States where you are most likely to hit an animal

Michael Tatman // Shutterstock Your odds of being killed by an animal in the U.S. are incredibly low. An academic analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data covering all animal-involved deaths from 2008 to 2015 found that Americans have a 1 in 1.6 million chance of dying yearly due to animal interaction. The most common culprits when those tragedies occur aren’t the alligators, scorpions, or snakes you may expect and fear the most–they’re deer. As people continue to build homes and communities where deer and other animals have lived for millennia, these creatures are more likely to run into the middle of the road. They caused about 1.8 million vehicular accidents over the 12 months ending in June 2023. Accidents involving deer are more common between October and December, which is deer mating season. The odds of hitting a deer are higher around dawn and during the night when deer are most active and roads are dark. Deer-vehicle crashes are dangerous and expensive, costing drivers north of $4,000 or more depending on the vehicle and the extent of the damage. Stacker used State Farm’s annual animal collision study to rank all 50 states and Washington D.C. by the chance a driver there will hit an animal. State Farm based its rankings on claims filed between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, and the number of licensed drivers in each state. State Farm’s claims analysis also found that the 2022-2023 period was safer for drivers and animals on the road than the year prior, with animal-involved collision claims dropping by about 100,000. The odds that a driver collided with any animal on the road and resulted in a claim was about 1 in 127 over the year. The four victims other than deer rounding out the top five of car-animal collisions were rodents, dogs, raccoons, and unidentified animals. It may come as no surprise that the more rural areas of Appalachia and the Midwest had some of the highest car-animal crash odds in the country, while the desert Southwest had some of the lowest. Are you curious to see if your state topped the list? Read on on to find out–and remember always to keep your eyes on the road, no matter the odds. #51. Washington DC StillRude // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal, resulting in a claim: 1 in 977 – Risk level: Low #50. Nevada Brester Irina // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 770 – Risk level: Low #49. Hawaii John Drew Dow // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 710 – Risk level: Low #48. Alaska Troutnut // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 522 – Risk level: Low #47. Arizona Mattia Cioni // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 508 – Risk level: Low #46. Florida Tony Campbell // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 487 – Risk level: Low #45. California M. Vinuesa // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 388 – Risk level: Low #44. Washington knelson20 // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 286 – Risk level: Low #43. Connecticut Jennifer Yakey-Ault // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 267 – Risk level: Low #42. New Mexico Joseph Sohm // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 262 – Risk level: Low #41. Colorado LanaG // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 240 – Risk level: Low #40. New Jersey EQRoy // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 213 – Risk level: Low #39. Utah Logan Bush // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 205 – Risk level: Low #38. Oregon Natalia Bratslavsky // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 197 – Risk level: Low #37. Louisiana mark smith nsb // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 193 – Risk level: Low #36. Texas Henryk Sadura // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 191 – Risk level: Low #35. New Hampshire LMortell // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 169 – Risk level: Low #34. Illinois A.E. Blair Photography // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 152 – Risk level: Medium #33. Delaware VIKVAD // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 148 – Risk level: Medium #32. New York Andrea Izzotti // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 144 – Risk level: Medium #31. Idaho Arne Beruldsen // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 136 – Risk level: Medium #30. Nebraska Amanda Schell // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 127 – Risk level: Medium #29. Oklahoma ken1979 // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 119 – Risk level: Medium #28. Maryland kathleen collins // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 116 – Risk level: Medium #27. Vermont Joseph Sohm // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 110 – Risk level: Medium #26. Massachusetts flysnowfly // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 109 – Risk level: Medium #25. Georgia Charles F. Gibson // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 108 – Risk level: Medium #24. Tennessee Carolyn Franks // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 107 – Risk level: Medium #23. Indiana AlyoshinE // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 100 – Risk level: Medium #22. Ohio Eric Glenn // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 97 – Risk level: Medium #21. Rhode Island Canva – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 96 – Risk level: Medium #20. Kansas Photo Spirit // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 96 – Risk level: Medium #19. Alabama Bradley Huchteman // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 93 – Risk level: Medium #18. Kentucky Michele Korfhage // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 91 – Risk level: Medium #17. Arkansas Lorri Carter // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 88 – Risk level: High #16. North Carolina Tyler Miller // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 87 – Risk level: High #15. Maine MH Anderson Photography // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 83 – Risk level: High #14. South Carolina David McManus // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 83 – Risk level: High #13. Wyoming Fotos593 // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 83 – Risk level: High #12. North Dakota Bram Reusen // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 82 – Risk level: High #11. Minnesota BlueBarronPhoto // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 81 – Risk level: High #10. Missouri LanaG // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 80 – Risk level: High #9. Virginia Kristi Blokhin // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 78 – Risk level: High #8. South Dakota Tami Freed // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 69 – Risk level: High #7. Mississippi Canva – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 64 – Risk level: High #6. Iowa Bella Bender // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 63 – Risk level: High #5. Wisconsin Michael Tatman // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 60 – Risk level: High #4. Michigan StompingGirl // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 60 – Risk level: High #3. Pennsylvania Rosemarie Mosteller // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 59 – Risk level: High #2. Montana EQRoy // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 53 – Risk level: High #1. West Virginia DSBurnside // Shutterstock – Chances of hitting an animal: 1 in 38 – Risk level: High Data work by Emma Rubin.