Christmas 2020: fatal car accidents and deaths
Over Christmas 2020, December 24 to 26 (Christmas Day was a Friday), 295 people died in 261 fatal car accidents on US roads, 11% fewer than the 333 on the same weekdays around it. It was the sixth most of the ten from 2015 to 2024. Christmas Day alone: 92 deaths, against 114 on a normal day. Christmas Eve alone: 114 deaths, against 97 on a normal day.
2019 · 2021 · Every year together, day by day and state by state.
Christmas 2020 road deaths in every state
California had the most, 40 deaths, then Texas with 26. In 45 of 51 states and DC at least one person died; a 0 is a real count of none. One year's counts are too small to rank states by; every year together ranks them per resident.
| State | Deaths | Fatal crashes | Pedestrians |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 40 | 33 | 9 |
| Texas | 26 | 26 | 3 |
| Florida | 22 | 21 | 5 |
| Georgia | 16 | 14 | 5 |
| North Carolina | 14 | 13 | 3 |
| Arizona | 12 | 9 | 4 |
| New Jersey | 10 | 9 | 2 |
| Tennessee | 10 | 9 | 6 |
| Ohio | 10 | 8 | 2 |
| Michigan | 8 | 8 | 1 |
| Missouri | 8 | 7 | 0 |
| Indiana | 7 | 5 | 0 |
| Kansas | 7 | 4 | 0 |
| Illinois | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| Mississippi | 6 | 4 | 1 |
| Connecticut | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| Maryland | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| New York | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| South Carolina | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Virginia | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Wisconsin | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Oregon | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| Alabama | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Hawaii | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Oklahoma | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Pennsylvania | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Iowa | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Washington | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Arkansas | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Idaho | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Louisiana | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Nevada | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| New Mexico | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Kentucky | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| West Virginia | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Colorado | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Delaware | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Maine | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Massachusetts | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Minnesota | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Montana | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| New Hampshire | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| South Dakota | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Utah | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Wyoming | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Alaska | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| District of Columbia | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nebraska | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| North Dakota | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rhode Island | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vermont | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2024 Annual Report File (released April 2026, subject to revision). How we count
Questions about Christmas 2020 fatal car accidents
- How many people died in car crashes on Christmas 2020?
- 295 people died in 261 fatal crashes on US roads over Christmas 2020, December 24 to 26 (Christmas Day was a Friday), 11% fewer than the 333 on the same weekdays around it. Of them, 55 were pedestrians. Source: NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).
- Which state had the most road deaths on Christmas 2020?
- California, with 40 deaths. In 45 of 51 states and DC at least one person died on the roads.
- Was Christmas 2020 deadlier than usual?
- 295 road deaths was the sixth most of the ten from 2015 to 2024; the average is 294. The deadliest was 2021 and the least deadly 2017.
Where the Christmas 2020 numbers come from
Every fatal crash NHTSA dated from December 24 to 26 in 2020, in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, final file. The normal day is the same weekdays in the weeks before and after, averaged (4 of them this year). How the holiday is counted.