NHTSA FARS · 2019–2023 final files

Texas fatal crashes

Five years of fatal crash counts, deaths and road-user involvement, compiled from federal crash records.

Data edition: 2019–2023 · Imported

Fatal crashes and deaths, 2019–2023

Line chart of Texas fatal crashes and deaths, 2019–2023, with a zero-based count axis. 2019: 3,296 fatal crashes and 3,619 deaths; 2020: 3,522 fatal crashes and 3,876 deaths; 2021: 4,070 fatal crashes and 4,500 deaths; 2022: 3,966 fatal crashes and 4,408 deaths; 2023: 3,877 fatal crashes and 4,294 deaths. Source: NHTSA FARS final files.
Exact annual counts from NHTSA FARS final files. Counts describe crashes occurring in Texas, rather than the residence of those involved. The table below also provides every chart value.

Three findings from the records

  • Texas recorded 3,877 fatal crashes and 4,294 deaths in 2023.
  • Deaths in 2023 minus deaths in 2019: +675 (4,294 − 3,619).
  • Across 2019–2023, Texas recorded 18,731 fatal crashes and 20,697 deaths.

Annual counts and involvement shares

Each share is an exact fraction of that year's fatal crashes. A crash involving more than one category appears in each applicable column; the shares do not add to 100%.

Texas annual fatal crashes, deaths and exact involvement shares
YearFatal crashesDeathsLarge truck shareMotorcycle sharePedestrian share
20193,2963,619579 of 3,296410 of 3,296644 of 3,296
20203,5223,876568 of 3,522475 of 3,522689 of 3,522
20214,0704,500717 of 4,070522 of 4,070812 of 4,070
20223,9664,408691 of 3,966558 of 3,966792 of 3,966
20233,8774,294640 of 3,877590 of 3,877794 of 3,877

Motorcyclist deaths, 2023

This section counts FARS PERSON records for killed motorcycle operators/riders and passengers, using motorcycle body-type codes in the same final files. Helmet unknown includes unknown, not-reported and not-applicable helmet-use codes.

Texas motorcyclist deaths in 2023 by helmet use, time of day and crash type
MeasureDeaths
Motorcyclist deaths598
Helmet used345
Helmet not used235
Helmet unknown18
Midnight-5:59 a.m.91
6:00-11:59 a.m.94
Noon-5:59 p.m.182
6:00-11:59 p.m.231
Time unknown0
Single-vehicle crash226
Multi-vehicle crash372
Vehicle count unknown0
National motorcycle table

Road function classes, 2023

All recorded classes, ordered by fatal crash count. Unknown and not-reported classes are retained. These counts have no road-mileage or traffic-volume denominator.

Texas fatal crashes by road function class in 2023
NHTSA road function classFatal crashes
Other Principal Arterial (3)1,154
Minor Arterial (4)838
Major Collector (5)804
Interstate (1)533
Local (7)266
Other Freeways and Expressways (2)226
Minor Collector (6)48
Trafficway Not in State Inventory (96)5
Not Reported (98)3

Top counties by fatal crash count, 2023

Up to ten recorded counties or county equivalents, ranked by fatal crashes, with county code breaking ties. Not-applicable, other, not-reported and unknown county entries are excluded from this ranking. County counts are not adjusted for population or vehicle miles traveled.

Texas top ten counties or county equivalents by fatal crashes in 2023
County or county equivalentFARS county codeFatal crashesDeaths
HARRIS (201)201505537
DALLAS (113)113316336
BEXAR (29)29206213
TARRANT (439)439204217
TRAVIS (453)453148159
EL PASO (141)14190101
HIDALGO (215)2157484
SMITH (423)4236472
COLLIN (85)856162
MONTGOMERY (339)3396064

Methodology, definitions and limits

2019–2023 are the latest five final FARS years. The official 2024 national CSV ZIP exists, but NHTSA’s April 2026 manual and research note identify 2024 as the Annual Report File (ARF), subject to revision, and 2023 as Final. This compilation therefore excludes 2024. See NHTSA's April 2026 release note for the final-file and Annual Report File distinction.

NHTSA defines a qualifying FARS crash as involving a motor vehicle on a trafficway customarily open to the public and a vehicle occupant or nonoccupant who dies within 30 days of the crash. FARS is a census of qualifying fatal crashes, not an estimate of all crashes or injuries.

Each ACCIDENT.csv record is one fatal crash; deaths are the sum of its FATALS field. Involvement uses NHTSA's official ACC_AUX.CSV crash flags: A_LT for large trucks, A_MC for motorcycles and A_PED for pedestrians. A value of 1 means yes. The auxiliary and accident files are joined by STATE and ST_CASE, so each crash counts once per category. A person or vehicle need not have died for its involvement to count. Involvement does not establish fault or causation.

NHTSA defines large trucks as commercial or noncommercial trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating over 10,000 pounds. Motorcycles include motorcycles, motor scooters and mopeds within NHTSA's classification; pedestrian involvement uses NHTSA's pedestrian flag. Vehicle classification began using vPIC in 2020, and NHTSA cautions that these vehicle-type counts are not comparable with 2019 and earlier. Beginning in 2022, motorized bicycles were classified as pedalcycles rather than motorcycles; crashes involving only motorized bicycles are no longer included in FARS. These changes affect involvement comparisons across years.

The motorcycle section counts killed motorcycle operators/riders and passengers from PERSON.csv, using INJ_SEV, PER_TYP, BODY_TYP, HELM_USE, HOUR and VE_FORMS in the same final-file records. Alcohol involvement is omitted from this edition because NHTSA's alcohol-impaired-driving measure uses BAC values reported to FARS and BAC values imputed when test results are unknown; this compilation does not impute missing BAC values.

The national total includes the 50 states and District of Columbia, and excludes Puerto Rico. Road classes use FUNC_SYS in ACCIDENT.csv; county names and codes use COUNTYNAME and COUNTY. Road and county tables cover 2023; county tables are limited to ten records per state. Downloads retain these same scopes.

Shares divide the distinct involved-crash count by all fatal crashes in the same geography and year. We publish the numerator and denominator without percentage rounding. A death difference subtracts the first year from the last; five-year totals sum the annual counts. No adjustments, estimates or forecasts are added.

Vehicle miles traveled are not supplied in these imported FARS CSV files, so this edition does not report deaths per 100 million VMT. Counts alone do not compare exposure or establish which state, county or road class has a greater crash risk.

People's Justice is a legal-information publisher, not a law firm. Review our publishing methodology or request a correction.

Official definitions and source files

Cite this · free to republish with credit

The chart and People's Justice compilation of public data are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Credit NHTSA as the original source and People's Justice for the compilation; link this page and identify any changes. This license does not imply NHTSA endorsement.

People's Justice. Texas fatal crashes, 2019–2023. Compilation imported 2026-10-07. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System, final national CSV files. https://peoplesjustice.info/data/fatal-crashes/texas. Compilation licensed CC BY 4.0.
All state records