AZ Law Now · Data Report · America's biggest counties, 2020-2024
Phoenix's Motorcycle Toll
We ranked America's 12 most populous counties by how fast they lose motorcyclists. Maricopa County, the heart of metro Phoenix, came out first, ahead of Las Vegas and more than three times Chicago. Here is the rate, how it has climbed, and where the crashes fall across the valley.
motorcyclists killed in Maricopa County, 2020 to 2024.
#1 of America's 12 most populous counties · 12.48 deaths per 100,000
Among the biggest counties in the country, none is deadlier to ride a motorcycle than metro Phoenix. We measured it ourselves, from the federal fatality record, finding by finding, with every number you can copy and use.
Computed · per-capita rate
No big county loses riders faster, not even Las Vegas
12.48 motorcyclist deaths per 100,000 residents, the highest of America’s 12 most populous counties
We ranked America's 12 most populous counties by their motorcyclist death rate over five years. Maricopa County, the heart of metro Phoenix, came out first.
From 2020 through 2024, 569 motorcyclists were killed here, a rate of 12.48 deaths per 100,000 residents. That edges Las Vegas, at 11.68, and runs more than three times the rate in Chicago.
Los Angeles recorded more motorcyclist deaths in raw numbers, 580. But it ranks tenth here, at 5.91, because its population is more than twice as large.
The universe is stated on purpose. "The 12 most populous counties" is a transparent, rule-based set, drawn straight from Census population, not a list we hand-picked to put Phoenix on top.
The finding does not depend on where we drew the line. Widen the field to every US county above 1.5 million residents and Maricopa is still first, with Tampa's Hillsborough County the closest challenger.
Two honest caveats travel with the number. This is Maricopa County, a stand-in for the Phoenix metro, not the city limits. And the rate is a five-year cumulative count, so it reads about five times higher than a single-year rate would.
Computed · rate by 5-year window
And the toll is climbing
+41% rise in Maricopa’s motorcyclist death rate across the decade, 8.86 to 12.48 per 100,000
This is not a flat line that Phoenix happens to sit on top of. Maricopa's motorcyclist death rate has climbed across the decade, from 8.86 per 100,000 in 2010-2014, to 9.89 in 2015-2019, to 12.48 in 2020-2024, a 41 percent rise.
The yearly counts tell the same story. They climbed from 49 motorcyclists killed in 2010 to a peak of 153 in 2023.
It echoes a pattern we found on foot. Our 25-year pedestrian analysis shows Arizona's pedestrian toll bending sharply upward after 2014, and the motorcyclist line bends the same way over the same years.
Whatever changed on these roads in the last decade, the people most exposed to it, on two wheels or on foot, are the ones paying.
Computed · crash locations
The danger is everywhere, not one corner
552 fatal motorcycle crash sites mapped across metro Phoenix, 2020 to 2024
Some road dangers concentrate. Our pedestrian work found a single corridor, Indian School Road, that outranked every other road in the county for people killed on foot.
Motorcyclist deaths do not concentrate like that. Map the 552 fatal crash sites from 2020 to 2024 and they spread across the entire valley, on the freeways and the wide arterials alike, from Surprise in the northwest to Chandler in the southeast.
That spread is the finding. There is no single killer intersection to fix. The risk follows the rider across the whole metro, which is why the rate, not any one location, is the story.
Computed · crash configuration
Most riders who die are hit by another vehicle
72% of killed riders were in a crash with another vehicle, not a solo wreck
The picture of a motorcycle death is often a rider alone, going too fast on an empty road. The data tells a different story.
From 2020 through 2024, 410 of the 569 riders killed, 72 percent, died in a crash that involved another vehicle. Only 28 percent were single-vehicle wrecks with no other car involved.
That reframes who carries the risk. Nearly three in four of these deaths happened when a car and a motorcycle met, not when a rider simply lost control on his own.
Computed · helmet use, 2020-2024
No helmet, and no law that requires one
42% of riders killed wore no helmet, and only 2.6% were confirmed in a DOT-compliant one
Arizona does not require an adult to wear a motorcycle helmet. Under state law only riders under 18 must put one on, a point we cover in our Arizona motorcycle law guide.
It shows up in the dead. Of the riders killed from 2020 to 2024, 42 percent wore no helmet at all.
And the protection rarely met the federal bar. Only 2.6 percent of the riders killed, about 1 in 38, were confirmed wearing a DOT-compliant helmet.
Computed · day, hour, and season
Weekends, after dark, and the cool months
55% of riders killed died on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday
The timing is not random. 55 percent of the riders killed died on a weekend, Friday through Sunday, and 43 percent died after dark.
The deadliest single hour is 6pm, and the late afternoon into early evening, 2pm to 8pm, holds 44 percent of all deaths.
Phoenix also breaks the national pattern on season. Riders here do not die most in summer. The deadliest month is October, and June through August accounts for just 22.5 percent of deaths, below an even share of the year, because the extreme heat empties the roads in the hottest weeks.
Computed · cities and corridors
A metro-wide toll, on named roads
59% of riders killed died outside Phoenix city limits, across the wider metro
This is not a Phoenix-city problem. 59 percent of the riders killed died outside the city limits, across Mesa, Glendale, Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert, and the rest of the metro.
A handful of corridors recur. The Loop 101, I-10, and the US-60 lead the freeways, and on the surface streets Bell Road, 35th Avenue, Cave Creek Road, and Indian School Road show up most.
The riders span generations. The median age of a killed rider is 36, but a third are under 30 and more than a fifth are 55 or older.
The receipts
Sources and method
Every count, rate, ranking, and trend figure on this page is computed by AZ Law Now from two named federal primary sources. The one legal claim on this page, Arizona's helmet rule, traces to the state statute itself.
Deaths come from the NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the federal record of every traffic death. A motorcyclist death is a person who died on a motorcycle body type, counted at the person level. The population denominators are the US Census Bureau's county population estimates (Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2024).
Rates are a five-year cumulative death count over the five-year-average resident population, per 100,000. Because the count spans five years, the rate reads about five times higher than a single-year rate would. The same construction is applied identically to every county.
The comparison universe is the 12 most populous US counties by that same Census population. That's a transparent rule, not a hand-picked set, and all 12 are shown in the ranking. We re-tested the #1 rank against larger and higher-rate counties left out of the top 12, and it holds down to any county above 1.5 million residents.
The breakdowns of how and when riders died come from the same FARS person-level and crash records: helmet use (HELM_USE), whether another vehicle was involved (VE_FORMS), day of week (DAY_WEEK), light condition (LGT_COND), hour (HOUR), month (MONTH), age (AGE), and intersection type (TYP_INT). The helmet figure uses the 2020 to 2024 window only, because the federal helmet-use field is not reliably coded in the earlier years.
"Phoenix" here means Maricopa County, the core county of the metro, not the city limits. These are computed per-capita figures, not NHTSA-published statistics. The analysis reproduces from a single script over the federal files, so any figure rebuilds from the raw record.
Our companion Arizona motorcycle fatality investigation goes deeper on who dies and why, working through the same federal data finding by finding.
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (2025). Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2010 to 2024 national file [Data set]. U.S. Department of Transportation. nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars
- U.S. Census Bureau. (2025). County Population Totals and Components of Change, 2020 to 2024 (Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2024). census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-counties-total.html
- Arizona State Legislature. ARS 28-964: Protective Helmets and Glasses, Goggles or Transparent Face Shields. azleg.gov/ars/28/00964.htm
Questions, answered
Frequently asked
Is Phoenix the most dangerous big city to ride a motorcycle?
By the data, yes, among America's largest counties. Maricopa County, the core of metro Phoenix, has the highest motorcyclist death rate of the 12 most populous US counties: 12.48 deaths per 100,000 residents from 2020 to 2024, based on 569 motorcyclists killed. That is higher than Las Vegas (Clark County, 11.68) and more than three times Chicago (Cook County, 3.69). The figure is a computed per-capita rate from NHTSA FARS and US Census data, not an NHTSA-published statistic.
How many motorcyclists die in Maricopa County each year?
569 motorcyclists were killed in Maricopa County from 2020 through 2024, an average of about 114 a year. The yearly count has climbed over the decade, from 49 in 2010 to a peak of 153 in 2023. Figures are computed from the NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System.
Are motorcycle deaths in Phoenix getting worse?
Yes. Maricopa County's motorcyclist death rate rose 41 percent across the decade, from 8.86 per 100,000 residents in the 2010 to 2014 window to 12.48 in 2020 to 2024. The single-year death count climbed from 49 in 2010 to 153 in 2023.
Do most Phoenix motorcycle deaths involve another vehicle?
Yes. From 2020 through 2024, 72 percent of the motorcyclists killed in Maricopa County died in a crash that involved another vehicle, based on the NHTSA FARS record. Only about 28 percent were single-vehicle crashes with no other car involved. Figures are computed by AZ Law Now from the federal fatality record.
How many Phoenix motorcycle riders killed were not wearing a helmet?
From 2020 through 2024, 42 percent of the motorcyclists killed in Maricopa County wore no helmet, and only 2.6 percent were confirmed wearing a DOT-compliant helmet, based on the NHTSA FARS helmet-use field. Arizona does not require adult riders to wear one. The helmet figure uses the 2020 to 2024 window because the federal helmet field is not reliably coded before then.
When do most Phoenix motorcycle deaths happen?
Most happen on weekends and in the cooler months. From 2020 to 2024, 55 percent of the riders killed in Maricopa County died on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, and 43 percent died after dark, with the deadliest hour at 6pm. The deadliest month is October, and unlike the national summer-peak pattern, Phoenix rider deaths dip in the extreme summer heat. Figures are computed from NHTSA FARS.
Does Arizona have a helmet law for motorcycles?
Arizona does not require adult motorcyclists to wear a helmet. Under ARS 28-964, only riders under 18 must wear one. For how the helmet law and Arizona's comparative-fault rule affect a motorcycle injury claim, see our Arizona motorcycle law guide. This data report stays on the public-safety numbers. The legal questions live on their own pages.
Where is this motorcycle death data from?
Every figure on this page is computed by AZ Law Now from two named federal primary sources: the NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the federal record of every traffic death, for 2010 to 2024, and the US Census Bureau's county population estimates for the denominators. A motorcyclist death is a person killed (fatal injury) on a motorcycle body type. The per-capita rates and the county ranking are ours. They are not NHTSA-published statistics.
Hurt in a motorcycle crash in Arizona?
A road's documented crash history can be part of your case. Our Arizona motorcycle crash guide breaks down your rights, the deadlines, and what to do next.
Read the Arizona motorcycle crash guide