Holiday season 2020: fatal car accidents and deaths
Over the 2020 holiday season, December 23, 2020, to January 1, 2021, 1,068 people died in 968 fatal car accidents on US roads, 2% more than the 1,051 on the same weekdays around it. It was the third most of the nine from 2015 to 2023.
2019 · 2021 · Every year together, day by day and state by state.
Holiday season 2020 road deaths in every state
Texas had the most, 116 deaths, then California with 116. In 48 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 116 | 105 | 18 |
| California | 116 | 97 | 28 |
| Florida | 115 | 108 | 33 |
| Georgia | 47 | 42 | 13 |
| North Carolina | 46 | 42 | 7 |
| Tennessee | 32 | 29 | 12 |
| Ohio | 31 | 29 | 7 |
| Pennsylvania | 30 | 28 | 4 |
| Michigan | 30 | 26 | 1 |
| Arizona | 29 | 25 | 10 |
| New Jersey | 28 | 25 | 5 |
| Alabama | 27 | 25 | 6 |
| Missouri | 25 | 22 | 1 |
| New York | 25 | 22 | 3 |
| Indiana | 23 | 20 | 1 |
| South Carolina | 22 | 22 | 1 |
| Virginia | 22 | 22 | 1 |
| Mississippi | 21 | 19 | 3 |
| Illinois | 21 | 18 | 6 |
| Louisiana | 20 | 19 | 4 |
| Arkansas | 18 | 18 | 7 |
| Colorado | 18 | 17 | 2 |
| Wisconsin | 17 | 15 | 1 |
| Oklahoma | 16 | 16 | 3 |
| Kentucky | 16 | 15 | 6 |
| Oregon | 14 | 12 | 3 |
| Connecticut | 13 | 12 | 5 |
| Kansas | 12 | 9 | 1 |
| Maryland | 11 | 11 | 4 |
| New Mexico | 11 | 10 | 2 |
| Washington | 11 | 10 | 4 |
| Nevada | 9 | 8 | 1 |
| Idaho | 8 | 7 | 0 |
| West Virginia | 8 | 6 | 0 |
| Massachusetts | 7 | 7 | 2 |
| Utah | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Hawaii | 6 | 6 | 2 |
| Montana | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| Iowa | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| Nebraska | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| Minnesota | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| South Dakota | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Delaware | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Maine | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| North Dakota | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Wyoming | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Alaska | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| New Hampshire | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| District of Columbia | 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 the holiday season 2020 fatal car accidents
- How many people died in car crashes on the holiday season 2020?
- 1,068 people died in 968 fatal crashes on US roads over the 2020 holiday season, December 23, 2020, to January 1, 2021, 2% more than the 1,051 on the same weekdays around it. Of them, 216 were pedestrians. Source: NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).
- Which state had the most road deaths on the holiday season 2020?
- Texas, with 116 deaths. In 48 of 51 states and DC at least one person died on the roads.
- Was the holiday season 2020 deadlier than usual?
- 1,068 road deaths was the third most of the nine from 2015 to 2023; the average is 1,022. The deadliest was 2022 and the least deadly 2018.
Where the the holiday season 2020 numbers come from
Every fatal crash NHTSA dated from December 23 to January 1 in 2020 into 2021, 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.