Christmas 2024: fatal car accidents and deaths
Over Christmas 2024, December 24 to 26 (Christmas Day was a Wednesday), 288 people died in 256 fatal car accidents on US roads. It was the seventh most of the ten from 2015 to 2024. Christmas Day alone: 103 deaths. Christmas Eve alone: 88 deaths.
2023 · Every year together, day by day and state by state. 2024 is counted but not compared: the weeks after it are in NHTSA's next file.
Christmas 2024 road deaths in every state
California had the most, 39 deaths, then Texas with 33. In 42 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 | 39 | 35 | 8 |
| Texas | 33 | 25 | 7 |
| Florida | 21 | 19 | 4 |
| Illinois | 15 | 13 | 3 |
| Arizona | 11 | 11 | 4 |
| Mississippi | 11 | 10 | 1 |
| North Carolina | 11 | 10 | 2 |
| South Carolina | 10 | 8 | 2 |
| Missouri | 9 | 7 | 0 |
| Kentucky | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Washington | 7 | 7 | 3 |
| Wisconsin | 7 | 7 | 2 |
| Alabama | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| Indiana | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Michigan | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Colorado | 6 | 5 | 0 |
| Georgia | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| Louisiana | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Nevada | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Ohio | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Tennessee | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| Virginia | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| Kansas | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| New York | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Oregon | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Utah | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Iowa | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Maryland | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Massachusetts | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| New Mexico | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Oklahoma | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Delaware | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Nebraska | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| South Dakota | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Arkansas | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Rhode Island | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| District of Columbia | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Hawaii | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Minnesota | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Montana | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| New Jersey | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Alaska | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Connecticut | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Idaho | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Maine | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New Hampshire | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| North Dakota | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vermont | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| West Virginia | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wyoming | 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 2024 fatal car accidents
- How many people died in car crashes on Christmas 2024?
- 288 people died in 256 fatal crashes on US roads over Christmas 2024, December 24 to 26 (Christmas Day was a Wednesday). Of them, 57 were pedestrians. Source: NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).
- Which state had the most road deaths on Christmas 2024?
- California, with 39 deaths. In 42 of 51 states and DC at least one person died on the roads.
- Was Christmas 2024 deadlier than usual?
- 288 road deaths was the seventh most of the ten from 2015 to 2024; the average is 294. The deadliest was 2021 and the least deadly 2017.
Where the Christmas 2024 numbers come from
Every fatal crash NHTSA dated from December 24 to 26 in 2024, in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (2024 Annual Report File; the 2024 figures are from the Annual Report File and may be revised when NHTSA releases the final file.). The normal day is the same weekdays in the weeks before and after, averaged. How the holiday is counted.