Last month we shared that Memphis ranked as the deadliest metro area in the country for pedestrians in the 2026 Dangerous by Design report. This month, since October is National Pedestrian Safety Month, we want to slow down and look at exactly how far outside the norm Memphis’s numbers really are, because the scale of the gap is easy to miss when you only see one ranking at a time.
The Headline Comparison
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, pedestrians make up about 16 percent of all traffic deaths nationwide. In Memphis, that number is nearly 27 percent (1). Almost one in three people who die in a traffic crash here is someone who was walking, not driving. Nationally, it’s closer to one in six.
Memphis’s pedestrian fatality rate now sits at 5.5 deaths per 100,000 residents, the highest rate recorded anywhere in the eleven year history of the Dangerous by Design report. Other recent analyses using slightly different city boundaries and time windows have put Memphis’s rate even further above the pack, in some cases more than three times the average across major U.S. cities.
It’s Not Just a Rate Problem
The gap shows up in more than one measurement. Between 2020 and 2024, Memphis recorded 369 pedestrian deaths, up from 221 in the previous five year stretch, even as the region’s population did not grow to match. That is a jump few cities anywhere in the country have experienced.
And the danger is not distributed evenly. Nationally, Black Americans are killed while walking at 171 percent of the average rate, and Native American and Alaska Native pedestrians are killed at 367 percent of the average rate. Pedestrian deaths are also concentrated in lower income neighborhoods, in Memphis and elsewhere. As Smart Growth America put it in its research, the more a community struggles financially, the more dangerous its roads tend to be. That pattern holds true here. (2)
Why the Comparison Matters
It would be easy to read a single ranking and assume Memphis is simply a little worse off than everywhere else. The comparison to the national average tells a more specific story: this isn’t a modest gap. It’s a structural difference in how dangerous it is to walk in this city compared to nearly anywhere else in the country, and it has held steady, or worsened, for over a decade.
That matters for how we talk about solutions. A small, incremental fix will not close a gap this size. It takes sustained investment in street design, enforcement, and driver education, sustained long enough to actually move a number that has been near the top of this list since 2009.
What’s Next This Month
Next week, we’re going to dig into why Memphis’s streets end up this dangerous in the first place, and what specific design choices are driving it. Later in the month, we’ll cover National Teen Driver Safety Week and close out October with a look at where real progress is happening.
For now, the number worth sitting with is this one: nearly 27 percent versus 16 percent. That gap is the reason William’s Walk exists, and it’s the gap we’re working every day to close.
Learn more about William’s Walk at williams-walk.com.
(1) https://www.smartcitymemphis.com/2026/06/36520/comment-page-1/
(2) https://www.memphisflyer.com/report-memphis-still-most-deadly-city-for-pedestrians/