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Fatal crash rate · State

Fatal crash rate in Kentucky

Fatal crashes recorded by NHTSA in Kentucky, 2020 to 2024, divided by the people who live there and the miles driven there. Fatal crashes only: not injuries, not all crashes, not traffic in general.

Kentucky2024 · fatal crashes recorded by NHTSA

14.5fatal crashes per 100,000 residents in 2024

In 2024, NHTSA recorded 663 fatal crashes in Kentucky, where 4,584,046 people lived. That is 14.5 fatal crashes for every 100,000 residents, and 707 people died in those crashes. Over 2020 to 2024 the average was 15.7. Per mile driven, Kentucky had 1.3 fatal crashes per 100 million vehicle-miles in 2024.

The road is a scale of fatal crashes per 100,000 residents in 2024, 0 to 40. The yellow post is Kentucky; the white posts are the United States.

Per 100,000
663 fatal crashes ÷ 4,584,046 residents × 100,000 = 14.5
Five-year
3,566 crashes (2020 to 2024) ÷ 22,671,856 resident-years × 100,000 = 15.7
Per 100M miles
663 fatal crashes ÷ 49,168 million vehicle-miles (2024) × 100 = 1.3
Same year
United States: 36,297 ÷ 340,003,797 = 10.7

Every year, 2020 to 2024

YearFatal crashesDeathsPopulationPer 100,000Vehicle-miles (millions)Per 100M miles
20207097804,508,27115.746,5361.5
20217348064,508,34816.348,1111.5
20226937444,521,23815.348,0471.4
20237678144,549,95316.948,9931.6
20246637074,584,04614.549,1681.3

2024 is NHTSA’s Annual Report File and will be revised when the final file replaces it. Populations are July 1 estimates, Census Vintage 2025.

What the record says about those crashes, 2020 to 2024

Every figure is a count of the 3,566 fatal crashes NHTSA coded to Kentucky over five years, from the fields FARS records. Nothing is estimated or inferred.

Road typeCrashesShare
Interstate38611%
Other freeway or expressway552%
Other principal arterial80523%
Minor arterial82423%
Major collector58216%
Minor collector35510%
Local road54815%
Unknown or not reported110%
Rural2,21362%
Urban1,34538%
Time of dayCrashesShare
Midnight to 5:59 am57416%
6 am to 11:59 am68819%
Noon to 5:59 pm1,20934%
6 pm to 11:59 pm1,09231%
Hour unknown30%
LightCrashesShare
Daylight1,90553%
Dark, not lighted (or lighting unknown)1,09931%
Dark, lighted40611%
Dawn or dusk1474%
Unknown or not reported90%
WeatherCrashesShare
Clear2,49270%
Cloudy63818%
Rain3239%
Snow, sleet or freezing rain291%
Fog, smog or smoke451%
Severe wind, blowing sand or other140%
Unknown or not reported251%
InvolvingCrashesShare
A pedestrian47613%
A bicyclist or other cyclist552%
A speeding-related vehicle58016%
A driver police reported as drinking65618%

Road type is FARS FUNC_SYS; speeding is any vehicle coded SPEEDREL 2 to 5; drinking is any driver coded DRINKING = 1 (police-reported, not a blood-alcohol test). Road names are the trafficway strings as the police coded them, counted as written, so the same road can appear under two spellings.

Counties in Kentucky

Alphabetical, with each county’s 2024 fatal crashes and rate per 100,000. The site does not rank them: a small county’s rate swings on one crash.

How this is counted

  • Fatal crashes are rows in NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) file FARS2024NationalCSV.zip, accident.csv, one row per crash on a public road in which someone died within 30 days. Deaths are the FATALS field. Counties are the FARS STATE and COUNTY codes joined to Census FIPS codes.
  • Population is the Census Bureau’s July 1 estimate for the same year, county totals, Vintage 2025. Rate per 100,000 = crashes ÷ population × 100,000.
  • Vehicle-miles are FHWA Highway Statistics table VM-2, total annual travel by state. Rate per 100 million vehicle-miles = crashes ÷ miles × 100,000,000, the form the federal safety rule uses (23 CFR 490.207). FHWA publishes no county vehicle-miles, so county pages have no per-mile rate.
  • The five-year average is total crashes over the years with both inputs ÷ total population over those years × 100,000, the rolling form in 23 CFR 490.207.
  • What it cannot say. FARS has no injury-only or property-damage crashes, no congestion, and nothing about any one driver, trip or road’s risk. A crash is counted where it happened, not where the people lived. Rates are not ranked here; comparing two places means comparing both sets of inputs.

Informational only, not professional advice. Last reviewed: October 2026. Data snapshot built 2026-10-28.