Florida has officially been ranked as the fourth most dangerous state in the country for pedestrians, according to a detailed 50-state analysis recently released by Steve Gimblin Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyers.
Evaluating federal traffic safety data across the latest five reporting periods from 2020 to 2024, the study found that Florida averaged 796.2 fatal pedestrian crashes every year. This brings the state’s total death toll to 3,981 individuals over the five-year span, translating to a rate of 3.52 fatalities per 100,000 residents—a figure that sits significantly higher than the national average.
This elevated risk is part of a broader regional trend. The data reveal that the Southeastern United States has become the nation’s deadliest corridor for pedestrians. Neighboring South Carolina closely follows Florida in fifth place with a rate of 3.50 deaths per 100,000 residents, while Georgia rounds out the top ten with a rate of 2.90.
Nationally, New Mexico claims the highest pedestrian fatality rate at 4.56 per 100,000 residents, followed by Louisiana at 3.73 and Arizona at 3.68. However, researchers noted a distinct difference between Florida and the states ranked above it.
While the top three states have relatively smaller populations, Florida’s massive population of over 22.6 million means its high per-capita rate reflects an enormous volume of actual lives lost. In fact, Florida alone accounted for 10.4% of all pedestrian fatalities in the United States during the study period, despite holding only about 6.8% of the country’s total population.
When compared to other highly populated states, Florida’s numbers remain disproportionately high. California and Texas saw higher total raw numbers—California averaged 1,187.8 annual deaths and Texas averaged 827—but their massive populations gave them lower per-capita death rates.
California ranked seventh overall with a rate of 3.05, making Florida’s rate roughly 15% higher despite having far fewer residents. Texas ranked 11th with a rate of 2.71, while New York ranked much further down at 31st, seeing just 1.57 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 people.
The year-by-year data for Florida illustrates a sharp spike followed by a gradual, uneven decline. In 2020, the state recorded 739 pedestrian fatalities, a number that was likely influenced by pandemic-related lockdowns and reduced road traffic. The following year, fatalities jumped by 17.3% to a peak of 867 deaths in 2021. The numbers dropped slightly to 847 in 2022 and 815 in 2023, before hitting a five-year low of 713 deaths in 2024. While the 2024 numbers show a 12.5% drop from the previous year, the overall five-year average still means more than two pedestrians are killed on Florida roads every single day.
Commenting on the findings, Steve Gimblin, Founder of Steve Gimblin Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyers, pointed to environmental factors as a primary catalyst for the numbers.
“Florida’s pedestrian safety crisis is a clear example of how infrastructure and environment shape outcomes,” Gimblin said. “With high-speed roads, heavy tourism, and year-round pedestrian activity, the risks are consistently elevated. The scale of loss shows this isn’t just a traffic issue, it’s a systemic safety challenge that demands urgent attention.”
Several documented factors contribute heavily to these figures. Densely populated areas across Florida are frequently cut through by wide, high-speed arterial roads that lack proper pedestrian infrastructure like sidewalks and accessible crosswalks.
Furthermore, the state’s warm climate encourages outdoor activity year-round, increasing the baseline interactions between vehicles and people on foot. The risk is further compounded by a high concentration of older residents, who face greater physical vulnerability, alongside tourism-heavy areas that regularly mix unfamiliar drivers and walking visitors on the same roadways.
The study was compiled using direct figures from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). Researchers adjusted the raw fatality counts against U.S. Census Bureau state population estimates to determine the final per-capita rankings for all 50 states.
READ: Pedestrian Dies After Being Struck By Unmarked Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Deputy In Tampa
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