What is Wisconsin's road fatality rate?

Wisconsin has a road fatality rate of 9.9 per 100,000 population and 0.9 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This is 18.9% below the national average.

How many road fatalities occurred in Wisconsin in 2023?

In 2023, Wisconsin recorded 583 road fatalities. The state's total fatalities across the 2015-2023 period are 5,361.

What is the leading cause of road fatalities in Wisconsin?

The leading cause is nighttime, accounting for 41.2% of all fatalities (2,209 deaths over the reporting period).

Are road fatalities increasing or decreasing in Wisconsin?

Road fatalities in Wisconsin are increasing with a +3.0% change over the reporting period (2015-2023). Fatalities went from 566 in 2015 to 583 in 2023.

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

Wisconsin's fatality rate of 9.9 per 100K is 18.9% lower than the national average of 12.2 per 100K. According to NHTSA FARS, Wisconsin ranks #38 of 51 states by fatality rate (highest first), the same sort as /rankings/deadliest-states. See /methodology#corpus-placement.

What percentage of Wisconsin's road fatalities involve alcohol?

Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for 32.7% of road fatalities in Wisconsin, representing 1,751 deaths over the reporting period. Speeding accounts for 30.7% and pedestrian incidents for 9.5%.

Are rural or urban roads more dangerous in Wisconsin?

In Wisconsin, rural roads account for more fatalities: 3,403 rural vs. 1,934 urban deaths. Rural roads account for 63.5% of all fatalities.

STATE FATALITY DATA - 2023

Wisconsin: lower-rate fatality band

Wisconsin is in the lower per-capita third: 583 traffic deaths in 2023 at 9.9 per 100,000 (#38 of 51).

Compiled by PlainRoadSafety · September 3, 2026

583
Deaths (2023): 9.9
Per 100k residents: Below average; 0.9
Per 100M VMT: -21
2022–2023 deaths

Higher alcohol-impaired share

Wisconsin ranks #7 of 51 by alcohol-impaired share (32.7%) - top-third alcohol involvement.

Wisconsin in the lower-rate third

According to NHTSA FARS, Wisconsin sits in the lower-rate third at 9.9 per 100k (#38 of 51), 19% below the U.S. 12.2 benchmark, with nighttime the largest contributing factor.

#38 of 51
lower-rate third: 9.9/100k
2023 fatality rate: #25/51
by total FARS fatalities: Nighttime
leading contributing factor

NHTSA fatality milepost

Milepost WI · Wisconsin #38 of 51 · 9.9/100k

Wisconsin · 9.9/100k · 583 in 2023 · #38 of 51

POST 9.9/100k
RATE #38 of 51
RANK 0.9/100M
VMT 5,361 book
BOOK near Illinois
ALC 30.7% spd
SPD 9.5% ped
PED -18.9% 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

62/100

Wisconsin

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

9.9/100k

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

Exposure-Adjusted Rate A+

0.87/100M VMT

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

Pedestrian Safety A-

9.5%

Share of fatalities that were pedestrians (NHTSA FARS)

Impaired-Driving Control F

32.7%

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

Safety Trend F

+3.0%

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

Rollover-heavy crash pattern in Wisconsin

Rollover/overturn leads Wisconsin's non-vehicle first-harm events in 2023 FARS (11.6%), 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 46.6% · 273
Rollover/Overturn 11.6% · 68
Pedestrian 9.7% · 57
Tree (Standing Only) 6.0% · 35
Ditch 5.6% · 33

Light condition

Daylight 51.7% · 303
Dark - Not Lighted 25.1% · 147
Dark - Lighted 16.9% · 99
Dusk 2.9% · 17
Dawn 1.2% · 7

Roadway class

State Highway 33.6% · 197
County 17.6% · 103
U.S. Highway 14.5% · 85
Not Signed 11.8% · 69
Interstate 7.7% · 45

Weather at crash

Clear 63.5% · 372
Cloudy 24.9% · 146
Rain 6.1% · 36
Snow 2.0% · 12
Fog, Smog, Smoke 1.2% · 7

Maine

10
Wisconsin

10
Illinois

10
Maryland

10
California

10
Washington

10

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

Nighttime

41
Weather-Related

40
Unrestrained

40
Alcohol-Impaired

33
Speeding

31
Distracted

10

What this shows Nighttime is the top contributing cause in Wisconsin, involved in 41.2% of all road deaths. Note: categories overlap as a single crash may involve multiple factors.

Wisconsin vs all states by fatality rate

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

10 Lower than most a lower per-capita rate than 71% 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

Wisconsin 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.

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

Fatality Trend Analysis (2015–2023)

In the lower-rate third, Wisconsin moved from 566 deaths in 2015 to 583 in 2023 (+3.0%).

Year	Fatalities	Rate	Alcohol	Speeding	Pedestrian
2015	566	9.6	197	164	57
2016	607	10.3	199	208	51
2017	613	10.4	230	177	56
2018	589	10.0	231	181	56
2019	567	9.6	198	166	59
2020	612	10.4	210	208	50
2021	620	10.5	174	206	48
2022	604	10.2	150	162	72
2023	583	9.9	162	176	59

Milwaukee leads Wisconsin's county fatality book

Milwaukee County alone accounts for 14.3% of Wisconsin's 4,795 FARS fatalities over 2015-2023 (686 deaths); on a per-100k basis, Adams sits higher at 37.3/100k.

#	County	Total Fatalities	Latest Year	Avg Annual	Trend
1	MILWAUKEE (79)	686	91	76.2	↑ increasing
2	DANE (25)	284	29	31.6	↑ increasing
3	WAUKESHA (133)	177	27	19.7	↑ increasing
4	ROCK (105)	175	12	19.4	↑ increasing
5	KENOSHA (59)	134	11	14.9	↑ increasing
6	RACINE (101)	132	18	14.7	↑ increasing
7	BROWN (9)	119	12	13.2	↓ decreasing
8	WALWORTH (127)	114	13	12.7	↓ decreasing
9	OUTAGAMIE (87)	106	8	11.8	↔ stable
10	DODGE (27)	98	11	10.9	↑ increasing
11	FOND DU LAC (39)	95	20	10.6	↑ increasing
12	MARATHON (73)	95	8	10.6	↑ increasing
13	COLUMBIA (21)	92	6	10.2	↔ stable
14	SAUK (111)	91	10	10.1	↑ increasing
15	WINNEBAGO (139)	87	12	9.7	↑ increasing
16	POLK (95)	85	16	9.4	↑ increasing
17	SHEBOYGAN (117)	80	10	8.9	↑ increasing
18	WASHINGTON (131)	80	16	8.9	↑ increasing
19	ST CROIX (109)	79	15	8.8	↑ increasing
20	JEFFERSON (55)	77	10	8.6	↑ increasing

Showing top 20 of 72 counties by total fatalities.

States With Similar Fatality Rates

Among lower-rate peers, Illinois (9.9/100k) and Maryland (10.0/100k) bracket Wisconsin's 9.9 per 100k.

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

Illinois

9.9 per 100K

1,241 fatalities (2023)

Maryland

10.0 per 100K

621 fatalities (2023)

Maine

9.7 per 100K

135 fatalities (2023)

California

10.4 per 100K

4,061 fatalities (2023)

Washington

10.4 per 100K

810 fatalities (2023)

New Hampshire

9.3 per 100K

130 fatalities (2023)

Milwaukee County and related Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin (#38 of 51; volume #25/51). See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainRoadSafety · vintage 2026-09-03

Verify with NHTSA FARS → · Verify with Census →