Short answer: 89 kayakers and 25 canoeists died in 2024, the most recent year the U.S. Coast Guard has published. Add 29 stand up paddleboard deaths and paddlecraft account for 143 of the 556 recreational boating deaths that year, about a quarter of the total. Roughly two thirds of all boating deaths are drownings, and 85% of the people who drowned were not wearing a life jacket.
The Coast Guard has collected boating accident and fatality data for more than 60 years, and publishes it every spring at uscgboating.org. It is thorough, and it is long. We read the 2024 report so you don’t have to, and pulled out the kayaking statistics that matter. The 2025 edition is due in October 2026, and we will update this page when it lands.
Accidents Happen
In 2024 the Coast Guard counted 3,887 accidents involving 5,365 vessels, 556 deaths, 2,170 injuries and about $88 million in property damage.
Those numbers are the best in living memory. 2024 was the safest year on record since the Coast Guard began counting: deaths fell to 556, down from 663 in 2018 and 815 in 1998. The fatality rate is now 4.8 deaths per 100,000 registered vessels, down from 5.3 in 2018 and 6.5 in 1998. Better gear, better training and a lot of safety campaigns have moved the needle.
Paddlers are the exception. While boating deaths overall dropped 16% between 2018 and 2024, kayak deaths went up.
| 2018 | 2024 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| All boating deaths | 663 | 556 | -16% |
| Kayak deaths | 84 | 89 | +6% |
| Canoe deaths | 44 | 25 | -43% |
| Paddleboard deaths | not reported | 29 | new category |
| Kayak + canoe share of all deaths | 19.3% | 20.5% | up |
| Registered vessels | 11,852,969 | 11,674,073 | -1.5% |
| Deaths per 100,000 vessels | 5.3 | 4.8 | -9% |
Buying the Farm
Paddle sports keep growing, and so does their share of the casualty list. Kayaks and canoes were 19.3% of boating deaths in 2018. In 2024 they were 20.5%, and adding paddleboards takes paddlecraft to 25.7%, a quarter of everyone who died on the water.
Only open motorboats killed more people: 255 deaths, or 45.9% of the total. That sounds damning for motorboats until you remember there are roughly 11.7 million registered vessels in the US, most of them motorized, and that many kayaks and canoes are never registered at all. Per hour on the water, paddlecraft look considerably more dangerous than the raw ranking suggests.
| Craft | Deaths | Injuries | Vessels in accidents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open motorboat | 255 | 1,091 | — |
| Kayak | 89 | 44 | 146 |
| Stand up paddleboard | 29 | 13 | 40 |
| Canoe | 25 | 16 | 35 |
| Rowboat | 8 | 9 | 21 |
| All vessels | 556 | 2,170 | 5,365 |
The cause of death is the one you would guess. 365 of the 556 deaths in 2024 were drownings. Of those who drowned, 310 were not wearing a life jacket. That is 85% of drowning victims, and it is the single most fixable number in the entire report. Don’t be a statistic, always wear your life jacket.
Injuries
Under Coast Guard methodology any incident involving injury, death or serious property damage counts as an accident. In 2024 there were 3,887 of them, producing 2,170 injuries and 556 deaths. So roughly 56% of accidents hurt somebody, and about 14% killed somebody.
For kayaks and canoes the ratio is far worse. 181 kayaks and canoes were involved in accidents in 2024. Those accidents produced 60 injuries and 114 deaths. If you have a serious accident in a paddlecraft you are more likely to die than to be hurt and walk away. There is no hull around you, no engine to limp home on, and nothing keeping you out of the water.
Smaller Boats, Smaller Numbers
The good news is that accidents remain rare. With 11,674,073 registered vessels and 3,887 accidents, about 0.03% of the registered fleet was involved in an accident in 2024. The risk on any given outing is low. The problem is what happens when your number comes up.
Don’t Blame Motorboaters
The main cause of kayak accidents may surprise you. It isn’t the wake from clueless motorboaters. It isn’t rogue waves. It isn’t getting fin slapped by a whale, although that would make an epic story. The leading factor is you; specifically “operator inexperience”, which the Coast Guard defines as:
Lack of practical experience or knowledge in operating a vessel or, more particularly, the vessel involved in the accident.
Instruction matters too: 69% of 2024 boating deaths happened on boats where the operator had no boating safety instruction, and only 19% involved an operator with a nationally approved education certificate. Experience is the paradox every teenager job hunting knows; you need it before anyone will trust you with it. If you’re new to paddling, take an intro class or bring an experienced friend along for your first few trips. Break in that new kayak on the pond, not the Atlantic during shark week.
Environment
It’s tempting to assume the casualties were all people who went out at night, in big water, in bad weather. They weren’t. Most accidents happen in conditions you’d call perfect.
| Condition | Most common value | Accidents |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility | Good, daylight | 2,855 |
| Wind | Light, 1 to 6 mph | 2,196 |
| Water surface | Calm, waves under 6 inches | 2,398 |
Clear skies and warm water make for a great day on the water, and you are not the only one with that idea. Most of the people in these reports were fishing or just out relaxing. Take a moment to think about that next time conditions look ideal.
The Most Dangerous Day
More boats on the water means more chances for something to go wrong. The 2024 report makes the pattern obvious.
| Peak | Accidents | |
|---|---|---|
| Month | July | 905 |
| Day | Saturday | 1,171 |
| Time | 2:30 to 4:30 pm | 767 |
So a warm Saturday afternoon in July is statistically the worst time to be careless. Add fireworks, a cooler of beer and a few hoots of Murica’ and the odds get worse still. If you paddle summer weekends, that’s when to be sharpest.
Kayaking Statistics Takeaways
These figures come from a large data set with its own quirks. Plenty of kayaks and canoes are never registered, because state rules vary, and plenty of incidents never get reported at all. The real accident count is certainly higher than what the report shows. Even so, the Coast Guard report remains the most comprehensive source we’ve found, and the best proxy for paddling trends in the US.
Remember that on a boat, any kind of boat, you’re not invincible. When things go wrong on the water they go wrong fast. Check your gear before you go. Tell somebody where you’ll be, and carry a way to call for help that isn’t shouting.
If you’re new to this, build basic skills before you take bigger risks. Learn to recover a capsized boat, and actually practice it; Boy Scouts earning the kayaking merit badge have to capsize and recover before they pass. If you can’t do that with confidence, you’re taking a real risk every time you launch. And wear your life jacket. 310 people who drowned in 2024 weren’t wearing one.
Figures on this page come from the U.S. Coast Guard’s 2024 Recreational Boating Statistics report, published 2025, with 2018 comparisons from the 2018 edition. If you’re concerned about safety, look at the best gear to keep you safe while kayak fishing.