Background Pancreaticoduodenectomy needs simple, validated risk models to better identify 30-day mortality. The goal of this study is to develop a simple risk score to predict 30-day mortality after pancreaticoduodenectomy. Methods We reviewed cases of pancreaticoduodenectomy from 2005–2012 in the American College of Surgeons-National Surgical Quality Improvement Program databases. Logistic regression was used to identify preoperative risk factors for morbidity and mortality from a development cohort. Scores were created using weighted beta coefficients, and predictive accuracy was assessed on the validation cohort using receiver operator characteristic curves and measuring area under the curve. Results The 30-day mortality rate was 2.7% for patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy ( n  = 14,993). We identified 8 independent risk factors. The score created from weighted beta coefficients had an area under the curve of 0.71 (95% confidence interval, 0.66–0.77) on the validation cohort. Using the score WH ipple- ABACUS (hypertension W ith medication +  H istory of cardiac surgery +  A ge >62 + 2 ×  B leeding disorder +  A lbumin <3.5 g/dL + 2 × disseminated C ancer + 2 ×  U se of steroids + 2 ×  S ystemic inflammatory response syndrome), mortality rates increase with increasing score ( P  < .001). Conclusion While other risk scores exist for 30-day mortality after pancreaticoduodenectomy, we present a simple, validated score developed using exclusively preoperative predictors surgeons could use to identify patients at risk for this procedure.