IIHS data reveals big state differences: See full list
Traffic on westbound Interstate 80 in Richmond, California, US, on Thursday, July 2, 2026. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A state-by-state breakdown from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows a wide gulf in per capita traffic fatality rates in 2024 across the country, highlighted by the gap between Mississippi and Rhode Island.
By the numbers:
According to its data, the per capita number of deaths per 100,000 residents on Mississippi roads (25.6) is more than five times higher than its New England counterpart (4.7), which led the nation. In fact, Mississippi’s fatality rate was more than 25% higher than Arkansas’s, the second-highest state.
Because driving needs do vary state to state, the data also compared fatalities based on miles driven. Using that measure, Rhode Island and its northern neighbor swap spots, with Massachusetts leading the nation with 0.59 deaths per 100 million miles driven, and the Island State falling to second (0.68). Mississippi still has the highest fatality rate, but the gap to the next highest state, Arizona, is much smaller (1.81 vs. 1.74 per 100 million miles).
Dig deeper:
The data also highlight the risks of drinking and driving. The IIHS acknowledges the numbers can be a little unreliable, as some states only report blood alcohol concentration for a small percentage of passenger vehicle drivers. In some cases, if no BAC is reported, it is estimated by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s multiple imputation model.
Combining reported BAC figures with the cases identified through the imputation models, the IIHS estimated that nearly one-third of the 17,268 drivers killed on U.S. roads had a blood alcohol level over 0.08%.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from IIHS. This story was reported from Orlando.