Clay County, Illinois: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Illinois by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 5 deaths in 5 fatal crashes in Clay County in 2024.

FARS records 25 deaths in 22 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 19.0 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Illinois in the same years is 9.0.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Clay County was number 73 of 102 counties of Illinois.

Deaths in Clay County rose by 13.6% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (22) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (25).

In the counties of Illinois the deaths rose by 8.4% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 86.4% of the fatal crashes in Clay County with a known setting were rural, against 33.6% in Illinois.

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 Clay County by year, 2015 to 2024

1 or 2

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.Clay County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	5	5	1 or 2
2023	3	1 or 2	1 or 2
2022	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2021	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2020	3	3	1 or 2
2019	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2
2018	3	1 or 2	1 or 2
2017	3	1 or 2	1 or 2
2016	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2015	0	0	0
2015 to 2024	25	22	6

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 6 (1997)2024: 5

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

Table 2.Clay County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	5	5
2023	3	1 or 2
2022	1 or 2	1 or 2
2021	1 or 2	1 or 2
2020	3	3
2019	1 or 2	1 or 2
2018	3	1 or 2
2017	3	1 or 2
2016	1 or 2	1 or 2
2015	0	0
2014	1 or 2	1 or 2
2013	0	0
2012	1 or 2	1 or 2
2011	6	6
2010	1 or 2	1 or 2
2009	1 or 2	1 or 2
2008	4	4
2007	1 or 2	1 or 2
2006	0	0
2005	3	3
2004	4	4
2003	3	1 or 2
2002	1 or 2	1 or 2
2001	4	3
2000	4	3
1999	3	3
1998	3	3
1997	6	6
1996	4	3
1995	4	3
1994	5	4
1993	3	1 or 2
1992	0	0
1991	0	0
1990	1 or 2	1 or 2
1989	3	1 or 2
1988	1 or 2	1 or 2
1987	5	4
1986	3	1 or 2
1985	3	3
1984	3	1 or 2
1983	1 or 2	1 or 2
1982	1 or 2	1 or 2
1981	3	3
1980	4	4
1979	1 or 2	1 or 2
1978	5	4
1977	1 or 2	1 or 2
1976	3	1 or 2
1975	5	5

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.Clay County beside Illinois and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Clay County	Illinois	United States
2024	38.9	9.3	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	19.0	9.0	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. Clay County had 12,845 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Clay County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Illinois
A driver recorded as drinkingof 22 fatal crashes	6	22 fatal crashes	27.3%	27.2%
A speeding-related driverof 22 fatal crashes	11	22 fatal crashes	50.0%	36.5%
No restraint usedof 18 occupant deaths with restraint use known	10	18 occupant deathswith restraint use known	55.6%	46.8%
Pedestriansof 25 deaths	3	25 deaths	12.0%	15.5%
Bicyclistsof 25 deaths	0	25 deaths	0.0%	2.5%
Motorcyclistsof 25 deaths	1 or 2	25 deaths	8.0%	13.3%
On a rural roadof 22 fatal crashes with the condition reported	19	22 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	86.4%	33.6%
In the darkof 22 fatal crashes with the condition reported	12	22 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	54.5%	48.7%

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.Clay 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	1 or 2	1 or 2	0	1 or 2	3
Monday	0	0	0	0	0
Tuesday	0	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2
Wednesday	1 or 2	0	3	0	4
Thursday	1 or 2	0	0	0	1 or 2
Friday	0	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	3
Saturday	3	0	1 or 2	4	8
All days	7	1 or 2	7	7	22

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.Clay County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Illinois
Interstate	0	0.0%	14.2%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	0.7%
Other principal arterial	9	40.9%	29.1%
Minor arterial	1 or 2	4.5%	24.5%
Major collector	7	31.8%	17.0%
Minor collector	1 or 2	9.1%	2.0%
Local	3	13.6%	12.5%
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.Clay County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	8
Dark, not lighted	8
Dark, lighted	1 or 2
Dawn	1 or 2
Dusk	0
Dark, lighting unknown	1 or 2
Other or unknown	0

Table 8.Clay County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	16
Cloudy	0
Rain	4
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	1 or 2
Fog, smog or smoke	1 or 2
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	0
Other or not reported	0

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Clay County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Clay	In all of Illinois
US Route 45	US highway	3	130
US Route 50	US highway	6	55

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 Illinois

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Clay County on the county map of Illinois

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

Fewer than 1016 counties
10 to 14.926 counties
15 to 19.927 counties
20 to 29.928 counties
30 or more5 counties
Clay County: 19.0

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 Illinois

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Clay County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Effingham County	Illinois	7	76	22.1
Fayette County	Illinois	1 or 2	53	24.8
Jasper County	Illinois	1 or 2	22	23.5
Marion County	Illinois	3	74	19.8
Richland County	Illinois	4	28	17.9
Wayne County	Illinois	1 or 2	33	20.4

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of Illinois have a population nearest to that of Clay 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.
Illinois Department of TransportationThe highway safety office of Illinois.

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Clay County, Illinois: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/il/clay/. 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.

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 Clay in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 22 deaths in Clay County from 2005 to 2014. It records 25 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Clay in 2024?

The rate of Clay County in 2024 was 38.9 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Illinois was 9.3. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 6 of 22 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 Clay?

FARS records 3 fatal crashes on US Route 45 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 6 fatal crashes on US Route 50 in the county from 2015 to 2024.