Cities Matcher Logo

Insights—Car Accident Stats by State

Here is a list of all the insights pages on the site.

Car accidents can be a source of trauma, injury and massive expense. If you've been in a car accident, avoiding future ones seems imperative; even if you haven't, safety should be near front of mind. Not surprisingly, accident rates vary widely: some states are infamous for their unsafe driving, while others are quieter.

We'll start with fatal accidents per capita. (Adjusting for population is essential to avoid over-ranking the states with the highest populations.) This data was sourced from two partnered safety nonprofits. Here are the states with the most.

  1. Mississippi, 24.9 deaths per 100,000 population
  2. Wyoming, 24.7
  3. New Mexico, 20.7
  4. South Carolina, 19.5
  5. Arkansas, 19.4
  6. Alabama, 19.1
  7. Tennessee, 18.6
  8. Montana, 18.4
  9. Kentucky, 18
  10. Louisiana, 17.7

And the ten safest...

  1. Massachusetts, 4.9 deaths per 100,000 population
  2. New York, 5.7
  3. Washington DC, 6.5
  4. Hawaii, 6.5
  5. New Jersey, 6.5
  6. Rhode Island, 6.5
  7. Minnesota, 7.1
  8. Alaska, 8.2
  9. Utah, 8.2
  10. Connecticut, 8.5

This is a somewhat confusing list. The congested major Northern states, such as New York and Massachusetts, have among the lowest rates of deaths, while the more rural South has far higher rates. This may be due to lower socioeconomic status—perhaps poor states such as Mississippi have older cars with fewer safety protections. Or maybe it's just because the northern states are so congested that it's difficult to go fast enough to be in a fatal crash. Alaska's inclusion in the 10 safest is also baffling due to arduous conditions; perhaps low population density makes up for that issue. Utah's place is less surprising, given many people there abstain from alcohol and other bad habits.

The prevalence of non-fatal accidents is a little harder to assess, since there is wide federal reporting around fatal accidents but general accidents have to be compiled from insurance company data. Fortunately, Insurify went to this trouble. Here are the top ten states where accidents are most likely:

  1. Massachusetts
  2. New Hampshire
  3. Rhode Island
  4. Maine
  5. Nebraska
  6. Utah
  7. North Carolina
  8. Virginia
  9. South Carolina
  10. Idaho

And the safest ten states:

  1. Michigan (by far!)
  2. Mississippi
  3. Illinois
  4. New Mexico
  5. Hawaii
  6. Minnesota
  7. Florida
  8. New Jersey
  9. Washington, DC
  10. Kentucky

There's a lot of conflict in this list. In a statistical marvel, Massachusetts has the fewest fatalities, but the most accidents. The most likely explanation can be vouched for by anyone who's driven there: there's too much traffic for fatalities! There's also conflicting data about Utah and New Mexico. A few things are for sure: DC, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Minnesota are safe according to multiple sources.

If you want to get a personalized list of places you'd love to live based on answering a few simple questions, you've come to the right place. Take the quiz now!