Holiday season 2021: fatal car accidents and deaths
Over the 2021 holiday season, December 23, 2021, to January 1, 2022, 1,130 people died in 1,052 fatal car accidents on US roads, about the same as the 1,126 on a normal stretch. It was the second most of the nine from 2015 to 2023.
2020 · 2022 · Every year together, day by day and state by state.
Holiday season 2021 road deaths in every state
Texas had the most, 123 deaths, then California with 119. In 49 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 | 123 | 116 | 21 |
| California | 119 | 110 | 40 |
| Florida | 110 | 99 | 26 |
| Georgia | 65 | 61 | 7 |
| Arizona | 45 | 42 | 13 |
| North Carolina | 42 | 39 | 7 |
| Alabama | 40 | 36 | 8 |
| Illinois | 39 | 34 | 7 |
| South Carolina | 38 | 34 | 7 |
| New York | 37 | 35 | 11 |
| Pennsylvania | 30 | 26 | 6 |
| Ohio | 28 | 28 | 7 |
| Louisiana | 27 | 24 | 8 |
| Virginia | 26 | 24 | 3 |
| Tennessee | 23 | 23 | 4 |
| Arkansas | 23 | 21 | 3 |
| New Jersey | 22 | 19 | 6 |
| Oklahoma | 22 | 19 | 7 |
| Michigan | 21 | 20 | 3 |
| Indiana | 20 | 19 | 2 |
| Missouri | 16 | 15 | 3 |
| Kentucky | 15 | 14 | 3 |
| Massachusetts | 15 | 14 | 1 |
| Mississippi | 14 | 13 | 2 |
| Connecticut | 13 | 13 | 5 |
| Kansas | 13 | 13 | 1 |
| Washington | 13 | 13 | 5 |
| Maryland | 13 | 12 | 2 |
| Oregon | 13 | 12 | 2 |
| Iowa | 12 | 12 | 1 |
| Wisconsin | 12 | 12 | 0 |
| Colorado | 10 | 10 | 2 |
| Idaho | 8 | 8 | 3 |
| Delaware | 7 | 7 | 3 |
| Nebraska | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| West Virginia | 7 | 7 | 2 |
| Hawaii | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| Minnesota | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| New Mexico | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| Nevada | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Utah | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| Montana | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Rhode Island | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Maine | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| New Hampshire | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| South Dakota | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Alaska | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| North Dakota | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Vermont | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| District of Columbia | 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 the holiday season 2021 fatal car accidents
- How many people died in car crashes on the holiday season 2021?
- 1,130 people died in 1,052 fatal crashes on US roads over the 2021 holiday season, December 23, 2021, to January 1, 2022, about the same as the 1,126 on a normal stretch. Of them, 240 were pedestrians. Source: NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).
- Which state had the most road deaths on the holiday season 2021?
- Texas, with 123 deaths. In 49 of 51 states and DC at least one person died on the roads.
- Was the holiday season 2021 deadlier than usual?
- 1,130 road deaths was the second 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 2021 numbers come from
Every fatal crash NHTSA dated from December 23 to January 1 in 2021 into 2022, 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.