Driving in the United States can be a vastly different experience, depending on where you live. From the smooth highways of Massachusetts to the challenging roads of Mississippi, each state has its own unique blend of costs, risks, and road conditions.
Our analysis of the best and worst states for driving in 2025 explored various factors, from fatalities and uninsured motorists to car ownership costs and commute times.
The results reveal stark contrasts: Massachusetts’s low accident rates and manageable costs make it the best state for drivers. In contrast, Mississippi’s high number of fatalities and uninsured drivers place it at the bottom of the list. But what lies behind these rankings, and how do other states stack up?
Let’s examine the data to uncover where driving is easy and challenging.
- Low fatality rates and fewer uninsured drivers drove performance in states like Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New Hampshire.
- High fatality rates, significant uninsured motorist rates, and expensive premiums determined the worst states for driving.
Which states offer their residents the best driving experiences?
Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Alaska were the top three states in 2025. Below are a few reasons these states topped our list of the best states for U.S. drivers.
- Massachusetts: Ranked first with notable strengths:
- Low deaths per 100K population
- Lowest deaths per 100M vehicle miles traveled
- Moderate car ownership costs
- Minnesota: Second place with a balanced score, including:
- A relatively low number of uninsured motorists at 8.7%
- Low driving costs and commute times
- Alaska: Ranked third due to affordable five-year ownership cost ($19,391) and low insurance rates
Which states have the best drivers?
When it comes to the best states for U.S. drivers in 2025, a few factors drove rankings among states:
- Low fatality rates (e.g., Massachusetts, Minnesota)
- Lower number of uninsured drivers (e.g., New Hampshire)
- States with moderate insurance premiums and five-year costs
CarInsurance.com regularly conducts research on the best and worst states for driving, with previous analyses published in 2022, 2021, 2019, and 2018. Historically, Utah and Minnesota have ranked among the top states for driving.
Here are the best states for drivers in 2025:
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Alaska
- New Hampshire
- Hawaii
- Maine
- Utah
- Iowa
- Vermont
- New Jersey
- Nebraska
- Idaho
- North Dakota
- Pennsylvania
- New York
- Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Ohio
- Kansas
- Rhode Island
- Connecticut
- Oregon
- Maryland
- Indiana
- Illinois
The worst U.S. states for drivers in 2025
The worst three states for driving are Mississippi, Louisiana, and New Mexico.
- Mississippi: Ranked worst (50th), with:
- High deaths per 100K pop: 23.9
- High number of uninsured motorists
- Louisiana: Ranked 49th due to:
- High insurance premiums in the nation at $2,883
- Poor driving conditions
- New Mexico: Ranked 48th due to:
- A large number of uninsured motorists: 24.9%
- A high fatality rate per 100M vehicle miles traveled
When it comes to the worst states for U.S. drivers in 2025, some common factors drove low performance:
- High fatality rates reflect dangerous driving conditions
- A high rate – above 15% – of uninsured drivers
- Expensive car insurance, especially in Louisiana and New Mexico
“Average automobile insurance premiums vary by state due to population density, quality of infrastructure, the legal environment, fraud, and state regulatory system, just to name a handful of factors,” says David C. Marlett, managing director of the Brantley Risk and Insurance Center at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. “The insurance market is highly competitive, and insurers must accurately base their premium on the exposure subject to state regulations.”
Which states have the worst drivers?
This is the first year of our survey where California hasn’t been ranked lowest for driving scores in the U.S. This year, that dubious distinction belongs to Mississippi, followed by Louisiana, New Mexico, Arkansas, and South Carolina.
Here are the worst states for drivers in 2025:
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- New Mexico
- Arkansas
- South Carolina
- Florida
- Kentucky
- Tennessee
- Arizona
- Georgia
- Missouri
- California
- Alabama
- Texas
- Oklahoma
- Wyoming
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Montana
- West Virginia
- Nevada
- Michigan
- North Carolina
- South Dakota
- Washington
Guide to the nation’s cheapest auto insurance coverage
How were the states ranked?
Our team of data analysts ranked the states based on the following: median household income, deaths per 100K population, deaths per 100M vehicle miles traveled (VMT), mean commute time, percentage of uninsured motorists, Insurance.com’s five-year cost to own a vehicle, state sales tax rate, auto insurance premiums, gasoline cost, vehicle repair costs, crash costs, state population, and road conditions. See a more detailed methodology below.
Check out our detailed guide: How to estimate your car insurance costs
Bottom line
Ultimately, expensive auto insurance rates, higher traffic fatalities, and fewer insured drivers lead to worse driving conditions for everyone.
Resources & Methodology
Sources
- IIHS. “Fatality Facts 2022.” Accessed January 2025.
- Insurance Information Institute. “Facts + Statistics: Uninsured motorists.” Accessed .
- TRIP. “Addressing America’s Traffic Safety Crisis – July 2024.” Accessed January 2025.
- U.S. Census Bureau. “Household Income in States and Metropolitan Areas: 2022.” Accessed January 2025.
- U.S. Census Bureau. “State Population Totals and Components of Change: 2020-2024.” Accessed January 2025.
Methodology
Metrics, data sources and weights
Our analysis examines each U.S. state across multiple factors related to safety, affordability and infrastructure. The data points and their sources include:
- Median household income (5%)
- Indicates local economic context
- Common source: U.S. Census Bureau
- Motor vehicle crash deaths per 100,000 population (20%)
- Reflects the general per-capita fatality risk on the roads
- Common source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)
- Motor vehicle crash deaths per 100 million VMT (20%)
- Accounts for fatalities relative to the total amount of driving
- Common source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
- Mean travel time to work in minutes (10%)
- Indicates commuter burden and potential congestion
- Common source: U.S. Census Bureau, S0801
- Percentage of uninsured motorists (10%)
- Signals financial risk on the road and potential burden on insured drivers
- Common source: Insurance Information Institute (III)
- Five-year cost to own a car (25%)
- Aggregates sales tax, insurance, fuel, repairs and road-condition costs over five years
- Common source: Insurance.com
- Total crash cost per resident (10%)
- Derived from dividing a state’s total crash costs (in billions) by population
- Common source for crash costs: TRIP
- Population by state: U.S. Census Bureau
Normalization
Because each metric uses different units (e.g., dollars, percentages, time, fatality rates), we convert them all to a scale from 0 to 1—where 0 indicates the worst performance and 1 indicates the best.
- If lower is better (e.g., fatality rates or costs), a state with a very low value gets a score closer to 1, while a state with a high value gets a score closer to 0
- If higher is better (e.g., median income), the state with the highest income gets a score near 1, and the one with the lowest income gets a score near 0
This min-max normalization allows us to fairly combine all metrics, regardless of their original scales.
Ranking and interpretation
Each state’s final score is then ranked in descending order, from highest to lowest. The states with the highest scores (the best states for driving) are considered to have:
- Lower fatality rates and uninsured percentages
- Lower multi-year ownership and crash costs
- Shorter commute times
- Higher median household incomes
Meanwhile, states with the lowest scores (the worst states for driving) have higher fatality rates, longer commutes and greater costs, among other disadvantages.
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Laura Longero
Executive Editor
Laura Longero is an insurance expert and Executive Editor at CarInsurance.com, where she specializes in helping consumers navigate the complexities of the financial and insurance industries. She has 15 years of experience educating people about finance and car insurance. Prior to joining CarInsurance.com, she worked as a reporter and editor at the USA Today Network. Her expertise provides readers with practical guidance, helping them make informed choices about their financial and insurance needs.
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Leslie Kasperowicz
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Leslie Kasperowicz is an insurance educator and content creation professional with nearly two decades of experience first directly in the insurance industry at Farmers Insurance and then as a writer, researcher, and educator for insurance shoppers writing for sites like ExpertInsuranceReviews.com and InsuranceHotline.com and managing content, now at CarInsurance.com.
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Managing Editor
Nupur Gambhir is a content editor and licensed life, health, and disability insurance expert. She has extensive experience bringing brands to life and has built award-nominated campaigns for travel and tech. Her insurance expertise has been featured in Bloomberg News, Forbes Advisor, CNET, Fortune, Slate, Real Simple, Lifehacker, The Financial Gym, and the end-of-life planning service.