According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 5,070 U.S. workers were killed on the job in 2024. That means a worker died from a work-related injury every 104 minutes. Additionally, private industry employers reported 2.5 million workplace injuries and illnesses in 2024, at a rate of 2.3 cases per 100 full–time workers.
Beyond the physical toll, the cost of those fatalities and injuries reached $181.4 billion, including $54.9 billion in lost wages and productivity, $36.8 billion in medical expenses, and a cost of $1,540,000 per worker death.
The economic burden of workplace injuries works out at an average of $1,120 per worker each year due to rising insurance premiums and healthcare costs, and lost economic output.
This study will reveal the most dangerous industries in America. It will consider the job types that feature the highest worker fatality rates (and nonfatal injury rates), the employees most under threat of death or injury, the states that feature the most dangerous workplaces, and the main causes of workplace death and injury.
First, let’s look at those industries that feature the highest fatality threat level for U.S. workers.
America’s Deadliest Industries
The natural resources and mining industry recorded the highest fatal injury rate of any sector during 2024. Its rate of 19.2 deaths per 100,000 workers was driven by 567 fatalities across a combined workforce spanning agricultural laborers, logging workers, commercial fishermen, and oil and gas extraction crews.
All of those workers endure daily exposure to heavy machinery, volatile extraction environments, unpredictable terrain, and extended isolation. Combined, those factors slow emergency response and diminish survival rates.
Additionally, limited regulatory oversight and workers’ compensation protections makes this sector not only the deadliest sector by fatality rate but also one of the most underprotected. That often means workers’ families are vulnerable to financial difficulty following a fatal incident.
The construction industry ranked second with a fatal injury rate of 12.8 per 100,000 workers and the highest death count of any single industry sector. Its 1,034 fatalities were primarily driven by fatal falls, slips, and trips (all of which claimed 389 lives).
Within construction, the roofing, framing, and specialty trade sub-sectors were among the most dangerous, with workers routinely operating at extreme height without adequate fall protection.
In this context, relatively small subcontracting firms often fail to reach the regulatory thresholds that trigger OSHA oversight, meaning a significant number of construction workers occupy a regulatory grey area that increases their vulnerability to a serious accident.
Transportation and warehousing was also subject to a high-ranking fatal injury rate of 12.6 per 100,000 workers, with 865 total fatalities primarily due to transportation incidents.
That reflects the high risks faced by truck drivers, delivery workers, and warehouse employees, all of whom face pressure from intense productivity quotas and extended shift schedules that compound fatigue-related risk on already dangerous roads and loading docks.
The utilities industry ranked fourth with a fatal injury rate of 5.4 per 100,000 workers and 30 total fatalities. Those figures confirm the high danger faced by power line workers, electrical technicians, and plant operators who work in high-voltage environments. In such circumstances, a single mistake can be fatal.
Manufacturing workers were subject to a fatality rate of 2.7 per 100,000 workers and suffered 353 fatalities. Contact incidents were the leading cause of death.
Machinery-heavy workplaces define often dangerous manufacturing environments, despite decades of automation and safety technology investment.
Wholesale trade and government posted respective fatality rates of 2.4 and 2, while retail trade and leisure and hospitality both recorded fatality rates of 1.6.
For both sectors, violent acts (including homicides) accounted for a high share of fatalities, reflecting the elevated and often underappreciated risk faced by customer-facing workers in food service, hospitality, and retail roles. These employees are often vulnerable to poor safety conditions while at work, and rarely enjoy the kind of institutional safety infrastructure that protects workers in more heavily regulated industries.
Financial activities complete the top ten with a rate of 1 fatality per 100,000 workers and 91 overall fatalities, a reminder that even mainly office-based industries are susceptible to worker deaths.
Clearly, the risk of dying at work is a measurable, predictable, and industry-specific reality. It primarily affects blue-collar workers in roles with limited access to the legal protections, compensation systems, and employer accountability mechanisms that would vastly improve their safety while at work and better protect their families should the worst happen.
Across the country, the vulnerability of employees to workplace fatality can depend on the state in which they live. And many dangerous industries are based in very specific areas. For those reasons, some U.S. states are far more dangerous for employees than others.
America’s Most Dangerous States
The risk of dying while at work in America may depend on the state in which you reside. 2024 state-level data reveals a clear geographic divide that‘s largely due to a disproportionate concentration of physically demanding, resource-heavy industries in some areas.
Wyoming ranked as 2024’s most dangerous working state with a fatal injury rate of 13.9 per 100,000 workers, more than four times the 3.3 national average. That’s a figure almost entirely driven by the state’s heavy reliance on agriculture, mining, and energy extraction industries that consistently produce the highest fatality rates of any sector.
Despite only recording 37 total fatalities, Wyoming’s extremely high fatality rate is a perfect example of why rate rather than raw count is a more meaningful measure of workplace danger: numbers alone cannot reveal proportionate risk.
Mississippi ranked second with a rate of 8 per 100,000 workers and 94 total fatalities. Those numbers reflect the state’s heavy reliance on the manufacturing, agriculture, and transportation industries, all of which posted some of the highest job-related fatality rates in the state.
Additionally, all of these industries have historically featured limited employee access to union representation and minimal workplace safety infrastructure.
Alaska ranked third with a rate of 7.1 per 100,000 workers and 24 total fatalities, due to its combination of commercial fishing, logging, and oil and gas extraction roles.
Workers in those industries face a uniquely dangerous occupational landscape compounded by extreme weather conditions, isolation, and limited access to emergency medical services, all of which dramatically reduce survival rates when incidents occur.
North Dakota (ranked fourth with a rate of 6.8 per 100,000 workers and 28 total fatalities) is highly placed due to a heavy reliance on oil and gas extraction, agriculture, and construction work. All three are among the most consistently dangerous industries in the national dataset.
Their relatively small workforce means that even a modest number of fatalities translates into an outsized per-worker mortality rate.
Arkansas (fifth with a rate of 6.2 per 100,000 workers and 79 total fatalities) features plenty of agricultural, transportation, and utilities work. Its ranking reflects a familiar pattern of rural, resource-dependent economies producing disproportionate worker fatality rates.
Montana, South Dakota, and West Virginia ranked sixth to eighth with fatal injury rates of 5.8 per 100,000 workers. Montana‘s rate is driven primarily by agriculture and transportation, with workers often operating heavy equipment in harsh and unpredictable conditions.
South Dakota‘s rate is shaped significantly by construction and transportation sectors, while West Virginia‘s rate reflects a combination of agriculture, mining, and a historic and dangerous coal industry.
Iowa and Louisiana round out the top ten with respective rates of 5.2 and 5.1 per 100,000 workers and 83 and 96 total fatalities.
Both states post elevated rates across agriculture, construction, and transportation sectors that reflect the broader national pattern of rural and industrially concentrated states bearing a disproportionate share of workplace fatalities. Louisiana is notable as a state where the petrochemical, construction, and transportation industries combine to create a persistently dangerous and poorly-protected occupational environment.
Overall, the states where workers are most likely to die on the job are overwhelmingly rural, resource-dependent, and dominated by the same high-risk industries that top the national fatality rankings. They’re also the states where workers are least likely to enjoy robust legal protections, union representation, or employer accountability frameworks.
Whatever industry we look at when we measure fatality numbers, it’s worth understanding how fatalities occur for a more in-depth appreciation of workplace danger.
The Leading Causes of Workplace Death
2024 data reveals a clear and consistent hierarchy of fatality causes.
Transportation incidents were the leading cause of fatal workplace injuries by a significant margin. 1,937 deaths (38.2% of all occupational fatalities) reflect the disproportionate risk faced by millions of American workers who spend their working hours behind the wheel, on the road, or operating heavy industrial or agricultural vehicles.
Falls, slips, and trips ranked second with 844 fatalities, a 16.6% share, emphasizing the persistent and deadly consequences of inadequate fall protection faced by construction, roofing, and maintenance workers.
A high number of contact incidents (756 fatalities, a 14.9% share) reflects the ongoing danger posed by heavy machinery and powerful tools across manufacturing, construction, and agricultural workplaces.
Violent acts accounted for 733 deaths (14.5% of all fatalities), a figure that includes homicides and suicides and which highlights the disproportionate (and often overlooked) level of workplace violence faced by retail, food service, and hospitality workers.
Exposure to harmful substances and environments rounds out the top five fatality causes. 687 fatalities (a 13.6% share) indicate the slow and often inconspicuous consequences of chemical exposure, oxygen deficiency, and toxic environments that claim lives across mining, oil and gas, and agricultural sectors every year.
Beyond fatalities, which industries feature the highest levels of workplace injuries?
Industries With High Numbers of Nonfatal Workplace Injuries
While fatal workplace injuries understandably dominate conversations around occupational safety, nonfatal injury and illness data is also crucial if we want to discern the full extent of American worker safety.
Health care and social assistance ranks as the most injury-prone industry in America (according to 2024 figures) with 553,800 nonfatal cases, 22.3% of all private industry injuries and illnesses.
The injuries that define this sector are due to patient handling, workplace violence, long shifts, and the physical demands of caregiving work that falls on a workforce that’s disproportionately female, underpaid, and underprotected.
Retail trade ranked second with 339,800 nonfatal cases (a 13.7% share), followed by manufacturing (332,600 cases, a 13.4% share). Together, the two industries account for more than one in four nonfatal workplace injuries.
Leisure, entertainment, and hospitality (fourth-ranking with 293,600 cases and an 11.8% share) and transportation and warehousing (ranked fifth with 261,500 cases and a 10.5% share) figures represent the enormous physical burden carried by America’s truck and delivery drivers and its warehouse workers.
Professional and business services (183,300 cases), construction (167,100), wholesale trade (126,800), finance, insurance, and real estate (54,500), and Natural resources and mining (45,300) round out the remainder of the list.
Nonfatal data confirms that workplace injury in America spans nearly every economic sector, affecting the health, mobility, and financial security of millions of employees. And yet when we look at the type of people most affected by workplace injury, we can see that its effect is clearly felt disproportionately.
The People Most At Risk While At Work
2024 workplace fatality data reveals significant disparities across both gender and race and ethnicity.
Men accounted for the overwhelming majority of occupational fatalities (4,657 deaths, 91.9% of all fatal workplace injuries), a share that reflects a heavy concentration of male workers in high-risk industries and occupations.
They include construction and extraction, transportation and material moving, agriculture and oil and gas, all of which consistently produce the highest per-worker fatality rates of any U.S. sector.
Women, by contrast, accounted for just 413 fatalities (8.1% of the 2024 total). That said, women represented 15.3% of all workplace homicide fatalities, just under double their overall share of occupational deaths.
This anomaly indicates a distinct and underexamined fatal risk pattern that’s disproportionately associated with violent incidents as opposed to the physical and environmental hazards driving the majority of male fatalities.
This disparity is particularly significant when we consider the industries where women make up a larger share of the workforce (healthcare, retail, and food service), roles that are subject to a comparatively high risk of fatal workplace violence.
In terms of race and ethnicity, 2024 data reinforces familiar, long-term patterns.
White workers recorded the highest raw count (2,821 fatalities, 55.6% of the total), a figure that broadly mirrors their share of the U.S. labor force.
By contrast, Hispanic or Latino workers carried the greatest burden of any racial or ethnic group, recording a fatal injury rate of 4.3 fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. That’s around 30% above the national average (3.3) and the highest rate of any demographic group for the eighth consecutive year.
The 1,229 total fatalities recorded among Hispanic or Latino workers represented 24.2% of all U.S. occupational deaths. 68.5% of those 1,229 deaths occurred among foreign-born Hispanic or Latino workers, a subset of the workforce disproportionately represented in the most hazardous occupations in the country: agricultural fieldwork, roofing, residential construction, and landscaping.
A routinely high Hispanic or Latino fatality rate doesn’t just reflect the types of work these workers are concentrated in. It also underlines the conditions under which that work is performed, and the limited access to safety training, workers’ compensation protections, and occupational health resources that typify informal and subcontracted labor arrangements.
Black or African American workers suffered 624 fatalities at a rate of 3.4 per 100,000 FTE workers, slightly above the national average.
Asian non-Hispanic workers accounted for 183 fatalities (3.6% of the total), while American Indian or Alaska Native workers and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander workers recorded 20 and 11 fatalities, respectively.
American Workplaces: Confronting Avoidable Danger
5,070 U.S. employees were killed while at work in 2024: one every 104 minutes. That shocking statistic is compounded by the 2.5 million workplace injuries and illnesses also recorded, at a rate of 2.3 cases per 100 full-time workers. And the financial cost was enormous: $181.4 billion in lost wages and productivity, medical expenses, and compensation.
The natural resources and mining industry recorded the highest fatal injury rate of any sector, while transportation incidents were the leading cause of fatal workplace injuries by a significant margin (1,937 deaths, 38.2% of all occupational fatalities).
Health care and social assistance roles ranked as those most likely to involve workplace injuries: 553,800 nonfatal cases, 22.3% of all private industry injuries and illnesses.
Transportation incidents were the leading cause of fatal workplace injuries by a significant margin
Wyoming’s heavy reliance on agriculture, mining, and energy extraction industries meant that it topped rankings as the country’s most dangerous state for work.
Women represented 15.3% of all workplace homicide fatalities, just under double their overall share of occupational deaths; the 1,229 total fatalities recorded among Hispanic or Latino workers represented a significantly disproportionate 24.2% of all U.S. occupational deaths.
“The 2024 data confirms what workers in America’s most dangerous industries already know: workplace safety is not improving,” suggested a John Foy spokesperson. “And for millions of workers, the cost of going to work is measured not in dollars but in lives.”
Ultimately, many of the fatalities and injuries in question are the result of a failing system that does not feature adequate employer oversight, safety infrastructure, or employee guardrails. And over successive years, the same types of employees and demographic groups continue to bear the brunt of disproportionate workplace danger.
Until countrywide changes are made to address this imbalance, thousands of people will needlessly die while fulfilling their employment obligations in unnecessarily dangerous environments.
A work-related injury can leave you with costly medical bills, lost wages, and uncertainty about your future. If you’ve been hurt at work, an Atlanta workers’ compensation lawyer can help you pursue the benefits and compensation you may be entitled to.
Since 1999, John Foy & Associates has recovered over $1 billion for our clients. Get the strong arm: get in touch with us today!
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