Fire Death and Injury Risk

Overall fire death rates (2014-2023)

On a per capita basis, fire death rates in the United States fluctuated over the past 10 years. From 2014 to 2023, the 10-year trend in the fire death rate per million population increased 27%. In 2023, the fire death rate in the U.S. was 13.1 deaths per million population — 2% lower than it was in 2022 when the fire death rate was 13.3 deaths per million population. Although fire death rates generally increased over the 10 years, the rates are still lower than they were over 20 years ago when the rate was 14.8 fire deaths per million population in 2000. Over the past decade, the fire death rate reached its lowest in 2015 at 10.5 fire deaths per million population.

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Topical Report

Fire Risk in 2022

The risk of death or injury from fire is not the same for everyone. This topical fire report explores fire risk for people living in the United States and why for some groups of people, fire risk is more severe.

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Fire death rates per million population (2014-2023)

Fire death rates per million population (2014-2023)
Year	Number of fire deaths	Population	Fire death rate (per million population)
2014	3428	318386329	10.8
2015	3362	320738994	10.5
2016	3515	323071755	10.9
2017	3645	325122128	11.2
2018	3810	326838199	11.7
2019	3515	328329953	10.7
2020	3790	331526933	11.4
2021	4316	332048977	13.0
2022	4446	333271411	13.3
2023	4371	334914895	13.1
10-year trend (%)			+27.0%

Note:

The computation of the trend is based on the simple linear regression method of least squares.

Sources:

National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). 2014-2023 Mortality Data Files, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. The table includes those deaths that are assigned International Classification of Disease codes F63.1, W39-W40, X00-X06, X08-X09, X75-X76, X96-X97, Y25-Y26 and Y35.1.3. These codes indicate that exposure to fire, fire products or explosion was the underlying cause of death or was a contributing factor.
U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. July 1, 2014-2019, population estimates from the table Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2010, to July 1, 2020 (NST-EST2020). Release date: December 2020, updated May 2021 with Puerto Rico estimates.
U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. July 1, 2020-2023, population estimates from the table Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2020, to July 1, 2023 (NST-EST2023-POP). Release date: December 2023.

Understanding this information

To account for population differences, per capita rates are used. Per capita rates use a common population size, which then permits comparisons between different groups. Per capita rates are determined by the number of deaths or injuries occurring in a specific population group, divided by the total population for that group. This ratio is then multiplied by a common population size. For the purposes of this analysis, per capita rates for fire deaths are measured per 1 million people.

For example, the 2023 per capita fire death rate for the total population is computed from the total number of fire deaths (4,371), divided by the total population (334,914,895), multiplied by 1,000,000 people. This rate is equivalent to 13.1 deaths per 1 million population.

The computation of the trend is based on the simple linear regression method of least squares. Trends in fire death rates are computed to show how the rates have changed over time by smoothing fluctuations or variations in the data from year to year.