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Trucking Safety by State: All 50 States Ranked

By CarrierRecord Team · February 2026 · 8 min read

Trucking safety varies dramatically across the United States. We analyzed FMCSA records for 3,964,802 active carriers to rank all 50 states by crash frequency, out-of-service rates, and the concentration of poorly graded carriers.

50 States Ranked
259,853 Total Crashes
8,084,683 Inspections

The States with the Most Trucking Crashes

The top three states by total crash count are Texas (24,694 crashes), California (21,428), and Illinois (18,636). These states also have the largest populations of registered carriers, so higher raw crash totals are expected.

To get a more accurate picture, we also look at the average vehicle OOS rate and the number of F-graded carriers per state — indicators that account for fleet size.

All 50 States Ranked by Crashes

# State Active Carriers Crashes Fatal F-Graded Avg OOS
1 Texas 330,814 24,694 789 989 75.4%
2 California 461,796 21,428 531 600 50.8%
3 Illinois 111,141 18,636 464 118 46.2%
4 Georgia 191,781 12,932 286 311 80.2%
5 Ohio 103,554 12,796 308 103 53.6%
6 Pennsylvania 147,277 12,698 263 162 65.9%
7 Florida 251,065 12,420 323 347 76.7%
8 Michigan 116,562 9,731 209 77 77.7%
9 Tennessee 66,808 9,615 259 65 63.2%
10 North Carolina 116,634 8,456 266 189 58.8%
11 Indiana 98,107 7,802 173 99 62.6%
12 New Jersey 110,733 7,678 119 208 69.1%
13 Missouri 63,098 6,641 196 69 73.1%
14 Arkansas 33,414 6,001 195 26 62.0%
15 Wisconsin 95,961 5,749 143 26 85.9%
16 New York 188,348 5,041 128 119 104.3%
17 Virginia 61,265 4,957 102 74 70.5%
18 Minnesota 110,081 4,728 132 50 87.7%
19 Alabama 68,008 4,533 124 88 74.1%
20 Iowa 51,356 4,417 123 26 64.6%
21 Arizona 53,094 4,405 172 73 67.2%
22 Washington 79,696 3,579 111 63 72.4%
23 Maryland 86,586 3,425 66 126 77.3%
24 South Carolina 52,850 3,221 92 116 72.0%
25 Oklahoma 51,783 3,058 115 48 70.3%
26 Kentucky 75,012 3,024 77 43 81.5%
27 Massachusetts 71,902 2,915 47 62 71.4%
28 Nebraska 48,121 2,845 85 13 83.4%
29 Colorado 74,278 2,558 79 59 85.9%
30 Mississippi 39,817 2,533 73 50 63.6%
31 Kansas 40,814 2,399 65 29 75.8%
32 ON 23,373 2,121 44 3 30.4%
33 Oregon 48,330 2,080 65 38 76.3%
34 Louisiana 37,190 1,990 58 30 61.7%
35 Utah 38,479 1,816 76 37 91.8%
36 Connecticut 43,407 1,622 22 40 92.7%
37 Idaho 26,534 1,278 51 16 82.1%
38 Maine 24,050 1,015 33 10 64.4%
39 Nevada 23,430 938 34 32 59.3%
40 North Dakota 15,556 807 32 11 76.8%
41 New Mexico 22,393 649 35 27 79.5%
42 South Dakota 15,044 636 28 5 54.7%
43 Delaware 13,078 604 12 13 62.2%
44 West Virginia 27,437 568 7 5 53.6%
45 Montana 19,250 497 25 9 71.5%
46 New Hampshire 17,996 484 10 8 69.4%
47 BC 6,546 463 13 0 25.2%
48 Rhode Island 13,193 445 8 4 74.0%
49 AB 7,553 430 17 2 28.5%
50 QC 11,692 419 10 0 29.5%

Key Takeaways

Texas and California lead in total crashes, but that reflects their massive carrier populations. Texas alone has 330,814 active carriers.

States in the Southeast — Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas — tend to have higher average vehicle OOS rates, suggesting more frequent mechanical safety failures at roadside inspections.

The national average vehicle out-of-service rate is 23.2%. States above this average may have weaker enforcement or a higher concentration of poorly maintained fleets.

How to Use This Data

Click on any state in the table above to view that state's full CarrierRecord profile, including the top carriers, cities, and aggregate safety metrics. You can also search for any individual carrier to see their complete inspection and crash history.

Data sourced from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation. All records are public domain. Safety grades are calculated using CarrierRecord's weighted scoring methodology.

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