Tornado Deaths by State 2025
About This Dataset
Tornado Deaths by State 2025
What this chart shows. The number of people killed by tornadoes in each US state in 2025, for the ten states where tornadoes caused deaths. Kentucky had the most with 19, followed by Missouri with 16 and Mississippi and Tennessee with 9 each. Alabama, Arkansas, New York and North Dakota each recorded 3, and Indiana and Oklahoma 1. In total, 67 people died in 23 deadly tornadoes.
How the data is collected. Deaths are taken from the Storm Prediction Center's state segments, so when a tornado crossed a state line each death is counted in the state where it happened. The state figures add up exactly to the national total of 67, which matches the count on Wikipedia's page for the year's tornadoes.
Background. The deadliest single tornado of the year was an EF4 in southeastern Kentucky on May 16, which killed 18 people. Missouri's deaths came from two days: 10 in tornadoes on March 14 and 6 on May 16. North Dakota's 3 deaths came from the EF5 tornado near Enderlin on June 20, which Wikipedia describes as the first tornado rated EF5 since 2013.
Limits. Death tolls depend on where a tornado happens to strike as much as on its strength, so a few events decide the ranking. The Storm Prediction Center's database begins in 1950, the start of what it calls the modern era of tornado record-keeping.
How the data is collected. Deaths are taken from the Storm Prediction Center's state segments, so when a tornado crossed a state line each death is counted in the state where it happened. The state figures add up exactly to the national total of 67, which matches the count on Wikipedia's page for the year's tornadoes.
Background. The deadliest single tornado of the year was an EF4 in southeastern Kentucky on May 16, which killed 18 people. Missouri's deaths came from two days: 10 in tornadoes on March 14 and 6 on May 16. North Dakota's 3 deaths came from the EF5 tornado near Enderlin on June 20, which Wikipedia describes as the first tornado rated EF5 since 2013.
Limits. Death tolls depend on where a tornado happens to strike as much as on its strength, so a few events decide the ranking. The Storm Prediction Center's database begins in 1950, the start of what it calls the modern era of tornado record-keeping.
Analysis
Kentucky's 19 deaths came almost entirely from one tornado, the May 16 EF4 that killed 18. Tornadoes also injured 260 people nationwide. The toll was far below the record of 550 deaths in 2011, the deadliest year since 1950 according to the Storm Prediction Center.
Key Findings
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Kentucky leads in Tornado Deaths with 19 in 2025.
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Average Tornado Deaths in 2025: 6.70 · median: 3.
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Gap in 2025: Kentucky is 19× larger than Oklahoma.
Data Insights
Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart
Methodology & source
- Data source
- NOAA Storm Prediction Center (Severe Weather Database)
- Coverage
- 10 entities · 2025 · 10 observations
- Measure
- Tornado Deaths
- Last updated
- 29 September 2026
- Compiled by
- The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
How the figures are calculated
- Values are shown as reported by the source. Nothing is rescaled, rebased or converted — the only changes are thousand separators and decimals shown to two places.
- Entities are ranked highest-first on their value in 2025.
An article using this data
Which State Had the Most Tornadoes in 2025? Illinois and Texas Tied With 126 Each
NOAA's final data counts 1,383 US tornadoes in 2025. Illinois and Texas tied for the most with 126, North Dakota had 82, more than two and a half times its aver...
Data Sources & References
All external sources cited in this dataset
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