KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- The highest-rate state records an urban interstate crash rate of 1.62 per 100,000 residents, 8.5 times that of the lowest-rate state at 0.19 per 100,000.
- Seven of the 10 highest-rate states are in the South, where the combined rate of 1.17 per 100,000 is 1.5 times the rate of non-Southern states (0.76 per 100,000).
- National urban interstate crashes peaked at 3,299 in 2021 before falling 14.7% to 2,814 by 2024; yet 17 states recorded more crashes in 2024 than in 2020.
Millions of Americans rely on urban interstates for daily commutes, freight transport, and long-distance travel. Yet the safety of those corridors varies widely from state to state. Over five years spanning 2020 through 2024, more than 15,000 crashes were recorded on urban interstates nationwide, and per-capita rates diverge by a factor of more than eight between the most and least affected states.
According to an analysis by Grigor Law Injury & Car Accident Lawyers, five years of urban interstate crash data from the NHTSA Crash Report Sampling System (accessed via the CDAN query platform at cdan.dot.gov/query) and U.S. Census Bureau state population estimates (census.gov) were combined to produce a per-capita crash rate for each state. Annual crash counts from 2020 through 2024 were averaged and divided by average state population, then multiplied by 100,000 to create a rate comparable across all 50 states.
10 States Record Urban Interstate Crash Rates From 1.22 to 1.62 per 100,000 Residents
| Rank | State | Avg. Annual Urban Interstate Crashes | Crash Rate per 100,000 Residents |
| 1 | Tennessee | 114.4 | 1.62 |
| 2 | Louisiana | 74.2 | 1.61 |
| 3 | Missouri | 92.4 | 1.49 |
| 4 | Arkansas | 45.2 | 1.48 |
| 5 | Georgia | 157.6 | 1.44 |
| 6 | New Mexico | 28.8 | 1.36 |
| 7 | Mississippi | 40.0 | 1.36 |
| 8 | Texas | 402.4 | 1.34 |
| 9 | Connecticut | 48.0 | 1.33 |
| 10 | Oklahoma | 49.0 | 1.22 |
Rates among the top 10 range from 1.22 (Oklahoma) to 1.62 (Tennessee) per 100,000 residents, placing each state well above the national average of 0.92. Seven of these 10 states are in the South, and the top 10 average rate of 1.42 per 100,000 is more than 1.5 times the national benchmark.
Looking at the study, Chrissy Grigoropoulos, Founding Partner of Grigor Law Injury & Car Accident Lawyers, commented:
“An 8.5-fold difference between the highest and lowest per-capita urban interstate crash rates reveals that where a driver commutes matters as much as how they drive. These disparities underscore a need for targeted infrastructure investment, consistent enforcement standards, and data-informed safety policy in the states where risk is most concentrated.”
17 States Saw Urban Interstate Crashes Rise Between 2020 and 2024 Even as the National Total Fell
| State | Crashes in 2020 | Crashes in 2024 | Percentage Change |
| South Carolina | 36 | 59 | +63.9% |
| Utah | 15 | 22 | +46.7% |
| Washington | 39 | 57 | +46.2% |
| Maryland | 52 | 71 | +36.5% |
| Pennsylvania | 56 | 69 | +23.2% |
While the national total fell from 2,897 crashes in 2020 to 2,814 in 2024, 17 states moved in the opposite direction. South Carolina posted the steepest increase among states with at least 10 crashes in 2020, rising 63.9% from 36 to 59 crashes over the five-year window.
The Two Highest-Volume States Rank 8th and 12th in Per-Capita Crash Rate
| State | Avg. Annual Crashes | Rate per 100K | Per-Capita Rank |
| California | 428.4 | 1.09 | 12 |
| Texas | 402.4 | 1.34 | 8 |
| Florida | 220.0 | 0.99 | 14 |
| Georgia | 157.6 | 1.44 | 5 |
| Illinois | 119.4 | 0.94 | 18 |
| Tennessee | 114.4 | 1.62 | 1 |
| Ohio | 107.2 | 0.91 | 19 |
| Missouri | 92.4 | 1.49 | 3 |
| North Carolina | 87.6 | 0.82 | 25 |
| Virginia | 78.2 | 0.90 | 20 |
California leads in total volume with 428.4 average annual crashes but ranks 12th per capita; New York, the fourth most populous state, ranks 45th in crash rate at 0.39 per 100,000. Together, Texas and California account for 27.1% of all U.S. urban interstate crashes, yet states with smaller populations, such as Tennessee and Missouri, carry higher per-capita risk.
The Most Dangerous State’s Crash Rate Is 8.5× the Safest (1.62 vs. 0.19 per 100,000)
| Rank | State | Avg. Annual Crashes | Crash Rate per 100,000 |
| 41 | New Hampshire | 6.2 | 0.44 |
| 42 | South Dakota | 4.0 | 0.44 |
| 43 | Idaho | 8.2 | 0.42 |
| 44 | Minnesota | 23.2 | 0.40 |
| 45 | New York | 76.4 | 0.39 |
| 46 | Nebraska | 7.2 | 0.36 |
| 47 | Wisconsin | 20.8 | 0.35 |
| 48 | Maine | 4.4 | 0.32 |
| 49 | North Dakota | 2.0 | 0.26 |
| 50 | Vermont | 1.2 | 0.19 |
The bottom 10 are concentrated in the North and include several rural or lower-population states; New York, the fourth most populous state, stands out at rank 45 with a rate of just 0.39 per 100,000. The average rate across the bottom 10 (0.36 per 100,000) is roughly one-quarter of the top 10 average (1.42), underscoring the scale of the state-to-state gap.
Methodology
Crash data was sourced from the NHTSA Crash Report Sampling System (CRSS) via the CDAN query platform (cdan.dot.gov/query). Crashes were filtered by roadway type, selecting only those classified as Urban Interstate (route signing = Interstate, urban/rural classification = Urban). Crash counts were extracted for each of the 50 states across five consecutive years: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. State population figures were sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual state population estimates (census.gov). For each state, the five-year average of annual crash counts was divided by the five-year average population, then multiplied by 100,000 to produce a per-capita rate. The national average rate of 0.92 per 100,000 residents serves as the benchmark. All 50 states were ranked from highest to lowest crash rate.
Data Sources
- NHTSA CDAN: dot.gov/query
- S. Census Bureau State Population Estimates: census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-state-total.html
- Research Dataset: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1b6TYkjPWBLtuFDJO-9VK6MLVkHAatkuWnFKSOklidBQ/edit?gid=0#gid=0
- Research by: https://grigorlaw.com/
About Grigor Law Injury & Car Accident Lawyers
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