Alaska car accident statistics (2020-2024)

Car accident deaths in Alaska by year

Car accident deaths rose from 54 in 2020 to 63 in 2021 and reached 74 in 2022, the highest yearly count in the period. They fell to 46 in 2023, the lowest count, before rising to 63 in 2024. The 2024 count was 9 deaths higher than the 2020 count. Across those years, all traffic deaths were 64, 70, 82, 61 and 70, respectively.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Alaska's share of the national car accident death total was 0.2% in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024, and 0.1% in 2023. For 2020 through 2024, Alaska accounted for 0.2% of the national total of 176,219 deaths. The 2024 figures remain subject to revision.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

2024 figures come from the FARS Annual Report File and can be revised when NHTSA publishes the final file.

Who died in Alaska car accidents

People in cars, SUVs, pickups or vans accounted for 208 deaths, or 69.3%, from 2020 through 2024. This was the largest person category and the majority of the deaths counted. People in other vehicles accounted for 22 deaths, or 7.3%, the smallest category. Nonoccupants (FARS person-type grouping) accounted for 70 deaths, or 23.3%.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Each category covers deaths in fatal crashes involving a passenger vehicle. The categories describe the people who died, rather than separate sets of crashes. Nonoccupants (FARS person-type grouping) follows the FARS classification and is not a literal test of being outside a vehicle.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Collision types and setting

Manner of collision describes the first harmful event. Head-on crashes accounted for 71 deaths (23.7%); Angle (side impact), 56 (18.7%); Rear-end, 22 (7.3%); Sideswipe, 7 (2.3%); Other, 1 (0.3%); and Unknown, 3 (1.0%). Not a collision with a motor vehicle in transport accounted for 140 deaths (46.7%). That row includes first events such as rollovers or impacts with a fixed object, parked vehicle, pedestrian or cyclist. Vehicles in transport can be stopped in traffic.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Daytime car accident deaths numbered 160 (53.3%), nighttime deaths 126 (42.0%), and unknown-time deaths 14 (4.7%). Urban deaths numbered 138 (46.0%), while rural deaths numbered 162 (54.0%).^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Counties with the most car accident deaths

Anchorage Municipality had the most car accident deaths in the county table, with 96 from 2020 through 2024. Matanuska-Susitna Borough followed with 79, then Kenai Peninsula Borough with 48 and Fairbanks North Star Borough with 30. Juneau City and Borough and Southeast Fairbanks Census Area each recorded 6 deaths. These counts assign deaths to the county where the crash occurred.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Death counts and population rates measure different things. Anchorage Municipality's rate was 6.7 average annual deaths per 100,000 residents, compared with 14.0 in Matanuska-Susitna Borough and 15.9 in Kenai Peninsula Borough. Among the listed counties, Bristol Bay Borough had the highest rate, 47.0, with 2 deaths. Bethel Census Area had the lowest rate among the listed counties, 2.2, also with 2 deaths. Rates with few deaths change sharply with each death.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Up to 15 counties with the most deaths in the period, largest first. Rates for counties with few deaths change sharply with each death.

How Alaska compares with the national rate

Alaska's car accident death rate was 8.2 average annual deaths per 100,000 residents for 2020 through 2024, lower than the national rate of 10.5. The corresponding death counts were 300 in Alaska and 176,219 in the United States. These rates use deaths across the period and the sum of annual population estimates, rather than the population estimate for a single year.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

The measure does not adjust for miles driven or visitors. Alaska's separately displayed July 1, 2024 population estimate of 736,537 is not the rate's denominator. Whether reading these figures while searching for a car accident lawyer or reviewing the statistics alone, keep the grouping in mind: deaths are assigned by crash location, while population estimates supply the denominator for the rate.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

About these figures

NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System is a census of fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes. Inclusion requires a motor vehicle traveling on a trafficway customarily open to the public and an occupant or nonoccupant death within 30 days. Nonfatal crashes and injuries are excluded. State and county counts follow crash location, not the deceased person's residence.^[8][6][7]

Data for 2020 through 2023 use FARS Final Files. The 2024 Annual Report File can change when the Final File replaces it. Rates divide deaths for 2020 through 2024 by the sum of annual Census Bureau population estimates for those years, using Vintage 2025, and multiply by 100,000. This produces average annual deaths per 100,000 residents.^[8][6][7]

See also

• FARS Annual Report File and Final File