Top 10 U.S. states with the most 911 calls

New Mexico tops the list of U.S. states in terms of 911 call frequency, with 1,169 calls per 1,000 residents

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Researchers calculated the average annual call rate per 1,000 people.

Photo/Rob Lawrence

By Sarah Roebuck
Editorial Staff

MIAMI — New data has revealed the top 10 states with the most 911 calls.

Personal injury attorneys at injuredinflorida.com conducted a study analyzing National 911 Program data, examining the volume of 911 calls in each state from 2019 to 2021. They calculated the average annual call rate per 1,000 people.

The top 10 states with the most 911 calls were:

  1. New Mexico
  2. Georgia
  3. Colorado
  4. Hawaii
  5. New Jersey
  6. Michigan
  7. Louisana
  8. South Carolina
  9. Missouri
  10. New York

New Mexico tops the list of U.S. states in terms of 911 call frequency, with 1,169 calls per 1,000 residents. This is 48% higher than New York, which, despite being tenth on the list, still has a significant number of calls.

Georgia is a close second with 1,146 calls per 1,000 residents. That’s just 23 calls fewer per 1,000 people annually compared to New Mexico.

Colorado takes third place with about 1,079 emergency 911 calls per 1,000 people. In 2021, Colorado saw its lowest number of 911 calls with 3,351,479 calls, a sharp decline from the 7,918,493 calls recorded the year before.

Hawaii ranks fourth, averaging 1,039 calls per 1,000 residents. Contrary to Colorado, Hawaii experienced its highest call volume in 2021, with 1,536,100 emergency calls.

New Jersey comes in fifth with around 977 calls per 1,000 residents. In 2021, New Jersey had its lowest number of 911 calls recorded at 8,961,206, a decrease from the peak in 2020.

Michigan is not far behind, taking the sixth spot with an average of 906 calls per 1,000 residents.

Seventh place is Louisiana, with an average of 860 calls per 1,000 people. South Carolina is eighth with 839 calls, and Missouri is ninth with 749 calls per 1,000 residents.

Rounding out the top ten, New York averages 791 emergency calls per 1,000 people, which is 143% more than Utah. Utah has the lowest number of 911 calls in the country, averaging just 325 calls per 1,000 residents each year. It’s followed by North Dakota, Vermont, South Dakota and Iowa, all having the least number of calls.

The study didn’t include Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, West Virginia, and Wisconsin due to insufficient data from 2019 to 2021.

To view each state’s data, click here.