What Are the Latest Slip and Fall Accident Statistics in the USA?

Why Are U.S. Slip and Fall Accident Statistics Hard to Compare?

No federal agency counts "slip and fall accidents" as a single category. Instead, government systems measure related but different things: deaths from unintentional falls on death certificates, fall-related emergency department visits and hospital stays, falls reported by older adults in surveys, and falls, slips, and trips that injure workers on the job.

Each measure covers a different population, setting, and year. A fall at home, a fall in a nursing facility, and a fall on a construction scaffold may all appear in national fall statistics. This page reports each figure with its agency, reporting year, and definition so the numbers can be read accurately rather than combined into a misleading total.

What Are the Key Slip and Fall Accident Statistics at a Glance?

What Slip and Fall Accident Statistics Are Available for 2025 and 2026?

As of October 27, 2026, the newest final national fall statistics cover 2024. No official agency has yet published a final 2025 national count of fall deaths, fall injuries, or workplace falls, and no national 2026 fall statistics exist yet because the year is incomplete.

Source: NCHS, Mortality in the United States: Provisional Data, 2025 (Vital Statistics Rapid Release No. 44, July 2026); NCHS, FastStats: Accidents or Unintentional Injuries; BLS, National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2024; BLS, Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, 2023–24.

How Many People Die or Suffer Injuries From Falls in the United States?

In 2024, 48,308 people in the United States died from unintentional falls, a crude rate of 14.2 deaths per 100,000 people. Nonfatal fall injuries are far more numerous, but no single federal figure counts every nonfatal fall injury across all ages and settings.

These measures are not interchangeable. A fall death is a death certificate record. A fall incident is the event itself, and most incidents cause no death or medical visit. An injured person may generate several medical encounters. Counting one as another inflates or distorts the picture.

Source: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, FastStats: Accidents or Unintentional Injuries (NVSS mortality data, 2024); MMWR QuickStats, Death Rates from Unintentional Falls Among Adults Aged ≥65 Years, by Sex and Age Group — United States, 2024 (Vol. 75, September 24, 2026).

How Many Fall Injuries Require Emergency Care or Hospitalization?

CDC estimates about 4.5 million emergency department visits each year from falls among adults 65 and older, with roughly 3.1 million treated and released and 1.4 million resulting in hospitalization. CDC's published figure is an annual estimate drawn from its WISQARS injury database; the page does not specify a single data year.

An earlier analysis using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project offers a dated benchmark. In 2018, older adults had an estimated 2,216,681 treated-and-released ED visits and 654,895 hospitalizations for unintentional fall injuries. Falls accounted for 91.8% of ED visits among the injury types studied.

Source: CDC, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Facts About Older Adult Falls (updated September 2026); CDC MMWR, Emergency Department Visits and Hospitalizations for Selected Nonfatal Injuries Among Adults Aged ≥65 Years — United States, 2018 (2021), using AHRQ HCUP Nationwide Emergency Department Sample and National Inpatient Sample.

How Have Fall-Related Deaths and Injuries Changed Over Time?

Fall deaths among adults 65 and older rose every year from 2020 through 2024, increasing 17.8% from 36,508 to 43,020. NCHS also reports that older adult fall death rates rose for both men and women in every age group from 2003 to 2023.

Counts for 2020–2022 are sums of the sex and age-group counts in NCHS Data Brief 532. Percentage change uses ((current − previous) ÷ previous) × 100; the 2020 change compares with 34,212 deaths in 2019.

Rising counts partly reflect a growing and aging older population. Rates help separate that effect: the 65+ crude rate was 65.6 per 100,000 in 2020, 69.9 in 2023, and 70.3 in 2024, so risk per person also increased, not only the number of older adults. NCHS did not identify a cause for the increase, and these data cannot attribute the trend to any particular hazard.

Source: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, Unintentional Fall Deaths in Adults Age 65 and Older: United States, 2023 (NCHS Data Brief No. 532, June 2025); Unintentional Fall Deaths Among Adults Aged 65 and Over: United States, 2020 (Data Brief No. 449, 2022).

How Common Are Falls Among Adults Aged 65 and Older?

More than one in four adults aged 65 and older falls each year, and falls are the leading cause of injury for this age group. In 2020, about 14 million older adults reported falling in the previous year. CDC notes that one out of 10 falls results in an injury that restricts activity for a day or more or leads to medical care.

Self-reported falls and medically treated injuries are different measures. Survey counts include minor falls with no injury, while ED and death data capture only the most serious outcomes. These figures also span every setting: homes, care facilities, stores, sidewalks, and other places. They are not counts of falls on someone else's property.

Risk is not uniform. In 2024, the fall death rate was 19.0 per 100,000 for ages 65–74, 75.3 for ages 75–84, and 338.0 for ages 85 and older. Adults 85 and older accounted for 21,754 deaths, just over half of all older adult fall deaths.

Source: CDC, Facts About Older Adult Falls (updated September 2026); CDC MMWR, Nonfatal and Fatal Falls Among Adults Aged ≥65 Years — United States, 2020–2021 (2023); NCHS supplementary table to MMWR QuickStats, 2024 data.

How Many Workplace Slip, Trip, and Fall Accidents Occur Each Year?

BLS recorded 844 fatal workplace falls, slips, and trips in 2024, about 17% of all 5,070 fatal work injuries. Of these deaths, 666 were falls to a lower level, and 10.8% involved a fall from more than 30 feet.

Nonfatal workplace falls are much more common. In private industry during 2023–2024 combined, falls, slips, and trips caused 479,480 cases with days away from work, at an annualized rate of 22.6 per 10,000 full-time workers. Including restricted-duty and job-transfer cases, the two-year total reached 721,720. The median absence was 13 days.

Fatal and nonfatal figures come from different programs. The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries counts all work-related deaths, while the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses estimates nonfatal cases from employer records and excludes the self-employed and certain other workers. Neither measures falls outside work.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) listed Fall Protection – General Requirements as its most frequently cited standard in fiscal year 2025, for the 15th consecutive year. Citations reflect inspections and enforcement, not injury totals.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, BLS, National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2024 (released February 19, 2026); BLS, Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, Table 2, private industry 2023–24 (January 22, 2026); OSHA, Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards, FY 2025.

Which Industries Report the Most Workplace Fall Injuries?

Construction accounts for the largest share of fatal workplace falls. In 2024, private construction recorded 389 fatal falls, slips, and trips, 48.8% of the private-industry total, and 95.9% of them were falls to a lower level. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) identifies falls as the leading cause of work-related death in construction.

Counts reflect industry size as well as risk; rates per 10,000 full-time workers allow fairer comparison. National, comparable fall-specific figures for health care, retail, warehousing, and food service were not verified for this page, so those industries are not ranked here.

Source: BLS, The Economics Daily, National Safety Stand-Down highlights fall hazards in construction (2026); BLS CFOI 2024; CDC NIOSH Construction Program.

What Are the Common Causes of Slip and Fall Accidents?

Falls usually result from a combination of personal risk factors and environmental hazards rather than a single cause. For older adults, CDC lists lower body weakness, balance and walking difficulties, certain medications, vision problems, foot pain or poor footwear, and home hazards such as broken or uneven steps, throw rugs, and clutter.

In workplaces, recognized hazards include wet or slippery floors, uneven walking surfaces, tripping obstacles, ice and weather exposure, stairs, poor lighting, and unprotected elevated work areas such as roofs, ladders, and scaffolds. These are potential hazards, not proven causes of any specific reported fall. National datasets do not assign a single verified cause percentage to all falls, so no ranking is presented here.

How Do Fall Injury Statistics Vary by Age and Sex?

Fall death rates rise sharply with age, and older men have higher fall death rates than older women in every age group. Women, however, accounted for more total deaths in 2024 because they make up a larger share of the oldest population.

Nonfatal patterns differ. In 2018 hospital data, women aged 65+ had higher age-adjusted rates of fall-related ED visits (5,003 vs. 3,530 per 100,000) and hospitalizations than men. CDC has noted that the relationship between sex and fall injury is not fully explained.

Source: NCHS, NVSS Mortality Data, 2024, supplementary table to MMWR QuickStats (2026); CDC MMWR 2021 analysis of AHRQ HCUP 2018 data.

How Do Fall-Related Deaths and Injuries Vary by State?

In 2023, older adult fall death rates ranged from 29.5 per 100,000 in Alabama to 158.4 in Wisconsin, more than a fivefold difference. The table uses NCHS crude rates for adults 65 and older, the latest published state comparison.

Florida had the most older adult fall deaths (4,045) but a mid-range rate of 82.3, showing how population size drives raw counts. These are crude rates within one age group, not age-adjusted all-ages rates. State differences can also reflect death certificate coding practices. They describe mortality, not lawsuit frequency.

Source: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, Unintentional Fall Deaths in Adults Age 65 and Older: United States, 2023 (NCHS Data Brief No. 532, June 2025), Figure 4 data table.

What Injuries Are Commonly Associated With Slip and Fall Accidents?

Among older adults, the most serious fall injuries tracked by CDC are hip fractures and traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Falls are the most common cause of TBI in older adults. In 2019, falls caused 88% of hip fracture–related ED visits and hospitalizations and 83% of hip fracture deaths in this group, and nearly 319,000 older adults are hospitalized for hip fractures each year.

Falls can also cause wrist, arm, and ankle fractures and head injuries. In workplaces, sprains, strains, back injuries, and other soft tissue injuries are common outcomes. These injuries are not equally frequent, and verified national prevalence figures across all ages were not available for every type. A diagnosis alone does not establish negligence or a right to compensation.

Source: CDC, Facts About Older Adult Falls (2026); Moreland B, et al., Hip Fracture-Related Emergency Department Visits, Hospitalizations and Deaths by Mechanism of Injury Among Adults Aged 65 and Older, United States 2019, Journal of Aging and Health (2023).

What Is the Economic Impact of Fall-Related Injuries in the USA?

Healthcare spending for nonfatal falls among adults 65 and older was an estimated $80.0 billion in 2020, with the majority paid by Medicare. CDC researchers produced the estimate using the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey and national health expenditure data. An earlier comparable estimate put 2015 spending at about $50 billion.

This figure covers direct medical spending for nonfatal older adult falls only. It excludes fatal falls, younger adults, lost wages, and workplace injury costs, and it is a modeled estimate, not a ledger of bills. Medical spending is not the same as legal damages or settlements.

Source: Haddad YK, et al. (CDC), Healthcare Spending for Non-Fatal Falls Among Older Adults, USA, Injury Prevention (2024), 2020 data year.

Are Slip and Fall Accident Statistics the Same as Slip and Fall Lawsuits?

No. National fall statistics measure deaths, injuries, and medical visits, not insurance claims, premises liability lawsuits, judgments, or settlements. No authoritative federal dataset counts slip and fall lawsuits nationwide, so this page does not estimate claim volumes or settlement values.

Most recorded falls involve no legal claim at all, including many that occur at home. Whether a property owner or occupier may be legally responsible depends on state law and specific facts, which may include a hazardous condition, a duty of care, actual or constructive notice where required, a breach of that duty, causation, documented damages, and comparative or contributory negligence rules.

Where Do U.S. Slip and Fall Accident Statistics Come From?

The figures on this page come from seven federal agencies and data systems, each measuring a different part of the fall injury picture.

Why Do Official Fall Statistics Not Always Match?

• Data year vs. publication year: Reports often describe events one to three years earlier.
• Preliminary vs. final: Provisional counts change as late records arrive.
• Deaths vs. incidents vs. visits: One fall can produce several ED visits; most falls produce none.
• Workplace vs. all settings: BLS data cover work only; CDC and NCHS data cover all settings.
• Surveys vs. records: Self-reported falls capture far more events than death certificates.
• Counts vs. rates: Larger populations produce larger counts; rates adjust for population size.
• Crude vs. age-adjusted rates: Age-adjusted rates remove differences in age structure; crude rates do not, which matters when comparing states with older populations.
• Cost estimates: Modeled spending depends on study methods and population and should not be added to other cost figures.