What is Vermont's road fatality rate?

Vermont has a road fatality rate of 10.7 per 100,000 population and 1.0 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This is 12.4% below the national average.

How many road fatalities occurred in Vermont in 2023?

In 2023, Vermont recorded 69 road fatalities. The state's total fatalities across the 2015-2023 period are 584.

What is the leading cause of road fatalities in Vermont?

The leading cause is unrestrained, accounting for 49.8% of all fatalities (291 deaths over the reporting period).

Are road fatalities increasing or decreasing in Vermont?

Road fatalities in Vermont are increasing with a +21.1% change over the reporting period (2015-2023). Fatalities went from 57 in 2015 to 69 in 2023.

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

Vermont's fatality rate of 10.7 per 100K is 12.4% lower than the national average of 12.2 per 100K. According to NHTSA FARS, Vermont ranks #31 of 51 states by fatality rate (highest first), the same sort as /rankings/deadliest-states. See /methodology#corpus-placement.

What percentage of Vermont's road fatalities involve alcohol?

Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for 33.6% of road fatalities in Vermont, representing 196 deaths over the reporting period. Speeding accounts for 32.2% and pedestrian incidents for 9.1%.

Are rural or urban roads more dangerous in Vermont?

In Vermont, rural roads account for more fatalities: 499 rural vs. 83 urban deaths. Rural roads account for 85.4% of all fatalities.

STATE FATALITY DATA - 2023

Vermont: smaller FARS fatality book

Vermont holds a smaller FARS book (584 across 2015-2023, #49/51 by volume) with 69 deaths in 2023.

Compiled by PlainRoadSafety · September 3, 2026

69
Deaths (2023): 10.7
Per 100k residents: Below average; 1.0
Per 100M VMT: -7
2022–2023 deaths

Smaller fatality book

Vermont ranks #49 of 51 by total FARS fatalities (584 across 2015-2023) - bottom-third book size.

Vermont in the smaller-book third

According to NHTSA FARS, Vermont carries a bottom-third fatality book (584 across 2015-2023, volume rank #49/51) at 10.7/100k.

#31 of 51
among US states by rate: 10.7/100k
2023 fatality rate: #49/51
by total FARS fatalities: Unrestrained
leading contributing factor

69 2023 Fatalities, By Roadway Setting

87%

Rural 60 (87.0%)
Urban 8 (11.6%)
Trafficway Not in State Inventory 1 (1.4%)

NHTSA FARS milepost

Milepost VT · Vermont #31 of 51 · 10.7/100k

Vermont · 10.7/100k · 69 in 2023 · #31 of 51

SPD 10.7/100k
PED #31 of 51
RUR 1.0/100M
VS-US 584 book
PHOTO near Ohio
YOY 32.2% spd
FARS 9.1% ped
NHTSA -12.4% 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

54/100

Vermont

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-

10.7/100k

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

Exposure-Adjusted Rate A-

0.96/100M VMT

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

Pedestrian Safety A-

9.1%

Share of fatalities that were pedestrians (NHTSA FARS)

Impaired-Driving Control F

33.6%

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

Safety Trend F

+21.1%

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

Rollover-heavy crash pattern in Vermont

Rollover/overturn leads Vermont's non-vehicle first-harm events in 2023 FARS (15.9%), 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 40.6% · 28
Rollover/Overturn 15.9% · 11
Tree (Standing Only) 15.9% · 11
Guardrail Face 10.1% · 7
Pedestrian 7.2% · 5

Light condition

Daylight 62.3% · 43
Dark - Not Lighted 29.0% · 20
Dusk 7.2% · 5
Dark - Lighted 1.4% · 1

Roadway class

State Highway 44.9% · 31
Township 24.6% · 17
U.S. Highway 18.8% · 13
Interstate 10.1% · 7
Trafficway Not in State Inventory 1.4% · 1

Weather at crash

Clear 52.2% · 36
Cloudy 29.0% · 20
Rain 11.6% · 8
Snow 4.3% · 3
Fog, Smog, Smoke 1.4% · 1

California

10
Washington

10
Ohio

11
Virginia

11
Vermont

11
Michigan

11

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

Unrestrained

50
Alcohol-Impaired

34
Weather-Related

34
Speeding

32
Nighttime

31
Pedestrian

9

What this shows Unrestrained is the top contributing cause in Vermont, involved in 49.8% of all road deaths. Note: categories overlap as a single crash may involve multiple factors.

Vermont vs all states by fatality rate

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

11 Lower than most a lower per-capita rate than 59% 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

Vermont 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.

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

Fatality Trend Analysis (2015–2023)

On a smaller fatality book (#49/51), Vermont went from 57 in 2015 to 69 in 2023.

Year	Fatalities	Rate	Alcohol	Speeding	Pedestrian
2015	57	8.8	16	21	5
2016	62	9.6	32	28	4
2017	69	10.7	21	29	8
2018	68	10.5	22	23	6
2019	47	7.3	13	19	3
2020	62	9.6	21	13	8
2021	74	11.4	25	21	8
2022	76	11.7	26	16	6
2023	69	10.7	20	18	5

Chittenden leads Vermont's county fatality book

Chittenden County alone accounts for 12.1% of Vermont's 527 FARS fatalities over 2015-2023 (64 deaths); on a per-100k basis, Orleans sits higher at 29.1/100k.

#	County	Total Fatalities	Latest Year	Avg Annual	Trend
1	CHITTENDEN (7)	64	8	7.1	↑ increasing
2	WINDSOR (27)	59	5	6.6	↑ increasing
3	RUTLAND (21)	58	13	6.4	↑ increasing
4	FRANKLIN (11)	57	8	6.3	↑ increasing
5	ORLEANS (19)	49	8	5.4	↑ increasing
6	WINDHAM (25)	46	8	5.1	↔ stable
7	ADDISON (1)	38	3	4.2	↓ decreasing
8	WASHINGTON (23)	36	4	4.0	↓ decreasing
9	BENNINGTON (3)	34	4	3.8	↑ increasing
10	CALEDONIA (5)	32	3	3.6	↔ stable
11	LAMOILLE (15)	24	2	2.7	↔ stable
12	ORANGE (17)	19	2	2.1	↔ stable
13	ESSEX (9)	7	1	0.8	↔ stable
14	GRAND ISLE (13)	4	0	0.4	↔ stable

States With Similar Fatality Rates

Ohio and Virginia are the nearest fatality-rate neighbours to Vermont at 10.7 per 100k.

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

Ohio

10.5 per 100K

1,242 fatalities (2023)

Virginia

10.5 per 100K

913 fatalities (2023)

Michigan

10.9 per 100K

1,094 fatalities (2023)

California

10.4 per 100K

4,061 fatalities (2023)

Washington

10.4 per 100K

810 fatalities (2023)

Maryland

10.0 per 100K

621 fatalities (2023)

Chittenden County and related Vermont 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 Vermont (#31 of 51; volume #49/51). See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainRoadSafety · vintage 2026-09-03

Verify with NHTSA FARS → · Verify with Census →