US counties by traffic fatalities
Los Angeles County had the highest traffic fatalities of 3130 counties in 2021, at 851. Ziebach County had the lowest, at 0. The median was 6 and the figure for the United States was 43,230. Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Top 40 counties, 2021
Full ranking
Other periods
About this ranking
People killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes during the year. FARS counts people who die within 30 days of a crash involving a motor vehicle travelling on a public road, by the place of the crash, not of residence.
A police-based count of deaths. It differs from death certificate counts (CDC) and from the WHO road traffic death rate (road_traffic_death_rate), which is modelled for international comparison.
Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the counties are compared on one definition. 2 counties with data in other periods have no value for 2021 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.
How to cite
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Fatality Analysis Reporting System. Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), national CSV files: people killed (sum of FATALS in accident.csv) by county of the crash. https://static.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/downloads/FARS/2021/National/FARS2021NationalCSV.zip. Retrieved 2026-10-12.Citation styles
APA 7
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (2026). Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), national CSV files: people killed (sum of FATALS in accident.csv) by county of the crash (US counties by traffic fatalities, 2021) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://static.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/downloads/FARS/2021/National/FARS2021NationalCSV.zip
MLA 9
Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), national CSV files: people killed (sum of FATALS in accident.csv) by county of the crash, US counties by traffic fatalities, 2021. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 24 June 2026, https://static.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/downloads/FARS/2021/National/FARS2021NationalCSV.zip. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/traffic-fatalities/us-counties?period=2021. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.
Chicago (author-date)
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 2026. Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), national CSV files: people killed (sum of FATALS in accident.csv) by county of the crash. US counties by traffic fatalities, 2021. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://static.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/downloads/FARS/2021/National/FARS2021NationalCSV.zip. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/traffic-fatalities/us-counties?period=2021.
Harvard
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2026) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), national CSV files: people killed (sum of FATALS in accident.csv) by county of the crash, US counties by traffic fatalities, 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://static.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/downloads/FARS/2021/National/FARS2021NationalCSV.zip, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/traffic-fatalities/us-counties?period=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{national_us_counties_by_traffic_2021,
author = {{National Highway Traffic Safety Administration}},
title = {{Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), national CSV files: people killed (sum of FATALS in accident.csv) by county of the crash: US counties by traffic fatalities, 2021}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Data set},
url = {https://static.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/downloads/FARS/2021/National/FARS2021NationalCSV.zip},
urldate = {2026-10-12},
note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/traffic-fatalities/us-counties?period=2021. Publisher attribution: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Fatality Analysis Reporting System. Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), national CSV files: people killed (sum of FATALS in accident.csv) by county of the crash. https://static.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/downloads/FARS/2021/National/FARS2021NationalCSV.zip. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY - DATA
AU - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
TI - Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), national CSV files: people killed (sum of FATALS in accident.csv) by county of the crash: US counties by traffic fatalities, 2021
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/24
PB - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
DB - Invokely
UR - https://static.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/downloads/FARS/2021/National/FARS2021NationalCSV.zip
L2 - https://invokely.ai/rankings/traffic-fatalities/us-counties?period=2021
Y2 - 2026/10/12
N1 - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/traffic-fatalities/us-counties?period=2021.
N1 - Publisher attribution: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Fatality Analysis Reporting System. Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), national CSV files: people killed (sum of FATALS in accident.csv) by county of the crash. https://static.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/downloads/FARS/2021/National/FARS2021NationalCSV.zip. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER -
Use this data in your AI agent
Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:
Rank US counties by traffic fatalities using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"traffic_fatalities","level":"province","within":"United States","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=traffic_fatalities&level=province&within=United%20States&limit=10Questions
Which county has the highest traffic fatalities?
Los Angeles County, with 851 in 2021, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Which county has the lowest traffic fatalities?
Ziebach County, with 0 in 2021.
Where does this ranking come from?
Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), national CSV files: people killed (sum of FATALS in accident.csv) by county of the crash. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 2 counties have no value for 2021 and are not ranked.