Study: Missouri Is 2025’s Second Worst State For Teen Drivers

With late summer being a popular time for teens to get driver’s licenses and an average of eight teens dying every day from motor vehicle injuries, the personal-finance website WalletHub has released its report on 2025’s Best & Worst States for Teen Drivers, as well as expert commentary.

In order to determine the safest and least costly driving environments for U.S. teenagers, WalletHub compared the 50 states based on 23 key metrics. The data set ranges from the number of teen driver fatalities to the average cost of car repairs to the presence of impaired-driving laws.

Teenage Driving in Missouri (1=Best; 25=Avg.):

Overall Rank: 49th
45th – Teen Driver Fatalities per 100,000 Teens
38th – Teen DUIs per 100,000 Teens
47th – Presence of Distracted-Driving/Texting-While-Driving Laws
34th – Premium Increase After Adding Teen Driver to Parent’s Policy
15th – Provision of Teen Driver’s Graduated Licensing Program Laws
46th – Vehicle Miles Traveled per Capita
29th – Presence of Occupant-Protection Laws
43rd – Quality of Roads
47th – Presence of Impaired-Driving Laws

For the full report, click here.

“Learning to drive is an exciting experience for teens, but the process is equally nerve-wracking for their parents, who know the risks of driving from experience. The best states for teen drivers promote safety through easy access to driving classes, strict laws for bad behavior on the road and well-maintained roads. They also have residents who drive safely and obey the laws. In addition, some states minimize the costs for insurance and gas, which is a big plus when prices are inflated.”
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“New York is the best state for teen drivers, despite traffic congestion in its biggest cities, in large part due to the fact that it has the second-fewest teen driver fatalities per capita. In addition, New York has the fourth-lowest percentage of drivers who use phones while driving and the third-lowest prevalence of poor turning. When it comes to teens specifically, New York has the fifth-fewest DUI arrests per capita and the seventh-lowest rate of texting while driving.”

- Chip Lupo, WalletHub Analyst

Expert Commentary

What tips do you have for parents of teen drivers?

“Talk to your children about how important it is to drive safe. Some interesting statistics about the road fatalities may help them to understand how dangerous driving can be. Did you know that more Americans died in car crashes than in all of the wars that the USA have fought (starting with the Revolutionary War against Britain and ending with the most recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan)?”
Aleksandar Stevanovic, PhD, PE – Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh

“Use the best driver's training program in your area. Most states have a minimum number of hours required behind the wheel before one can take a driver's test, double that number. Yes, it means your teen will not get their license at the same time as their friends, but they will have more practice in various driving scenarios. If you live in a state with four seasons, enroll your teen in a winter driving course. There's a real art to driving in the snow.”
Angela Neal-Barnett – Professor, Kent State University

What is the biggest risk that teen drivers face?

“The crash risk of teenagers is directly related to their inattention, distraction and overconfidence, combined with an undeveloped frontal cortex which is responsible for more reliable assessment of risk, particularly for males younger than about 25 years of age. All four are hard to control. Safety schools help drive the point across. Also, your teenager needs to be reminded daily ‘one and done’. If they get into a crash due to their fault, their driving privileges will be revoked for an extended period.”
Panos D. Prevedouros, PhD – Professor Emeritus, University of Hawaii at Mānoa

“The biggest risk facing teen drivers is that their brains are still growing and have not yet reached adult maturity. Driving requires focus, avoiding distractions, making quick but thoughtful decisions, tolerating frustration, and placing safety at the forefront of every driving behavior. These are skills that adolescent brains are still learning, so this is a prime time for practicing these skills (and learning to drive can provide this practice), but it takes time and mistakes are an expected process of any new learning.”
Penny Haney – Professor of the Practice, Boston College

Should we increase the age at which an individual is eligible for a license to 18?

“Not necessarily. The danger of teen driving does not come from a person’s inability to physically or mentally process the driving tasks – it comes from poor understanding of how certain actions could be fatal. More training and more attention given to those actions can improve teen driving and this is not about the age.”
Aleksandar Stevanovic, PhD, PE – Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh

“Increasing the age to 18 would be more consistent with what science has learned about adolescent brain development….i.e., ages 15-17 are the most fluid years of adolescent brain development and the years in which teenagers are at the height of risk-taking and are still the most susceptible to impulsivity and peer influence.”
Penny Haney – Professor of the Practice, Boston College