Walking should be one of the safest ways to get around a city. But pedestrians in many U.S. cities die in traffic crashes at high rates, even as vehicle safety improves. We analyzed pedestrian fatalities from 2020 through 2023 using newly released federal data to identify the most dangerous cities for pedestrians and where safety improved.
Pedestrian deaths stayed high from 2020 to 2023, with several cities seeing sharp increases. Many fast-growing cities got more dangerous for pedestrians. The danger is structural, not temporary.

