BoatingHuntingBowhuntingBlog
Get Certified →
Home › Boating Accident Statistics

U.S. Boating Accident Statistics: What 58,430 Coast Guard Reports Reveal

Fifteen years of federal boating-accident records (2009–2023), analyzed and mapped down to individual states and waterways.
USCG BARD data · 2009–2023By the Recademics Boating Safety Team· Updated July 2026
Trusted by boaters nationwide · Fast online certification · Rated 4.9/5
The snapshot · 2009–2023
58,430
Accidents
8,935
Deaths
36,773
Injuries
$661.0M
Damage
14%
Fatal
24%
Boat collisions

The U.S. Coast Guard logged 58,430 reported recreational boating accidents from 2009 to 2023, causing 8,935 deaths, 36,773 injuries, and $661.0M in property damage. This page analyzes all 58,430 of them.

14% of those accidents were fatal. Most were not dramatic wrecks: the single most common event is one boat hitting another. Below is how the numbers have moved over 15 years, what causes accidents, who dies and why, where accidents concentrate, and which boats carry the most risk. The latest single-year figures come from the Coast Guard's 2024 report; the 15-year analysis is ours.

Key takeaways
  • 58,430 accidents, 8,935 deaths, and 36,773 injuries over 15 years.
  • Collisions with another boat are the most common accident (24%).
  • 77% of deaths (cause known) are drownings; 85% of those weren't wearing a life jacket.
  • Open motorboats and personal watercraft account for most accidents.
  • Florida, Texas, and New York record the most accidents; 56% happen in summer.
Section 2

How many people die, and how often?

Our data records 8,935 deaths across 58,430 accidents, a 14% fatal rate. Raw death counts can mislead, because they track how many people are on the water. The Coast Guard's per-registration rate corrects for that: 4.8 deaths per 100,000 registered vessels in 2024, the lowest in over half a century. Fewer people are dying per boat even in years when total accidents rise.

Boating deaths per year

Reported recreational boating deaths, 2009–2023.

Section 3

What causes most boating accidents?

The Coast Guard's contributing-cause codes put operator error on top: operator inattention (14%), improper lookout (10%), and operator inexperience (9%). Those codes are broad, though, and appear on accidents everywhere, so on their own they say little about any one lake or coast. The more useful question is what physically happens, which the next section answers.

Leading contributing causes

Primary contributing cause, share of all accidents.

Section 4

What actually happens on the water

Coded by event, the picture sharpens. Collisions with another recreational vessel are the most common accident by a wide margin (24%), followed by collision with fixed object (11%) and flooding/swamping (10%). Most boating accidents are impacts and swampings in crowded, moving water, not equipment catastrophes.

Most common accident types

Primary accident event, share of all accidents.

Section 5

Drowning and life jackets: the deadliest pattern

Where the cause of death is recorded, 77% of boating fatalities are drownings, and 85% of those drowning victims were not wearing a life jacket. The Coast Guard reported 76% and 87% for 2024. This is the most preventable statistic in boating: a worn life jacket turns most drownings into rescues. It is also the clearest reason a boater course pays for itself.

How boaters die

Recorded cause of death in fatal boating accidents, 2009–2023.

Get certified with a Recademics boater course →
Section 6

Alcohol and boating

Alcohol is the leading known contributing factor in fatal boating accidents. The Coast Guard attributed about 20% of 2024 deaths to alcohol use. In our 15-year data it was a listed cause in 7% of all accidents, a figure that understates fatal cases because alcohol drives deaths more than fender-benders. Every state sets the boating-under-the-influence limit at 0.08 BAC, the same as driving.

Alcohol's outsized role in deaths

Alcohol as a listed cause in all accidents vs. its share of 2024 fatalities (USCG).

Section 7

Boating accidents by state

Florida records the most accidents by volume (10,053), followed by Texas and New York, though Florida also registers far more boats than anywhere else. Lethality tells a different story: states like Texas, Michigan, and Louisiana run fatal rates near 20%, well above Florida's 9%. Click a column to sort.

States with the most accidents

Top states by reported accidents, 2009–2023.

StateAccidentsDeathsFatal rate
Florida10,0539379%
Texas2,80063020%
New York2,51733412%
North Carolina2,22832714%
Maryland2,1621918%
Missouri2,01723311%
South Carolina1,95228513%
Ohio1,80923212%
Tennessee1,77029615%
New Jersey1,749945%
Arizona1,7371276%
Michigan1,70136119%
Louisiana1,59933919%
Georgia1,57924614%
Wisconsin1,57428817%
Show all 48 states
StateAccidentsDeathsFatal rate
Florida10,0539379%
Texas2,80063020%
New York2,51733412%
North Carolina2,22832714%
Maryland2,1621918%
Missouri2,01723311%
South Carolina1,95228513%
Ohio1,80923212%
Tennessee1,77029615%
New Jersey1,749945%
Arizona1,7371276%
Michigan1,70136119%
Louisiana1,59933919%
Georgia1,57924614%
Wisconsin1,57428817%
Washington1,41131721%
Virginia1,29623916%
Minnesota1,26321516%
Illinois1,20522417%
Utah1,1791118%
Alabama1,09924619%
Massachusetts1,00113413%
Pennsylvania91117818%
Arkansas87817218%
Idaho80216017%
Oklahoma73016520%
Nevada6917810%
New Hampshire691598%
Kentucky68516821%
Connecticut6668512%
Indiana66012117%
Colorado63115123%
Maine59110917%
Rhode Island549274%
Iowa5208315%
Mississippi47412523%
Kansas3866215%
Nebraska3424713%
Alaska30223159%
New Mexico2864214%
Delaware2562710%
South Dakota2503713%
Montana2479134%
West Virginia2426826%
Hawaii2166328%
North Dakota1813317%
Wyoming1413222%
Vermont633243%

Fatal rate here is the share of a state's accidents that were fatal. The Coast Guard's per-registration fatality rate ranks smaller, colder, or open-water states (Alaska, Hawaii, the District of Columbia) highest. Florida is the first state page live; more roll out from the busiest down.

Section 8

Which boats are most dangerous?

Open motorboats are in 46% of accidents and personal watercraft 19%, together most of the total. Size matters as much as type: 57% of the boats in these accidents were under 21 feet, and small open boats are where most drownings happen. Rentals appear in about 12% of accidents, where a first-time operator is often at the helm.

Accidents by vessel type

Vessels involved in reported accidents, by type.

Section 9

When boating accidents happen

Boating accidents are a summer-weekend phenomenon. 56% happen in June through August and 55% fall on a Saturday or Sunday, peaking in July. The risk tracks how many boats are on the water, not the calendar itself.

Accidents by month

Reported accidents by month of year, 2009–2023.

Section 10

The one factor a boater controls: education

The Coast Guard reports that where instruction was known, about 7 in 10 boating deaths happened on vessels whose operator had no boating-safety instruction. Education is the single largest controllable factor in the data, and it maps directly onto the top causes here: inattention, lookout, and inexperience are exactly what a course drills. It is the cheapest safety equipment on the boat.

Operator boating-safety education

Reported operator education across vessels in accidents, 2009–2023.

Start your state boater course →
Questions boaters ask

Boating accident statistics FAQ

What is the leading cause of boating accidents?
Operator error leads the Coast Guard's contributing-cause codes: operator inattention, improper lookout, and inexperience rank one, two, and three across the 58,430 accidents in our data. But the most common thing that physically happens is a collision with another boat (24% of accidents).
How many people die boating each year in the U.S.?
Our 15-year dataset records 8,935 deaths across 58,430 accidents (2009–2023). In 2024, the Coast Guard reported 556 deaths, the fewest in more than 50 years, down from 564 (2023).
What percentage of boating deaths involve alcohol?
Alcohol is the leading known contributing factor in fatal accidents. The Coast Guard attributed about 20% of 2024 deaths to alcohol. In our data it was a listed cause in 7% of all accidents.
What share of drowning victims weren't wearing a life jacket?
On a known-status basis, 85% of drowning victims in our data were not wearing a life jacket. The Coast Guard reported 87% for 2024. Drowning is the cause in 77% of deaths where the cause was recorded.
Which state has the most boating accidents?
Florida records the most by volume (10,053 in our data), followed by Texas and New York. Adjusted for the number of registered boats, the Coast Guard's fatality rate ranks smaller states like Alaska and Hawaii higher.
What is the most common type of boating accident?
Collisions with another recreational vessel are the single most common accident type at 24%, followed by collision with fixed object and flooding/swamping.
Are boating accidents increasing or decreasing?
Long term, they have fallen. Reported accidents ran from 4,176 in 2009 to 3,398 in 2023, and the Coast Guard called 2024's fatality rate (4.8 deaths per 100,000 registered vessels) the lowest in over 50 years.
Methodology & sources. The 15-year analysis on this page is Recademics' own, built from the U.S. Coast Guard Boating Accident Report Database (BARD), covering 58,430 reported recreational boating accidents nationwide from 2009 to 2023. Current-year figures are from the U.S. Coast Guard's 2024 Recreational Boating Statistics (accident statistics, 2024 report). Figures reflect accidents reported to authorities; minor incidents are underreported.
R
Recademics Boating Safety Team
Reviewed by a certified boating-safety instructor

Boat with confidence

The data points to one thing you control: training. Get certified with a fast, state-approved online course.

Start your boater course →