What is the deadliest road in California?

I-5 had the most fatal crashes of any numbered road in California from 2015 to 2024: 1,214, with 1,396 deaths. US 101 was second with 956 and State Highway 99 third with 694. Source: NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).

Which interstate in California is the most dangerous per mile?

I-10, with 23.1 fatal crashes a year per 100 miles over 2015 to 2024 on 241 miles. That is crashes per mile of road, not per vehicle.

How many fatal crashes in California happen on numbered roads?

13,926 of 36,640 fatal crashes in California from 2015 to 2024 (38%) were filed on an interstate, US or state route; the rest were on county roads, city streets and unnamed roads, which are in the state's total but not ranked here.

The deadliest roads in California

I-5 had the most fatal crashes of any numbered road in California from 2015 to 2024: 1,214, with 1,396 deaths. The 60 roads listed held 30% of all fatal crashes in California from 2015 to 2024; 17 are interstates, 3 US routes, 40 state highways.

255 numbered roads in California recorded a fatal crash in those years; the 60 with 5 or more are ranked below, and 69 have a page of their own. All fatal crashes in California.

Every numbered road in California, ranked by fatal crashes

	Road	Kind	Fatal crashes	Deaths	2022 to 2024	Counties with the most
1	I-5	Interstate	1,214	1,396	371	San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange
2	US 101	US route	956	1,029	298	Santa Clara, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara
3	State Highway 99	State highway	694	781	227	Kern, Sacramento, Stanislaus
4	I-15	Interstate	586	663	187	San Bernardino, San Diego, Riverside
5	I-10	Interstate	556	622	198	Riverside, Los Angeles, San Bernardino
6	State Highway 1	State highway	491	541	172	Los Angeles, Monterey, Orange
7	I-80	Interstate	404	454	112	Solano, Contra Costa, Placer
8	State Highway 91	State highway	235	247	88	Riverside, Los Angeles, Orange
9	State Highway 60	State highway	225	240	74	Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino
10	State Highway 4	State highway	212	239	65	Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Calaveras
11	State Highway 74	State highway	208	220	51	Riverside, Orange
12	I-405	Interstate	204	222	68	Los Angeles, Orange
13	I-8	Interstate	192	209	50	San Diego, Imperial
14	State Highway 138	State highway	176	201	63	Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Kern
15	State Highway 20	State highway	170	191	50	Lake, Nevada, Colusa
16	I-215	Interstate	168	178	57	Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego
17	US 395	US route	167	220	49	San Bernardino, Lassen, Inyo
18	State Highway 41	State highway	162	186	44	Fresno, Madera, Kings
19	State Highway 49	State highway	154	166	50	Nevada, Placer, Calaveras
20	I-580	Interstate	147	156	58	Alameda, San Joaquin, Contra Costa
21	I-880	Interstate	141	153	41	Alameda, Santa Clara
22	State Highway 33	State highway	133	159	45	Ventura, Fresno, Kern
23	US 50	US route	131	146	44	El Dorado, Sacramento, Yolo
24	State Highway 152	State highway	124	139	35	Merced, Santa Clara, Madera
25	State Highway 58	State highway	124	139	33	Kern, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo
26	State Highway 78	State highway	122	138	39	San Diego, Imperial, Riverside
27	State Highway 210	State highway	122	137	38	San Bernardino, Los Angeles, San Joaquin
28	I-680	Interstate	121	131	36	Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara
29	State Highway 14	State highway	118	135	37	Los Angeles, Kern
30	State Highway 29	State highway	108	117	29	Napa, Lake, Solano
31	State Highway 12	State highway	106	130	26	San Joaquin, Sonoma, Solano
32	I-110	Interstate	105	117	44	Los Angeles
33	I-605	Interstate	105	115	31	Los Angeles, Orange
34	State Highway 299	State highway	101	113	29	Shasta, Trinity, Humboldt
35	State Highway 18	State highway	100	114	42	San Bernardino, Los Angeles
36	State Highway 79	State highway	100	107	27	Riverside, San Diego, Butte
37	State Highway 94	State highway	100	106	39	San Diego
38	I-40	Interstate	99	109	30	San Bernardino
39	State Highway 70	State highway	95	117	21	Butte, Yuba, Plumas
40	State Highway 62	State highway	93	98	33	San Bernardino, Riverside, Santa Clara
41	State Highway 65	State highway	92	110	25	Tulare, Placer, Kern
42	State Highway 180	State highway	92	100	30	Fresno, Tulare
43	State Highway 178	State highway	91	103	36	Kern, San Bernardino, Inyo
44	State Highway 39	State highway	91	98	25	Orange, Los Angeles, Napa
45	I-210	Interstate	88	100	27	Los Angeles
46	State Highway 120	State highway	87	100	38	San Joaquin, Tuolumne, Stanislaus
47	I-280	Interstate	86	91	32	Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco
48	State Highway 111	State highway	84	93	28	Riverside, Imperial
49	State Highway 198	State highway	82	87	36	Tulare, Kings, Fresno
50	I-710	Interstate	81	90	30	Los Angeles
51	State Highway 118	State highway	81	88	34	Ventura, Los Angeles
52	State Highway 43	State highway	77	102	29	Kern, Tulare, Kings
53	State Highway 132	State highway	77	92	25	Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Tuolumne
54	State Highway 2	State highway	75	81	20	Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Santa Clara
55	I-805	Interstate	74	80	28	San Diego
56	State Highway 88	State highway	70	79	20	San Joaquin, Amador, Alpine
57	State Highway 108	State highway	70	75	20	Stanislaus, Tuolumne
58	State Highway 76	State highway	65	74	20	San Diego
59	State Highway 46	State highway	63	81	17	San Luis Obispo, Kern
60	State Highway 57	State highway	62	66	19	Orange, Los Angeles

Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2024 Annual Report File (released April 2026, subject to revision). How we count

Download every numbered road in California as CSV. Free to reuse with credit: “Fatal Crash Data, fatalcrashdata.com/deadliest-roads/california/, from NHTSA FARS (2024 Annual Report File).”

Interstates in California per mile

Fatal crashes a year per 100 miles of road, 2015 to 2024, for interstates with 20 miles or more in California. Crashes per mile of road, not per vehicle. Mileage from the FHWA Interstate route log.

	Road	Per 100 miles a year	Fatal crashes	Miles
1	I-10	23.1	556	241
2	I-15	20.4	586	287
3	I-80	19.9	404	203
4	I-5	15.2	1,214	797
5	I-8	11.3	192	170
6	I-40	6.4	99	154

Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2024 Annual Report File (released April 2026, subject to revision). How we count

Questions about the deadliest roads in California

What is the deadliest road in California?: I-5 had the most fatal crashes of any numbered road in California from 2015 to 2024: 1,214, with 1,396 deaths. US 101 was second with 956 and State Highway 99 third with 694. Source: NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).
Which interstate in California is the most dangerous per mile?: I-10, with 23.1 fatal crashes a year per 100 miles over 2015 to 2024 on 241 miles. That is crashes per mile of road, not per vehicle.
How many fatal crashes in California happen on numbered roads?: 13,926 of 36,640 fatal crashes in California from 2015 to 2024 (38%) were filed on an interstate, US or state route; the rest were on county roads, city streets and unnamed roads, which are in the state's total but not ranked here.

Where the California road numbers come from

Counted from NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, 2024 Annual Report File: every fatal crash filed on a numbered interstate, US or state route in California, read from the road name NHTSA filed, with ramps, frontage and service roads left out. A road gets its own page with 15 or more fatal crashes from 2022 to 2024. The full method.