Holiday season 2023: fatal car accidents and deaths
Over the 2023 holiday season, December 23, 2023, to January 1, 2024, 1,048 people died in 964 fatal car accidents on US roads, 5% more than the 997 on the same weekdays around it. It was the fourth most of the nine from 2015 to 2023.
2022 · Every year together, day by day and state by state.
Holiday season 2023 road deaths in every state
California had the most, 127 deaths, then Texas with 107. In 50 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 | 127 | 116 | 38 |
| Texas | 107 | 95 | 19 |
| Florida | 104 | 96 | 22 |
| New York | 39 | 34 | 15 |
| North Carolina | 38 | 36 | 9 |
| Georgia | 37 | 37 | 9 |
| South Carolina | 35 | 32 | 9 |
| Louisiana | 34 | 29 | 2 |
| Arizona | 31 | 31 | 6 |
| Alabama | 29 | 25 | 4 |
| Michigan | 26 | 25 | 7 |
| Pennsylvania | 25 | 24 | 6 |
| Virginia | 24 | 22 | 4 |
| Colorado | 23 | 21 | 5 |
| Illinois | 23 | 20 | 6 |
| Kentucky | 22 | 20 | 4 |
| Missouri | 21 | 21 | 3 |
| Wisconsin | 21 | 18 | 3 |
| Oregon | 20 | 19 | 4 |
| Ohio | 20 | 18 | 3 |
| Tennessee | 19 | 18 | 3 |
| New Jersey | 19 | 17 | 7 |
| Oklahoma | 18 | 15 | 3 |
| Indiana | 17 | 16 | 3 |
| Washington | 17 | 16 | 4 |
| Arkansas | 13 | 13 | 4 |
| Minnesota | 13 | 12 | 2 |
| New Mexico | 11 | 11 | 3 |
| Nevada | 10 | 9 | 4 |
| Massachusetts | 10 | 7 | 4 |
| Maryland | 9 | 9 | 6 |
| Utah | 9 | 9 | 1 |
| Iowa | 9 | 8 | 2 |
| Mississippi | 8 | 8 | 3 |
| Idaho | 8 | 7 | 0 |
| Kansas | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| Connecticut | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| West Virginia | 6 | 5 | 0 |
| Maine | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| Montana | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Wyoming | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Nebraska | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Alaska | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| District of Columbia | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| New Hampshire | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Rhode Island | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Delaware | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Hawaii | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| North Dakota | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Vermont | 1 | 1 | 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 the holiday season 2023 fatal car accidents
- How many people died in car crashes on the holiday season 2023?
- 1,048 people died in 964 fatal crashes on US roads over the 2023 holiday season, December 23, 2023, to January 1, 2024, 5% more than the 997 on the same weekdays around it. Of them, 235 were pedestrians. Source: NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).
- Which state had the most road deaths on the holiday season 2023?
- California, with 127 deaths. In 50 of 51 states and DC at least one person died on the roads.
- Was the holiday season 2023 deadlier than usual?
- 1,048 road deaths was the fourth 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 2023 numbers come from
Every fatal crash NHTSA dated from December 23 to January 1 in 2023 into 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 (4 of them this year). How the holiday is counted.