Missouri car accident statistics (2020-2024)

Car accident deaths in Missouri by year

Car accident deaths rose from 837 in 2020 to 861 in 2021 and reached their highest count, 885, in 2022. Counts then fell to 831 in 2023 and 812 in 2024, the lowest year of the period. The 2024 count was 25 deaths lower than the 2020 count. All traffic deaths also reached their highest count in 2022, at 1,057.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Missouri's share of the national car accident death total was 2.5% in 2020, 2.3% in 2021 and 2.4% in each year from 2022 through 2024. Across 2020 through 2024, Missouri accounted for 2.4% 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 Missouri car accidents

People in cars, SUVs, pickups or vans accounted for 3,224 deaths, or 76.3%, in Missouri's qualifying crashes from 2020 through 2024. This was the largest person category. People in other vehicles accounted for 418 deaths, or 9.9%, the smallest category. Nonoccupants (FARS person-type grouping) accounted for 584 deaths, or 13.8%.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

These categories describe the people killed in passenger-vehicle-involved fatal crashes, rather than separate sets of crashes. Nonoccupants (FARS person-type grouping) follows the FARS classification and can include occupants of parked motor vehicles; it is not a literal test of a person's position outside a vehicle.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Collision types and setting

Manner of collision describes the first harmful event. Angle (side impact) recorded 854 deaths (20.2%); Head-on, 680 (16.1%); Rear-end, 333 (7.9%); Sideswipe, 153 (3.6%); Other, 10 (0.2%); and Unknown, 4 (0.1%). Not a collision with a motor vehicle in transport recorded 2,192 (51.9%). That row means the first harmful event was not between motor vehicles in transport, including rollovers or impacts with fixed objects. Vehicles stopped in traffic can be in transport.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Daytime accounted for 2,115 deaths (50.0%); nighttime, 2,084 (49.3%); and unknown time, 27 (0.6%). Urban classifications recorded 2,174 deaths (51.4%); rural, 2,013 (47.6%); and unknown land use, 39 (0.9%).^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Counties with the most car accident deaths

Jackson County had the most car accident deaths during 2020 through 2024, with 533, followed by St. Louis County with 473 and City of St. Louis with 288. Greene County recorded 195 deaths, Jefferson County 146 and St. Charles County 120. The table also lists Boone County with 85, Clay County with 82, Newton County with 82 and Jasper County with 81.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Franklin County recorded 79 deaths, Cass County 60, Lawrence County 58, Buchanan County 57 and St. Francois County 57. Death counts and population-based rates have different rankings: among the listed counties, Lawrence County had the highest average annual deaths per 100,000 residents at 30.0, while St. Charles County had the lowest at 5.8. These rate rankings apply only to the listed counties.^{[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 Missouri compares with the national rate

Missouri's car accident death rate was 13.7 average annual deaths per 100,000 residents for 2020 through 2024, higher than the national rate of 10.5. The corresponding death counts were 4,226 for Missouri and 176,219 for the United States. These rates use deaths across the full period and the sum of annual Census Bureau population estimates, rather than the population estimate for a single year.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

The rates do not adjust for miles driven or visitors. Missouri's separately reported July 1, 2024 population estimate of 6,243,544 is not the denominator used to calculate its rate. When reading these figures during a car accident lawyer search, keep the geographic grouping in mind: deaths are assigned by crash location, not residence.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

About these figures

FARS is NHTSA's 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 dying within 30 days. Nonfatal crashes and injuries are excluded. State and county counts follow crash location, not where those killed lived.^[8][6][7]

Data for 2020 through 2023 use FARS Final Files. The 2024 Annual Report File may change when replaced by the Final File. Rates divide period deaths by summed annual Census Bureau population estimates, Vintage 2025, then multiply by 100,000. This gives average annual deaths per 100,000 residents without adjustments for miles driven or visitors. The separately displayed July 1, 2024 population is not the denominator.^[8][6][7]

See also

• FARS Annual Report File and Final File
• Car accident statistics for Jackson County, Missouri (2020-2024)
• Car accident statistics for St. Louis County, Missouri (2020-2024)
• Car accident statistics for City of St. Louis, Missouri (2020-2024)
• Car accident statistics for Greene County, Missouri (2020-2024)