Pedestrian Deaths by State: 2024 Rates per 100,000 and Trends (FARS)

Quick answer: In 2024, New Mexico had the highest pedestrian death rate in the United States: 4.22 deaths per 100,000 residents, twice the national rate of 2.08. Mississippi (3.53), Louisiana (3.46), Nevada (3.31) and Arizona (3.30) follow. By raw numbers, California recorded the most pedestrian deaths (1,090), then Texas (763) and Florida (668). The safest states for people on foot were North Dakota (0.63 per 100,000), Wyoming (0.68) and Idaho (0.70). Nationwide, 7,080 pedestrians were killed in 2024, about 18% of all road deaths, according to NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).

Highest pedestrian death rates by state (2024)

Deaths per 100,000 residents, with the number of pedestrians killed:

• New Mexico: 4.22 (90 deaths)
• Mississippi: 3.53 (104)
• Louisiana: 3.46 (159)
• Nevada: 3.31 (108)
• Arizona: 3.30 (250)
• Florida: 2.86 (668)
• South Carolina: 2.85 (156)
• California: 2.76 (1,090)

Most of these are Sun Belt states with fast, wide arterial roads, long distances between crossings and a lot of walking after dark. Each has a page with its full crash figures and live reports, for example New Mexico, Arizona and Florida.

Lowest pedestrian death rates

• North Dakota: 0.63 (5 deaths)
• Wyoming: 0.68 (4)
• Idaho: 0.70 (14)
• New Hampshire: 0.71 (10)
• Montana: 0.88 (10)
• Vermont, Maine and Iowa: about 0.93 each

Small rural states have low pedestrian rates partly because fewer people walk along busy roads, not only because the roads are safer. With single-digit counts, one year can move a small state's rate a lot.

Where pedestrians make up the biggest share of road deaths

In some places walkers are a much larger part of the problem than the national 18%:

• Washington, DC: 38% of road deaths were pedestrians (18 of 47)
• Hawaii: 34% (35 of 102)
• New Jersey: 31% (210 of 670)
• California: 28% (1,090 of 3,876)
• Maryland: 26% (152 of 578)

Dense cities and suburbs put more people on foot next to traffic, so pedestrian safety matters more there than the state's overall death rate suggests.

Which states improved and which got worse (2020 to 2024)

Among states with at least 100 pedestrian deaths in 2020:

• Fell most: Ohio (159 to 122, down 23%), South Carolina (188 to 156, down 17%), Michigan (172 to 150, down 13%)
• Rose most: Washington (105 to 152, up 45%), Alabama (101 to 128, up 27%), New York (229 to 289, up 26%), Illinois (175 to 213, up 22%), Pennsylvania (143 to 173, up 21%)

Nationally, pedestrian deaths rose from 6,565 in 2020 to a peak of 7,593 in 2022 and were 7,080 in 2024, still above their 2020 level while total road deaths returned close to it (see are US road deaths going down?).

Why pedestrians die, and what helps

National data point to the same factors year after year: most pedestrian deaths happen at night, away from intersections, on multi-lane roads with higher speed limits, and larger vehicles cause more severe injuries. The UK shows the same pattern in its own data, where a pedestrian collision at night is about two and a half times as likely to be fatal as one in daylight (see when pedestrians are most at risk). For people on foot, crossing at lit crossings and wearing something visible after dark make the biggest difference; for drivers, slowing down in towns does.

How these numbers were counted

Pedestrian deaths are from NHTSA's FARS annual file for 2024 (the census of fatal crashes on US public roads, public domain); earlier years are 2020 to 2023 FARS files. Rates divide deaths by each state's resident population, so they show the risk per resident, not per mile walked. The most recent year can still be revised when NHTSA publishes its final file. Compare states over time with the accident trends tool, see all state rankings, or download the tables from the data page.