Rural vs urban road deaths

Of the 40,832 2023 road deaths where the road type was recorded, 41.1% happened on rural roads and 58.9% on urban ones. Around a fifth of Americans live in rural areas, so rural roads carry a share of deaths far out of proportion to the people living beside them.

Rural

16,796

41.1% of deaths

Urban

24,036

58.9% of deaths

Deadliest road types

State Highway

11,561

U.S. Highway

7,039

Interstate

5,217

Not Signed

4,776

County

4,228

Municipal

3,372

Other

2,871

Secondary Route

865

Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2023 national file.