What is Pennsylvania's road fatality rate?

Pennsylvania has a road fatality rate of 9.3 per 100,000 population and 1.2 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This is 23.8% below the national average.

How many road fatalities occurred in Pennsylvania in 2023?

In 2023, Pennsylvania recorded 1,211 road fatalities. The state's total fatalities across the 2015-2023 period are 10,523.

What is the leading cause of road fatalities in Pennsylvania?

The leading cause is nighttime, accounting for 43.5% of all fatalities (4,582 deaths over the reporting period).

Are road fatalities increasing or decreasing in Pennsylvania?

Road fatalities in Pennsylvania are increasing with a +0.9% change over the reporting period (2015-2023). Fatalities went from 1,200 in 2015 to 1,211 in 2023.

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

Pennsylvania's fatality rate of 9.3 per 100K is 23.8% lower than the national average of 12.2 per 100K. According to NHTSA FARS, Pennsylvania ranks #41 of 51 states by fatality rate (highest first), the same sort as /rankings/deadliest-states. See /methodology#corpus-placement.

What percentage of Pennsylvania's road fatalities involve alcohol?

Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for 23.3% of road fatalities in Pennsylvania, representing 2,447 deaths over the reporting period. Speeding accounts for 31.6% and pedestrian incidents for 14.2%.

Are rural or urban roads more dangerous in Pennsylvania?

In Pennsylvania, urban roads account for more fatalities: 4,876 rural vs. 5,617 urban deaths. Rural roads account for 46.3% of all fatalities.

STATE FATALITY DATA - 2023

Pennsylvania: lower-rate fatality band

Pennsylvania is in the lower per-capita third: 1,211 traffic deaths in 2023 at 9.3 per 100,000 (#41 of 51).

Compiled by PlainRoadSafety · September 3, 2026

1,211
Deaths (2023): 9.3
Per 100k residents: Below average; 1.2
Per 100M VMT: +32
2022–2023 deaths

Larger fatality book

Pennsylvania ranks #7 of 51 by total FARS fatalities (10,523 across 2015-2023) - top-third book size.

Pennsylvania in the lower-rate third

According to NHTSA FARS, Pennsylvania sits in the lower-rate third at 9.3 per 100k (#41 of 51), 24% below the U.S. 12.2 benchmark, with nighttime the largest contributing factor.

#41 of 51
lower-rate third: 9.3/100k
2023 fatality rate: #7/51
by total FARS fatalities: Nighttime
leading contributing factor

1,211 2023 Fatalities, By Roadway Setting

57%

Urban 685 (56.6%)
Rural 524 (43.3%)
Trafficway Not in State Inventory 2 (0.2%)

Highway fatality milepost

Milepost PA · Pennsylvania #41 of 51 · 9.3/100k

Pennsylvania · 9.3/100k · 1,211 in 2023 · #41 of 51

ALC 9.3/100k
SPD #41 of 51
PED 1.2/100M
RUR 10,523 book
VS-US near New Hampshire
PHOTO 31.6% spd
YOY 14.2% ped
FARS -23.8% 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

59/100

Pennsylvania

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 B+

9.3/100k

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

Exposure-Adjusted Rate C

1.21/100M VMT

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

Pedestrian Safety D

14.2%

Share of fatalities that were pedestrians (NHTSA FARS)

Impaired-Driving Control B

23.3%

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

Safety Trend F

+0.9%

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

Pedestrian-led roadside pattern in Pennsylvania

After vehicle-to-vehicle crashes, Pennsylvania's 2023 FARS first-harm leader is Pedestrian at 14.1%, 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 39.9% · 483
Pedestrian 14.1% · 171
Tree (Standing Only) 7.3% · 89
Embankment 5.5% · 67
Rollover/Overturn 4.5% · 54

Light condition

Daylight 50.8% · 615
Dark - Not Lighted 25.4% · 307
Dark - Lighted 18.5% · 224
Dusk 2.5% · 30
Dawn 2.3% · 28

Roadway class

State Highway 33.4% · 405
Secondary Route 25.3% · 306
U.S. Highway 13.9% · 168
Interstate 9.6% · 116
Township 8.3% · 101

Weather at crash

Clear 79.2% · 959
Rain 9.7% · 118
Cloudy 5.5% · 67
Snow 1.7% · 20
Fog, Smog, Smoke 1.3% · 16

Pennsylvania

9
New Hampshire

9
Maine

10
Illinois

10
Wisconsin

10
Maryland

10

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

Nighttime

44
Unrestrained

43
Speeding

32
Alcohol-Impaired

23
Weather-Related

16
Pedestrian

14

What this shows Nighttime is the top contributing cause in Pennsylvania, involved in 43.5% of all road deaths. Note: categories overlap as a single crash may involve multiple factors.

Pennsylvania vs all states by fatality rate

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

9 Among the safer states a lower per-capita rate than 76% 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

Pennsylvania 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.

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

Fatality Trend Analysis (2015–2023)

In the lower-rate third, Pennsylvania moved from 1,200 deaths in 2015 to 1,211 in 2023 (+0.9%).

Year	Fatalities	Rate	Alcohol	Speeding	Pedestrian
2015	1,200	9.3	357	430	151
2016	1,188	9.2	302	350	170
2017	1,137	8.8	281	343	147
2018	1,190	9.2	295	377	197
2019	1,059	8.2	284	353	147
2020	1,129	8.7	291	347	143
2021	1,230	9.5	192	334	176
2022	1,179	9.1	217	380	179
2023	1,211	9.3	228	413	185

Per-capita county spikes in Pennsylvania: Fulton and Potter

Fatalities are spread across 67 Pennsylvania counties (no single county exceeds 12% of the book). Per-capita leaders are Fulton (62.2/100k) and Potter (31.3/100k), while volume still ranks Philadelphia first.

#	County	Total Fatalities	Latest Year	Avg Annual	Trend
1	PHILADELPHIA (101)	965	135	107.2	↑ increasing
2	ALLEGHENY (3)	558	77	62.0	↑ increasing
3	BUCKS (17)	412	49	45.8	↑ increasing
4	LANCASTER (71)	403	51	44.8	↑ increasing
5	BERKS (11)	354	51	39.3	↑ increasing
6	MONTGOMERY (91)	336	52	37.3	↑ increasing
7	YORK (133)	296	35	32.9	↑ increasing
8	WESTMORELAND (129)	280	32	31.1	↑ increasing
9	CHESTER (29)	260	33	28.9	↑ increasing
10	LUZERNE (79)	256	36	28.4	↑ increasing
11	DAUPHIN (43)	250	35	27.8	↑ increasing
12	LEHIGH (77)	227	26	25.2	↑ increasing
13	DELAWARE (45)	211	26	23.4	↑ increasing
14	ERIE (49)	195	30	21.7	↑ increasing
15	WASHINGTON (125)	182	15	20.2	↔ stable
16	SCHUYLKILL (107)	171	24	19.0	↑ increasing
17	NORTHAMPTON (95)	170	22	18.9	↔ stable
18	MONROE (89)	169	23	18.8	↑ increasing
19	CUMBERLAND (41)	168	22	18.7	↑ increasing
20	FAYETTE (51)	165	20	18.3	↑ increasing

Showing top 20 of 67 counties by total fatalities.

States With Similar Fatality Rates

Among lower-rate peers, New Hampshire (9.3/100k) and Maine (9.7/100k) bracket Pennsylvania's 9.3 per 100k.

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

New Hampshire

9.3 per 100K

130 fatalities (2023)

Maine

9.7 per 100K

135 fatalities (2023)

Illinois

9.9 per 100K

1,241 fatalities (2023)

Wisconsin

9.9 per 100K

583 fatalities (2023)

Maryland

10.0 per 100K

621 fatalities (2023)

Connecticut

8.5 per 100K

308 fatalities (2023)

Fulton-rate peers and Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania (#41 of 51; volume #7/51). See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainRoadSafety · vintage 2026-09-03

Verify with NHTSA FARS → · Verify with Census →