There is no stress and worry quite like the stress of being the parent of a new teen driver. WalletHub released a reassuring report, showing that New Jersey is one of the best states for teen drivers for 2025.
In order to determine the safest areas, WalletHub compared the 50 states based on 23 key metrics, ranging from the number of teen driver fatalities to the average cost of car repairs to the presence of impaired-driving laws.
According to the study, New Jersey ranks:
3rd overall
1st for safety
1st for the presence of distracted driving and texting-while-driving laws
1st for the provision of teen drivers graduated licensing program laws
1st for the presence of impaired driving laws
3rd lowest percentage of teen drivers who drive under the influence of alcohol
3rd fewest teen driver fatalities per 10,000 teens
7th for the presence of occupant protection laws
8th for the quality of roads
9th for vehicle miles traveled per capita
11th lowest percentage of teens who text while driving
14th for overall driving laws
17th for economic environment rank (i.e. cost of speeding ticket, cost of car repairs, average gas price, etc.)
In New Jersey, 93 percent of teen drivers wear their seatbelt, according to the report.
In February, New Jersey enacted a law that now requires 50 hours of proper instruction from the time a teenager receives their permit to when they get their license, aside from the usual 6 hours required from a licensed driving school.
Car crashes are the leading cause of death for individuals aged 16 to 19, a group that also faces the highest crash risk, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 2,800 teens in the U.S. ages 13–19 were killed, and about 227,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes in 2020. That means that every day, about eight teens died due to car crashes, and hundreds more were injured.
This can be financially costly, too, since crashes involving teens ages 13 to 19 lead to approximately $40.7 billion in medical bills every year; plus added costs for vehicle maintenance, rising insurance premiums and traffic tickets, according to the CDC.
These are the Best States for Teen Drivers for 2025, according to WalletHub:
- New York
- Oregon
- New Jersey
- West Virginia
- Kentucky
- Rhode Island
- Indiana
- Massachusetts
- Indiana
- California
New Jersey has ranked 3rd for the past two years, both in 2024 and 2023.
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Read More:
New Law Requires 50 Practice Driving Hours For Teens Before Getting Their License
Traffic Crashes Are No. 1 Cause of Preventable Death for Teens
11 Things We Wish We’d Known Before Our Teen Started Driving
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