Drunk Driving Deaths by State

Quick answer: In 2024 about 11,904 people died in crashes involving a driver at or over the 0.08% legal limit, 30.3% of the 39,254 US road deaths that year, or about 33 a day. The most deaths were in Texas (1,676), California (1,311) and Florida (769). Relative to population, the highest rates were in South Carolina (7.6 per 100k), Montana (6.6 per 100k) and Mississippi (5.8 per 100k).

All states · 2024

Alcohol-impaired-driving deaths by state

Deaths in crashes where at least one driver had a BAC of 0.08% or higher. Rate uses 2024 state population; share is the proportion of the state's road deaths.

State	Deaths 2024	Per 100k people	Share of road deaths	2020–2024 total	Change since 2020
Texas	1,676	5.4	40%	8,691	+9%
California	1,311	3.3	34%	6,664	+11%
Florida	769	3.3	24%	4,469	-14%
North Carolina	449	4.1	28%	2,255	0%
Ohio	424	3.6	37%	2,343	-8%
Arizona	419	5.5	34%	2,046	+41%
South Carolina	417	7.6	40%	2,043	+31%
Illinois	338	2.7	29%	2,002	-12%
Tennessee	332	4.6	28%	1,739	+2%
Georgia	325	2.9	23%	2,102	-12%
Michigan	306	3.0	28%	1,515	+1%
New York	300	1.5	27%	1,717	+1%
Pennsylvania	290	2.2	26%	1,608	-9%
Alabama	277	5.4	29%	1,339	+20%
Missouri	263	4.2	27%	1,432	-15%
Virginia	252	2.9	27%	1,370	-11%
Washington	239	3.0	33%	1,267	+13%
Oklahoma	225	5.5	35%	963	+25%
Indiana	209	3.0	25%	1,227	-16%
Colorado	204	3.4	30%	1,076	+9%
Wisconsin	197	3.3	33%	961	-5%
Louisiana	192	4.2	25%	1,220	-17%
Oregon	178	4.2	33%	1,013	-3%
Mississippi	171	5.8	23%	782	+18%
Kentucky	169	3.7	24%	924	-15%
Maryland	167	2.7	29%	919	-12%
Arkansas	154	5.0	26%	810	-8%
New Jersey	150	1.6	22%	801	-3%
Nevada	138	4.2	33%	618	+52%
Iowa	119	3.7	33%	607	+2%
Kansas	117	3.9	35%	564	+23%
New Mexico	115	5.4	28%	668	-12%
Minnesota	109	1.9	23%	587	+1%
Connecticut	105	2.9	34%	587	-14%
Massachusetts	100	1.4	27%	585	+2%
West Virginia	78	4.4	30%	334	+5%
Montana	75	6.6	37%	413	-21%
Nebraska	75	3.7	30%	347	+4%
Utah	73	2.1	26%	347	+22%
Idaho	72	3.6	30%	348	+17%
Maine	49	3.5	28%	256	-18%
South Dakota	43	4.7	30%	227	-14%
New Hampshire	39	2.8	29%	207	+3%
Hawaii	34	2.4	34%	165	+22%
Wyoming	34	5.8	32%	188	-22%
Delaware	32	3.1	26%	187	+5%
North Dakota	27	3.4	30%	168	-25%
Vermont	24	3.7	41%	105	+44%
Rhode Island	19	1.7	37%	119	-32%
District of Columbia	14	1.9	29%	60	+74%
Alaska	13	1.8	19%	89	-10%

National

US drunk driving deaths by year

Our calculation from the FARS files next to NHTSA's published totals, as a check on the method. Small differences come from NHTSA revising each file after publication.

Year	Alcohol-impaired deaths	All road deaths	Share	NHTSA published
2020	11,727	39,007	30.1%	11,654
2021	13,599	43,230	31.5%	13,384
2022	13,458	42,721	31.5%	13,524
2023	12,382	41,025	30.2%	12,429
2024	11,904	39,254	30.3%	not yet published

More US crash data: Deaths by age · Deaths by gender · Teen deaths by state · car accidents by state · US road deaths by year · US drunk driving limit · interstate accident histories.

Questions

FAQ

Which state has the most drunk driving deaths?

Texas (1,676 deaths), California (1,311 deaths) and Florida (769 deaths) had the most alcohol-impaired-driving deaths in 2024. Large states lead on raw numbers, so the per-100,000 column is the fairer comparison.

Which state has the highest drunk driving death rate?

Per 100,000 residents, South Carolina (7.6), Montana (6.6) and Mississippi (5.8) were highest in 2024. The lowest were Massachusetts (1.4), New York (1.5) and New Jersey (1.6).

In which state are drunk drivers involved in the largest share of deaths?

Vermont (41%), Texas (40%) and South Carolina (40%) had the highest share of road deaths in crashes with an alcohol-impaired driver in 2024. Nationally the share was 30.3%.

How many people die from drunk driving each year in the US?

About 11,904 in 2024, roughly one every 44 minutes. Over 2020–2024 the total was 63,070.

How is a drunk driving death counted?

We use NHTSA's definition: a death in a crash in which at least one driver had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 g/dL or higher. The victim may be the driver, a passenger, another motorist or a pedestrian. Most drivers are never tested, so NHTSA publishes ten statistically imputed BAC values for every driver, and the counts here average across them, the same method NHTSA uses for its own totals.

What is the legal limit for drunk driving in the US?

0.08% BAC in every state except Utah, which has used 0.05% since 30 December 2018. Commercial drivers are limited to 0.04% and drivers under 21 face zero-tolerance laws. See the US drunk driving limit page for details.

Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2020–2024 annual files, public domain. Counted by LiveAccidentTracker from the accident, person and imputed-BAC (MIPER) tables. FARS counts people who died within 30 days of a crash on a public road. The 2024 file is NHTSA's latest annual release and can still be revised. Age and sex are as recorded by police; a small number are unknown. Alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities follow NHTSA's definition: deaths in crashes where at least one driver had a BAC of .08 g/dL or higher, using NHTSA's 10 multiply-imputed BAC values per driver (MIPER) because most drivers are not tested. Figures are expected values, so state numbers can have decimals before rounding. See the methodology.