Pottawattamie County, Iowa: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Iowa by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 9 deaths in 9 fatal crashes in Pottawattamie County in 2024.

FARS records 118 deaths in 115 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 12.6 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Iowa in the same years is 11.0.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Pottawattamie County was number 4 of 99 counties of Iowa.

Deaths in Pottawattamie County fell by 18.6% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (145) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (118).

In the counties of Iowa the deaths fell by 10.1% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 60.0% of the fatal crashes in Pottawattamie County with a known setting were rural, against 71.5% in Iowa.

To qualify as a FARS case, the crash had to involve a motor vehicle traveling on a trafficway customarily open to the public and must have resulted in the death of a motorist or a non-motorist within 30 days of the crash.
The set of first files, known as the Annual Report File (ARF), is released following the crash year. The ARF is replaced about a year later with a final file, which contains additional cases or updates to cases that had become available after the ARF was released.
NHTSA's words. Source: NHTSA, Fatality Analysis Reporting System Analytical User's Manual, 1975-2024 (DOT HS 813 794, April 2026), copied on 2 Oct 2026.

This page rests on the FARS 2024 annual file. NHTSA released it on 1 Apr 2026. NHTSA can revise the counts in the final file. Release dates

Figure 1.Deaths in Pottawattamie County by year, 2015 to 2024

Table 1 has the numbers. Go to the table

Since the last update: no figure of this county has a change on record.

Deaths and fatal crashes by year

Table 1.Pottawattamie County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	9	9	1 or 2
2023	13	13	1 or 2
2022	10	10	1 or 2
2021	11	11	3
2020	13	13	1 or 2
2019	13	12	1 or 2
2018	11	11	0
2017	12	10	3
2016	13	13	1 or 2
2015	13	13	3
2015 to 2024	118	115	20

Each year from 1975

Figure 2.Deaths in Pottawattamie County by year, 1975 to 2024

Tallest column: 28 (1976)2024: 9

The columns with a stronger shade are the years 2015 to 2024.

Table 2.Pottawattamie County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	9	9
2023	13	13
2022	10	10
2021	11	11
2020	13	13
2019	13	12
2018	11	11
2017	12	10
2016	13	13
2015	13	13
2014	16	14
2013	9	9
2012	12	10
2011	14	13
2010	13	12
2009	12	12
2008	24	19
2007	13	11
2006	13	12
2005	19	17
2004	8	8
2003	19	15
2002	18	16
2001	17	15
2000	23	20
1999	14	12
1998	12	12
1997	13	11
1996	16	14
1995	11	10
1994	21	16
1993	20	17
1992	25	22
1991	15	14
1990	15	15
1989	15	15
1988	23	18
1987	27	23
1986	25	23
1985	14	13
1984	10	10
1983	24	20
1982	21	16
1981	26	24
1980	14	11
1979	16	12
1978	27	26
1977	25	23
1976	28	24
1975	13	11

Note: a count of 1 or 2 is written "1 or 2". A death is in FARS when it occurs in 30 days or less after the crash.

Rate for each 100,000 residents

Table 3.Pottawattamie County beside Iowa and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Pottawattamie County	Iowa	United States
2024	9.6	11.0	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	12.6	11.0	11.8

Note: the rate divides the deaths in the county by its residents. Persons who do not live in the county are in the deaths, not in the residents.

Population: Census Bureau estimates, vintage 2025. Pottawattamie County had 93,270 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Pottawattamie County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Iowa
A driver recorded as drinkingof 115 fatal crashes	20	115 fatal crashes	17.4%	25.4%
A speeding-related driverof 115 fatal crashes	23	115 fatal crashes	20.0%	20.2%
No restraint usedof 54 occupant deaths with restraint use known	30	54 occupant deathswith restraint use known	55.6%	48.1%
Pedestriansof 118 deaths	16	118 deaths	13.6%	7.1%
Bicyclistsof 118 deaths	3	118 deaths	2.5%	2.0%
Motorcyclistsof 118 deaths	29	118 deaths	24.6%	15.7%
On a rural roadof 115 fatal crashes with the condition reported	69	115 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	60.0%	71.5%
In the darkof 113 fatal crashes with the condition reported	42	113 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	37.2%	39.9%

Note: FARS records a driver as drinking when police reported alcohol involvement or a test of the driver was positive for alcohol. It is not NHTSA's alcohol-impaired measure, which uses a blood alcohol concentration of .08 g/dL or higher. One crash can be in two or more rows. NHTSA's definitions

Note that alcohol data is often missing. For that reason, this data element may under-count the actual number of drinking drivers.

NHTSA's words. Source: NHTSA, Fatality Analysis Reporting System Analytical User's Manual, 1975-2024 (DOT HS 813 794, April 2026), copied on 2 Oct 2026.

Weekday, time and road class

Table 5.Pottawattamie County: fatal crashes by weekday and time of day, 2015 to 2024
Weekday	Midnight to 6 a.m.	6 a.m. to noon	Noon to 6 p.m.	6 p.m. to midnight	All
Sunday	5	4	4	5	18
Monday	1 or 2	1 or 2	6	4	14
Tuesday	0	5	1 or 2	1 or 2	9
Wednesday	1 or 2	1 or 2	3	6	13
Thursday	0	3	5	4	12
Friday	1 or 2	6	7	6	20
Saturday	5	1 or 2	12	10	29
All days	15	24	39	37	115

Note: a cell with a stronger shade has a larger count. The table has the fatal crashes with a known hour and weekday.

Table 6.Pottawattamie County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Iowa
Interstate	41	35.7%	11.0%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	0.1%
Other principal arterial	11	9.6%	29.3%
Minor arterial	15	13.0%	17.4%
Major collector	21	18.3%	20.0%
Minor collector	4	3.5%	5.7%
Local	23	20.0%	16.4%
Not reported	0	n/a	n/a

Note: the classes are those of the Federal Highway Administration. The shares are of the crashes with a reported class. Road function classes

Light condition and weather

Table 7.Pottawattamie County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	67
Dark, not lighted	22
Dark, lighted	19
Dawn	1 or 2
Dusk	1 or 2
Dark, lighting unknown	1 or 2
Other or unknown	1 or 2

Table 8.Pottawattamie County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	87
Cloudy	10
Rain	9
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	1 or 2
Fog, smog or smoke	1 or 2
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	3
Other or not reported	3

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Pottawattamie County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Pottawattamie	In all of Iowa
Interstate 29	Interstate	13	43
Interstate 80	Interstate	24	165
State Route 92	State highway	3	27
US Route 6	US highway	7	56
US Route 59	US highway	1 or 2	22
US Route 75	US highway	1 or 2	25

Note: the table has each route with a page that has a fatal crash in the county, in name order. Local streets and county roads have no page. Their crashes are in the county totals. All routes in Iowa

Adjacent counties

These lists are for navigation. They are in name order.

Figure 3.Pottawattamie County on the county map of Iowa

Deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year, 2015 to 2024

Fewer than 1015 counties
10 to 14.941 counties
15 to 19.924 counties
20 to 29.915 counties
30 or more4 counties
Pottawattamie County: 12.6

The limits of the classes are the same for every state. A county with few residents can show a high rate from few deaths. A class is not a judgement of a county. The full map and the table of counties of Iowa

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Pottawattamie County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Cass County	Iowa	1 or 2	40	30.5
Harrison County	Iowa	0	31	21.6
Mills County	Iowa	3	32	21.6
Montgomery County	Iowa	1 or 2	14	13.8
Shelby County	Iowa	1 or 2	19	16.3
Douglas County	Nebraska	63	441	7.7
Sarpy County	Nebraska	8	106	5.6
Washington County	Nebraska	1 or 2	24	11.6

Source of the list: Census Bureau county adjacency file, 2026 edition.

Counties of similar population

These counties of Iowa have a population nearest to that of Pottawattamie County. The list is for navigation and is in name order. The number is the deaths from 2015 to 2024.

Official channels

NHTSA Fatality and Injury Reporting System Tool (FIRST)NHTSA's query tool for FARS counts.
NHTSA FARS EncyclopediaNHTSA's tables of FARS data.
Iowa Governor's Traffic Safety BureauThe highway safety office of Iowa.

These links go to the sites of the agencies. They were checked on 2 Oct 2026.

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Pottawattamie County, Iowa: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/ia/pottawattamie/. Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, FARS 2024 annual file. Data to 31 Dec 2024.

The address of this page does not change.

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Source of the figures

Counts: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, national files of 1975 to 2024. The factors use the vehicle and person files from 2015. Residents: Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, vintage 2025. Map: Census Bureau cartographic boundary file, 2021 edition. Data to 31 Dec 2024. The figures are totals. No page of this site is about one crash or one person.

How the figures are made. Data sources and licences. Corrections.

Questions

How many deaths did FARS record in Pottawattamie in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 145 deaths in Pottawattamie County from 2005 to 2014. It records 118 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Pottawattamie in 2024?

The rate of Pottawattamie County in 2024 was 9.6 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Iowa was 11.0. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

How many fatal crashes in Pottawattamie had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 20 of 115 fatal crashes from 2015 to 2024. This count is not NHTSA's alcohol-impaired measure. NHTSA says that alcohol data is often missing, so the count may be too low.

How many fatal crashes did FARS record on signed routes in Pottawattamie?

6 signed routes in the county have a page. FARS records 49 fatal crashes on them in the county from 2015 to 2024. The table of routes on this page gives the count for each route.