These SC cities are among the riskiest to drive through in the US, Allstate says. Here’s why
No matter how good of a driver you think you are, there’s always that risk of an accident when you’re on the road.
Whether it’s a drunk driver, rush hour traffic or unexpected road construction, there are many factors that can increase risk while driving. Even what city you happen to be driving in may be riskier than others.
But which cities in the U.S. are the safest to drive in and which are the riskiest?
Allstate has an answer.
The nationwide auto insurance provider recently released its America’s Best Drivers Report for 2025. The report analyzed data related to auto insurance claims in the 200 most-populated U.S. cities. The report defines a collision as any auto crash resulting in a property or collision damage claim and uses U.S. Census Bureau data to determine the 200 largest cities. First launched in 2005, this year’s report also reviewed collision data from a decade ago to reveal shifts in driving safety across the country.
So what about South Carolina cities?
Two South Carolina cities made it into the report and their rankings were far from great. Take a look below.
SC cities most risky for driving
Columbia and Charleston were the two South Carolina cities included in the report. Out of the 200 cities analyzed, Columbia ranked 105th on the list. Charleston ranked a little higher at 93rd on the list.
According to the report, drivers in Charleston are 15.2% more likely to get in an accident than the national average. For drivers in Columbia, that’s 18.9% higher than the national average.
The Allstate claims data shows that the average driver in the U.S will experience a collision once every 10.56 years.
A driver’s average time between collisions is 9.16 years in Charleston, the report shows. In Columbia, the average time is 8.88 years.
A bit of good news in the report is that both cities have improved in safety over the last decade.
Charleston ranked 122nd and Columbia ranked 149th in the same report in 2015.
10 riskiest driving cities in US
#200 Boston, MA
#199 Washington D.C.
#198 Baltimore, MD
#197 Worcester, MA
#196 Springfield, MA
#195 Glendale, CA
#194 Los Angeles, CA
#193 Oakland, CA
#192 Providence, RI
#191 Philadelphia, PA
10 safest driving cities in US
#1 Brownsville, TX
#2 Boise, ID
#3 Fort Collins, CO
#4 Cary, NC
#5 Laredo, TX
#6 Olathe, KS
#7 Scottsdale, AZ
#8 Port St. Lucie, FL
#9 Madison, WI
#10 Eugene, OR
SC traffic collision statistics
For a bit more context on traffic collisions in the state, here is data from 2023 — the latest data available — from the South Carolina Department of Public Safety.
- There is one traffic collision in South Carolina every 3.6 minutes
- There is one fatal collision in South Carolina every 9 hours
- There were 145,761 total collisions in South Carolina in 2023, up 1.6% from 2022
- There were 976 fatal collisions in South Carolina in 2023, a 4.1% drop from 2022
