Most Dangerous Jobs in America: 2024 BLS Fatality Data

The most dangerous job in America by fatal injury rate is logging. In 2024, logging workers died on the job at a rate of 110.4 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Fishing and hunting workers (88.8) and roofers (48.7) came next. By total deaths, driver/sales workers and truck drivers led every occupation shown, with 950.

This page pulls the latest official numbers from the BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) for 2024, released February 19, 2026. It then explains what they mean if you work in one of these jobs and want to protect your family.

Headline findings

• Logging workers had the highest fatal injury rate of any occupation BLS charted for 2024: 110.4 per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers, with 51 deaths. That is about 33 times the all-worker rate of 3.3.
• Roofers had a rate of 48.7 and 104 deaths in 2024, the highest rate of any construction trade in the BLS chart.
• Driver/sales workers and truck drivers had 950 fatal work injuries in 2024, the most of any occupation shown, at a rate of 25.7.
• Total work deaths fell. There were 5,070 fatal work injuries in 2024, down 4.0% from 5,283 in 2023. The overall rate dropped to 3.3 from 3.5.
• Transportation incidents were the most common fatal event, at 38.2% of all work deaths in 2024. Falls, slips and trips caused 844 deaths.

Which jobs have the highest fatal injury rates?

These are the 20 occupations with the highest 2024 fatal injury rates among those BLS published in its selected-occupations chart. The last column shows how each rate compares with the rate for all workers.

Rates and counts tell different stories. Structural iron and steel workers had only 14 deaths, but because relatively few people do that work, their rate was 37.8. Truck drivers had a lower rate but far more deaths, because so many people drive for a living. For a deeper look at driving jobs, see trucking deaths and injuries by the numbers.

How dangerous are the skilled trades?

Most skilled trades had fatal injury rates above the all-worker rate of 3.3 in 2024, though well below roofing and ironwork. Here are the other trade, repair and material-moving occupations in the same BLS chart:

Falls are a big part of the construction picture. BLS reports that construction and extraction workers had 1,032 fatal injuries in 2024, and fatal falls, slips and trips among these workers fell 7.5% to 370. Across all workers, 10.8% of fatal falls, slips and trips were from a height of more than 30 feet.

Which occupational groups have the most deaths?

At the broadest level, transportation and material moving occupations had the most deaths in 2024, while farming, fishing and forestry had the highest rate.

Source: BLS, fatal work injuries by major occupational group, 2024.

According to CFOI Table 3, construction trades workers had 788 fatal injuries in 2024, and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers had 798.

Methodology

• Data source. All fatality figures come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries for calendar year 2024, released February 19, 2026. The CFOI counts all fatal work injuries in the United States during the year, using state, federal and independent source documents. For 2024, BLS reviewed more than 25,500 unique source documents. Data for all years in Table 3 are revised and final.
• Rates. Fatal injury rates are published by BLS as deaths per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. BLS calculates them using employment data from the Current Population Survey and Local Area Unemployment Statistics, so they are subject to sampling error. We did not calculate any rates ourselves.
• Occupations. Occupation names and figures are taken exactly as shown in the BLS chart of rate and number of fatal work injuries in selected occupations, 2024. BLS left the rate and count blank for police officers in that chart, so that row is not included. This is not a list of every occupation in the economy, only those BLS published in that chart.
• Ranking and comparison. We ranked occupations by sorting the published 2024 rates from highest to lowest. The "times the all-worker rate" column was computed by dividing each published occupation rate by the published all-worker rate of 3.3 and rounding to one decimal place.
• What's excluded. CFOI counts exclude illness-related deaths unless an injury event started them, so deaths from long-term occupational illness are not included.

How to cite this data

Please link to this page when you use these figures: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries 2024, as compiled in "Most Dangerous Jobs in America: 2024 BLS Fatality Data."

What does this mean for your life insurance?

A dangerous job doesn't mean you can't get life insurance, but it does shape how you should approach it.

Your job will be part of underwriting. Insurers ask what you do, and some occupations can mean a higher premium or a specific exclusion. Our guide to life insurance for high-risk jobs explains how that works and how insurers differ.

Coverage through work may not be there. In March 2026, 49% of private-industry workers in construction, extraction, farming, fishing and forestry occupations had access to employer life insurance, according to the BLS National Compensation Survey. Group coverage also typically ends when you leave the job.

Know what actually pays. Regular life insurance generally pays for death from illness or accident, on or off the job. AD&D pays only for covered accidents. We explain the difference in does life insurance cover work accidents. Workers' comp is a separate benefit with its own limits; see workers' comp death benefits vs. life insurance.

Size coverage to your family, not your risk. The life insurance calculator can help you estimate what your family would need. More guides for trade workers are on the blue-collar workers hub.