to Oregon at 13.9 per 100k.

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

Idaho

14.0 per 100K

275 fatalities (2023)

Texas

14.1 per 100K

4,291 fatalities (2023)

North Dakota

13.5 per 100K

106 fatalities (2023)

North Carolina

14.4 per 100K

1,561 fatalities (2023)

Georgia

14.6 per 100K

1,615 fatalities (2023)

Kansas

13.2 per 100K

387 fatalities (2023)

Multnomah County and related Oregon 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 Oregon (#21 of 51; volume #28/51). See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainRoadSafety · vintage 2026-09-03

Verify with NHTSA FARS → · Verify with Census →