A new analysis of federal crash data finds that Texas ranks among the 10 jurisdictions with the greatest burden of fatal hit-and-run crashes, but the problem is even more concentrated in the Houston area.
The study, conducted for Attorney Brian White, examined fatal hit-and-run crashes across all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 2020 through 2024. The analysis compared five-year death rates, pedestrian and cyclist deaths, the share of traffic deaths involving hit-and-run crashes, and changes in fatality rates over time.
Texas ranked No. 10 overall, with 1,695 people killed in fatal hit-and-run crashes during the five-year period. However, Houston’s local figures were substantially higher than the statewide averages.
In 2024, the Houston metro area’s fatal hit-and-run death rate was 1.334 deaths per 100,000 residents. That was 31.7% higher than the Texas rate and 64.5% higher than the national rate.
The Risk Index: Where Fatal Hit-and-Runs Carry the Greatest Burden
A National Problem That Remains Above 2020 Levels
From 2020 through 2024, 13,762 fatal hit-and-run crashes killed 14,154 people nationwide.
The national death toll reached 2,758 in 2024. While that figure represented a decline from the 2022 peak, it was still 6.2% higher than the 2,596 deaths recorded in 2020.
The new analysis shows that the burden of fatal hit-and-run crashes varies widely across the country and can look very different at the state and local levels.
D.C. Ranks First Overall, While New Mexico Leads All States
The jurisdictions with the highest number of fatal hit-and-run deaths are not always those with the highest population-adjusted burden.
The District of Columbia ranked first among all jurisdictions with an overall risk score of 97.9, while New Mexico, with a score of 96.4, was the highest-ranking state.
Louisiana ranked third with a score of 94.3, followed by Nevada at 91.4. California, Arizona, Tennessee, Delaware, Florida, and Texas completed the top 10. The ranking combines the fatal crash rate, death rate, pedestrian and cyclist death rate, the share of all traffic deaths tied to hit-and-runs, and the direction of the fatality rate.
New Mexico recorded the nation’s highest five-year fatal hit-and-run death rate among states: 1.868 deaths per 100,000 residents annually. By comparison, Maine’s five-year annualized rate was 0.058 deaths per 100,000 residents.
D.C. also recorded the largest proportional burden. Fatal hit-and-runs accounted for 26.0% of all traffic deaths in the district during the five-year period. Nine of the 10 highest-risk jurisdictions also ranked in the top 10 for the pedestrian and cyclist death rate. Delaware was the only exception, showing how strongly deaths among people outside vehicles shaped the overall ranking.
California and Texas Lead in Raw Death Totals
California recorded the largest total number of hit-and-run deaths from 2020 through 2024, with 2,395 people killed. Texas ranked second with 1,695 deaths, followed by Florida with 1,313.
During the five-year period, California, Texas, and Florida combined accounted for 5,403 deaths, or 38.2% of all fatal hit-and-run deaths nationwide. In 2024 alone, California recorded 462 hit-and-run deaths. Texas followed with 317, while Florida recorded 233.
Illinois and New York rounded out the five states with the largest 2024 totals, recording 130 and 104 deaths, respectively. California’s 462 deaths were 45.7% higher than Texas’s total, but raw volume does not determine the index by itself. California ranked No. 5 and Texas ranked No. 10 because the analysis also accounts for population, the burden on pedestrians and cyclists, the hit-and-run share of all traffic deaths, and whether the fatality rate increased or declined.
Lower-Burden States Provide an Important Counterpoint
Iowa and Maine recorded the two lowest overall burdens in the index, with scores of 3.0 and 3.6. Idaho, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Vermont completed the bottom-10 counterpoint. Iowa recorded 22 deaths across the five-year period, while Maine recorded four. Their annualized death rates were 0.137 and 0.058 per 100,000 residents, respectively.
Those results should not be interpreted to mean that these jurisdictions are free from hit-and-run risk.
Smaller populations and lower death totals can cause rates to change significantly when only a few deaths are added or removed. For that reason, the analysis pairs population-adjusted rates with total deaths rather than relying on a single measure.
The contrast between New Mexico and Maine is especially useful: New Mexico’s five-year annualized death rate was more than 32 times Maine’s. Using five years of data reduces the influence of one unusually high or low year, but the rankings still describe geographic burden rather than an individual driver’s chance of being involved in a crash.
Where the Risk is Rising, Even as the National Total Falls
National Fatalities Have Declined Since the 2022 Peak
Fatal hit-and-run deaths reached a five-year high of 2,972 in 2022. The total declined to 2,911 in 2023 and then fell again to 2,758 in 2024. The 2024 figure was 7.2% below the 2022 peak and 5.3% below the previous year.
Fatal hit-and-run crashes followed a similar pattern. The crash count rose from 2,520 in 2020 to 2,895 in 2022 before declining to 2,824 in 2023 and 2,693 in 2024. The 2024 crash count was 7.0% below the peak, but it remained 6.9% above the 2020 level.
The share of all traffic deaths tied to hit-and-runs also remained elevated. Hit-and-run deaths represented 7.0% of all traffic deaths in 2024, compared with 6.7% in 2020. The difference was 0.3 percentage points, even after the annual death count fell for two consecutive years.
The decline is a positive development, but the 2024 death toll remained above the 2020 level.
Several States Are Moving in the Opposite Direction
The national trend does not mean fatal hit-and-run deaths declined everywhere.
Nevada experienced one of the sharpest increases among states with at least 100 fatal hit-and-run deaths during the five-year study period. Its annual death count increased from 24 in 2020 to 47 in 2024, a 95.8% increase. Nevada’s population-adjusted fatality rate increased by 86.8%.
Louisiana’s annual hit-and-run death total rose from 44 in 2020 to 77 in 2024. That represented a 75.0% increase in deaths, while the state’s population-adjusted death rate increased 77.1%. Louisiana ranked No. 3 overall in the national index.
Nevada and Louisiana stand out because both combined a top-four overall ranking with at least 200 deaths across the five-year period. Their increases, therefore, reflect more than a brief change in a very small annual count.
Other States to Watch
Alabama’s fatal hit-and-run deaths increased 54.8%, from 31 in 2020 to 48 in 2024, while its population-adjusted rate rose 51.1%. New York’s deaths increased from 74 to 104, a 40.5% rise, and its rate increased 42.2%. Colorado recorded 46 deaths in 2024 compared with 32 in 2020, pushing its rate up 39.6%. Washington’s death total rose from 42 to 59 as its rate increased 36.4%.
Alabama, New York, Colorado, and Washington did not rank in the top 10 overall, but their growth rates are important watch points. A middle-of-the-table composite rank can conceal a rapidly worsening trend when other index measures remain lower.
Michigan provided one of the clearest countertrends. Its hit-and-run death count fell 44.3% from 97 deaths in 2020 to 54 in 2024.
Its population-adjusted death rate declined 44.7% over the same period, the largest improvement highlighted in the analysis. That contrast reinforces why the national decline should be examined state by state.
Texas Improved Statewide, but Local Trends Differ
Texas saw a 4.5% decrease in fatal hit-and-run deaths between 2020 and 2024. The state’s population-adjusted death rate declined by 10.8%.
However, those statewide improvements do not reflect the full picture in the Houston area, where some local death totals increased over the same period.
The Victims Left Behind: Pedestrians and Cyclists Carry Most of the Toll
Nearly Three-Quarters of Victims Were Pedestrians or Cyclists
Pedestrians and cyclists accounted for the overwhelming majority of people killed in fatal hit-and-run crashes in 2024. A total of 1,749 pedestrians and 230 cyclists died that year. Together, they accounted for 1,979 of the 2,758 hit-and-run deaths, or 71.8% of the national total.
Pedestrians alone represented 63.4% of all fatal hit-and-run deaths in 2024, while cyclists accounted for another 8.3%.
The combined number of pedestrians and cyclists killed in fatal hit-and-run crashes was more than four times greater than the number of vehicle occupants killed.
Vehicle occupants accounted for 485 deaths in 2024, compared with 1,979 pedestrians and cyclists. The pedestrian and cyclist total declined 6.6% from 2023 and 10.4% from the 2022 peak, but it remained 9.5% higher than in 2020.
New Mexico Had the Highest Population-Adjusted Rate
New Mexico recorded the highest five-year pedestrian and cyclist hit-and-run death rate among states. Louisiana ranked second, while the District of Columbia ranked third among all jurisdictions.
New Mexico recorded 154 pedestrian and cyclist deaths, equal to an annualized rate of 1.453 per 100,000 residents. Louisiana followed at 1.171 and D.C. at 1.086. Arizona ranked fourth at 0.962, followed by California at 0.918, Nevada at 0.917, Tennessee at 0.880, Florida at 0.860, Mississippi at 0.842, and Texas at 0.772.
The close overlap with the overall index is notable. Nine of the 10 jurisdictions with the highest overall fatal hit-and-run burden also appeared in the top 10 for the pedestrian and cyclist death rate. Mississippi replaced Delaware in the road-user ranking.
California and Texas Had the Largest Totals
California recorded 1,804 pedestrian and cyclist deaths in fatal hit-and-run crashes from 2020 through 2024. Texas followed with 1,166 deaths, while Florida recorded 964.
The difference between raw totals and population-adjusted rates again demonstrates why both measurements are important when comparing states.
Among states with at least 100 five-year hit-and-run deaths, Mississippi recorded the largest pedestrian and cyclist share at 81.6%. New Jersey followed at 78.6%, South Carolina at 78.2%, Louisiana at 78.0%, and New Mexico at 77.8%. These percentages describe the makeup of fatal hit-and-run deaths within each state, not the share of all pedestrian or cyclist crashes.
A separate AAA Foundation analysis approached the question from the other direction. It found that roughly one in four pedestrian deaths and nearly one in four cyclist deaths in 2023 occurred in hit-and-run crashes. That measure starts with all pedestrian or cyclist deaths, so it should not be confused with their 71.8% share of people killed in fatal hit-and-run crashes.
Houston’s Pedestrian and Cyclist Burden Exceeds the National Average
Pedestrians and cyclists accounted for 76.0% of fatal hit-and-run deaths in the Houston metro area in 2024. That was 4.2 percentage points higher than the national share of 71.8%.
In Harris County, pedestrians and cyclists accounted for 72 of the 94 people killed in fatal hit-and-run crashes in 2024. Together, they represented 76.6% of the county’s fatal hit-and-run deaths.
Within Houston city limits, 49 of the 63 people killed in fatal hit-and-run crashes in 2024 were pedestrians or cyclists. That represented 77.8% of the city’s fatal hit-and-run deaths, or 6 percentage points above the national share.
The comparison becomes progressively steeper from the national level to the city: 71.8% nationwide, 72.6% across Texas, 76.0% in the Houston metro area, 76.6% in Harris County, and 77.8% within Houston city limits. The figures reinforce that people walking and cycling carried an especially large share of the local toll.
After Dark and in the City: The Pattern Behind Fatal Hit-and-Runs
Nearly Four in Five Fatal Hit-and-Run Deaths Occurred in Darkness
Darkness was a recurring condition in fatal hit-and-run crashes recorded in 2024.
A total of 2,176 people, or 78.9% of all hit-and-run deaths that year, were killed in crashes occurring under dark conditions. By comparison, 473 deaths occurred in daylight.
Dark-condition deaths outnumbered daylight deaths by approximately 4.6 to one.
Evening Hours Recorded the Largest Share
The four-hour period from 7 p.m. through 10:59 p.m. accounted for the largest share of fatal hit-and-run deaths in 2024. A total of 856 deaths, or 31.0% of the annual total, occurred during those hours.
The period from 11 p.m. through 2:59 a.m. accounted for another 792 deaths, or 28.7%.
Together, those eight hours accounted for nearly 60% of all fatal hit-and-run deaths.
The Risk Continued Into the Early Morning
When the overnight period was extended through 6:59 a.m., the total number of deaths rose to 2,098. That represented 76.1% of all fatal hit-and-run deaths in 2024.
The 3 a.m. through 6:59 a.m. period alone accounted for 450 deaths, or 16.3% of the annual total. Taken together, the timing data show that the elevated burden continued well beyond the late evening.
The data show a recurring timing pattern, although they do not establish that darkness or a particular time of day causes a driver to flee.
Urban Roads Accounted for More Than Eight in Ten Deaths
Beyond darkness, another common factor in a majority of hit-and-run fatalities was urban roads.
Urban roads accounted for 2,331 fatal hit-and-run deaths in 2024. That represented 84.5% of the national total. Rural roads accounted for 396 deaths, or 14.4%. The urban death count was nearly six times greater than the rural total.
Separate research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that hit-and-runs accounted for 16.4% of all traffic deaths in cities with populations exceeding 500,000, compared with 2.2% in rural areas. AAA also found more than six times as many hit-and-run deaths in the most socially vulnerable fifth of ZIP codes as in the least vulnerable fifth.
These findings identify geographic patterns but do not establish why individual drivers leave the scene of a crash.
Light Trucks, Vans, and SUVs Were the Most Common Known Category
Among fleeing vehicles recorded in fatal hit-and-run crashes during 2024, light trucks, vans, and SUVs accounted for 855 vehicles, or 30.8% of the total. Passenger cars were a close second, accounting for 804 vehicles, or 28.9%.
Among fleeing vehicles with a known standard body type, 93.0% were either passenger cars or light trucks, vans, and SUVs. Large and medium trucks accounted for 105 recorded vehicles. Motorcycles and buses accounted for relatively small shares. A substantial number of fleeing vehicles were classified as other or unknown.
Light trucks, vans, and SUVs appeared 6.3% more often in the records than passenger cars, but that difference is only a count comparison. The data do not show how many of each vehicle type were on the road, so they cannot establish that drivers of one vehicle type were more likely to flee.
The figures show the types of vehicles recorded in the data. They do not establish that one type of vehicle or its driver is more likely to flee than another.
What Identified-Driver Records Show
AAA’s separate analysis of drivers who were identified found that 78.3% were men and 71.4% were ages 18 through 44. About 40% did not have a valid license, and nearly three in five were driving a vehicle they did not own.
Those findings apply only to known drivers. Information was unavailable for 53% of fleeing drivers, so the profile may not represent the people who were never identified. More than 70% of known-driver crashes occurred within 10 miles of the driver’s home ZIP code, and nearly 85% occurred within 25 miles.
Texas is No. 10, but Houston Faces a Much Steeper Local Burden
Texas ranked No. 10 overall in the national index, with a score of 75.9.
From 2020 through 2024, 1,695 people were killed in fatal hit-and-run crashes in the state. That represented 12.0% of the national five-year total.
Texas recorded the second-highest raw death total. Only California recorded more deaths during the study period.
Houston Accounts for a Disproportionate Share of Texas Deaths
The Houston metro area recorded 539 fatal hit-and-run deaths from 2020 through 2024. These deaths accounted for 13.4% of all traffic deaths in the metro area. Statewide, fatal hit-and-run deaths represented 8.0% of all traffic deaths.
Texas and Houston burden comparison
Harris County recorded 464 fatal hit-and-run deaths during the five-year study period. That represented 86.1% of all fatal hit-and-run deaths in the Houston metro area. Hit-and-runs accounted for 16.9% of all traffic deaths in Harris County.
Within Houston city limits, 286 people were killed in fatal hit-and-run crashes from 2020 through 2024. Those deaths accounted for 18.1% of all traffic deaths within the city. The share was more than twice the statewide rate.
Houston’s 2024 Death Rate Was Nearly 32% Higher Than the Texas Rate
In 2024, the Houston metro area’s fatal hit-and-run death rate was 1.334 per 100,000 residents. That was 31.7% higher than Texas’s rate of 1.013.
It was also 64.5% higher than the national rate of 0.811.
Harris County’s rate was higher still at 1.877 deaths per 100,000 residents. The rate comparison gives scale to the local burden, while the five-year totals show that it was not the result of a single isolated year.
Houston Accounted for More Deaths Than Its Population Share
The Houston metro area held 24.9% of Texas’s population in 2024. However, it accounted for 32.8% of the state’s fatal hit-and-run deaths.
Harris County accounted for 94 of the metro area’s 104 deaths that year, or 90.4% of the total, despite holding about 64% of the metro population.
Houston City Limits Moved Against the Broader Trend
Texas and the Houston metro area both recorded fewer fatal hit-and-run deaths in 2024 than in 2023. Houston city limits did not. Deaths within the city increased from 58 in 2023 to 63 in 2024, an increase of 8.6%.
Compared with 2020, the 2024 death total increased 10.6% across the Houston metro area, 17.5% in Harris County, and 61.5% within Houston city limits.
The local results, therefore, diverged from the statewide trend. Texas deaths fell 4.5% between 2020 and 2024, but Houston-area totals rose, with the sharpest increase recorded within the city limits.
Houston Ranked Ninth Among 50 Large Urban Areas in a Separate AAA Foundation Analysis
A separate AAA Foundation analysis ranked the Houston large urban area ninth among 50 large urban areas based on the share of traffic deaths occurring in hit-and-run crashes. The AAA analysis covered the period from 2017 through 2023. Hit-and-runs accounted for 15.4% of all traffic deaths within AAA’s Houston geography.
Among pedestrians and cyclists killed in the AAA-defined Houston large urban area during the study period, 34.0% died in hit-and-run crashes. The corresponding shares were 9.0% for motorcyclists and 5.5% for vehicle occupants.
AAA’s large urban area geography is not identical to the Houston metro area, Harris County, or the Houston city limits. The figures, therefore, measure different geographic areas and time periods.
What Texas Drivers Should Know About Uninsured Motorist Coverage
The Texas Department of Insurance reported in March 2025 that more than 2.4 million state-registered vehicles were not matched to an insurance policy. That represented approximately 12% of registered vehicles in the state. The available data do not show that uninsured drivers are more likely to flee after a crash.
Texas insurance companies must offer uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage. A policyholder who does not want the coverage must reject it in writing.
When a driver leaves the scene and cannot be identified or found, uninsured motorist coverage may apply, depending on the policy and circumstances. The coverage may help with vehicle repairs, damaged property inside the vehicle, rental expenses, medical bills, pain and suffering, and loss of vehicle value. Texas UM/UIM property-damage coverage carries a $250 deductible.
The National Trend is Improving, but Houston’s Numbers Show a Continuing Local Challenge
Fatal hit-and-run deaths have declined from their 2022 peak, but the national total remains above 2020 levels. The burden is also not evenly distributed across the country.
According to Attorney Brian White:
“While the decline after 2022 is encouraging, the 2024 national total remained above 2020, and several states recorded substantial increases. Houston also requires a closer look: the metro area’s 2024 rate exceeded state and national benchmarks, while deaths within city limits rose even as Texas and the broader metro improved from 2023.”
For Houston, the findings point to a more concentrated local problem. The Houston metro area’s 2024 fatal hit-and-run death rate exceeded both the Texas and national rates, while Harris County and Houston city limits accounted for an especially large share of local traffic deaths involving hit-and-run crashes.
The findings also point to practical prevention priorities. Better visibility, safer crossings, adequate lighting, and lower urban speeds can help protect pedestrians and cyclists, who account for most fatal hit-and-run victims. Drivers should remain at the scene, call for emergency help, and provide the information required after a crash.
For Houston families affected by fatal hit-and-run crashes, the experienced Houston fatal accident lawyers at Attorney Brian White Personal Injury Lawyers can support you as you pursue financial compensation to help you move forward.
Methodology
This analysis used NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System records and U.S. Census Bureau population estimates for 2020 through 2024. A fatal crash was counted when at least one moving vehicle was recorded as hit-and-run, and the crash resulted in a death within 30 days on a public road. The index covers all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The composite score weights the five-year fatal hit-and-run crash rate at 30%, the five-year death rate at 25%, the five-year pedestrian and cyclist death rate at 25%, hit-and-run deaths as a share of all traffic deaths at 10%, and the change in the annual death rate from 2020 to 2024 at 10%. Each measure was converted to a 0-to-100 score across the 51 jurisdictions before the weighted scores were combined.
The analysis covers fatal crashes, not every property-damage or injury-only hit-and-run. Small-state and small-area rates can change sharply when only a few deaths are added or removed. NHTSA’s 2024 Annual Report File remains subject to revision until the final file is released. AAA driver-profile findings apply only to identified drivers, and the Houston geographies used by NHTSA, the Census Bureau, and AAA should not be treated as interchangeable.