Christmas 2023: fatal car accidents and deaths
Over Christmas 2023, December 24 to 26 (Christmas Day was a Monday), 304 people died in 285 fatal car accidents on US roads, 8% more than the 282 on the same weekdays around it. It was the third most of the ten from 2015 to 2024. Christmas Day alone: 106 deaths, against 90 on a normal day. Christmas Eve alone: 103 deaths, against 104 on a normal day.
2022 · 2024 · Every year together, day by day and state by state.
Christmas 2023 road deaths in every state
California had the most, 35 deaths, then Texas with 35. In 44 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 | 35 | 34 | 12 |
| Texas | 35 | 29 | 6 |
| Florida | 27 | 26 | 6 |
| Georgia | 13 | 13 | 3 |
| Michigan | 12 | 11 | 1 |
| Oregon | 11 | 11 | 2 |
| Virginia | 11 | 11 | 4 |
| North Carolina | 10 | 10 | 4 |
| New York | 9 | 9 | 3 |
| Ohio | 8 | 8 | 3 |
| Louisiana | 8 | 7 | 0 |
| Pennsylvania | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| Alabama | 7 | 6 | 0 |
| Oklahoma | 7 | 5 | 1 |
| Arizona | 6 | 6 | 2 |
| Kentucky | 6 | 6 | 2 |
| Minnesota | 6 | 6 | 2 |
| South Carolina | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| Illinois | 6 | 5 | 2 |
| Arkansas | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Colorado | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| Nevada | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| West Virginia | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| Idaho | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Missouri | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Tennessee | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| Utah | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Wisconsin | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Connecticut | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Indiana | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Iowa | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Maryland | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| New Jersey | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Washington | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Massachusetts | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Kansas | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Maine | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Mississippi | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| New Mexico | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| District of Columbia | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Montana | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Nebraska | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Vermont | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Wyoming | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Alaska | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Delaware | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hawaii | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New Hampshire | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| North Dakota | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rhode Island | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| South Dakota | 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 2023 fatal car accidents
- How many people died in car crashes on Christmas 2023?
- 304 people died in 285 fatal crashes on US roads over Christmas 2023, December 24 to 26 (Christmas Day was a Monday), 8% more than the 282 on the same weekdays around it. Of them, 68 were pedestrians. Source: NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).
- Which state had the most road deaths on Christmas 2023?
- California, with 35 deaths. In 44 of 51 states and DC at least one person died on the roads.
- Was Christmas 2023 deadlier than usual?
- 304 road deaths was the third most of the ten from 2015 to 2024; the average is 294. The deadliest was 2021 and the least deadly 2017.
Where the Christmas 2023 numbers come from
Every fatal crash NHTSA dated from December 24 to 26 in 2023, 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.