Cook County, Illinois: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Illinois by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 362 deaths in 333 fatal crashes in Cook County in 2024.

FARS records 3,325 deaths in 3,087 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 6.4 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, Cook County was number 1 of 102 counties of Illinois.

Deaths in Cook County rose by 16.7% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (2,850) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (3,325).

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

From 2015 to 2024, 0.8% of the fatal crashes in Cook 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 Cook County by year, 2015 to 2024

239

268

288

268

295

371

458

399

377

362

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.Cook County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	362	333	39
2023	377	357	40
2022	399	365	37
2021	458	419	57
2020	371	339	34
2019	295	285	62
2018	268	248	68
2017	288	265	85
2016	268	255	69
2015	239	221	58
2015 to 2024	3,325	3,087	549

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 615 (1977)2024: 362

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

Table 2.Cook County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	362	333
2023	377	357
2022	399	365
2021	458	419
2020	371	339
2019	295	285
2018	268	248
2017	288	265
2016	268	255
2015	239	221
2014	235	211
2013	250	231
2012	270	252
2011	234	213
2010	236	216
2009	264	244
2008	272	259
2007	348	308
2006	362	336
2005	379	349
2004	351	327
2003	406	379
2002	427	389
2001	402	377
2000	449	414
1999	398	376
1998	414	377
1997	423	380
1996	430	398
1995	437	409
1994	460	423
1993	422	402
1992	423	388
1991	419	386
1990	510	480
1989	547	504
1988	579	546
1987	536	497
1986	525	489
1985	497	462
1984	482	438
1983	451	423
1982	534	494
1981	505	478
1980	585	560
1979	581	539
1978	583	534
1977	615	558
1976	561	516
1975	574	536

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.Cook County beside Illinois and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Cook County	Illinois	United States
2024	7.0	9.3	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	6.4	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. Cook County had 5,188,791 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Cook County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Illinois
A driver recorded as drinkingof 3,087 fatal crashes	549	3,087 fatal crashes	17.8%	27.2%
A speeding-related driverof 3,087 fatal crashes	1,211	3,087 fatal crashes	39.2%	36.5%
No restraint usedof 1,157 occupant deaths with restraint use known	557	1,157 occupant deathswith restraint use known	48.1%	46.8%
Pedestriansof 3,325 deaths	932	3,325 deaths	28.0%	15.5%
Bicyclistsof 3,325 deaths	134	3,325 deaths	4.0%	2.5%
Motorcyclistsof 3,325 deaths	348	3,325 deaths	10.5%	13.3%
On a rural roadof 3,068 fatal crashes with the condition reported	24	3,068 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	0.8%	33.6%
In the darkof 3,068 fatal crashes with the condition reported	1,785	3,068 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	58.2%	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.Cook 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	263	68	98	163	592
Monday	116	69	107	130	422
Tuesday	76	59	74	104	313
Wednesday	85	59	94	125	363
Thursday	78	65	96	165	404
Friday	95	64	114	167	440
Saturday	191	74	100	182	547
All days	904	458	683	1,036	3,081

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.Cook County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Illinois
Interstate	517	16.9%	14.2%
Other freeways and expressways	24	0.8%	0.7%
Other principal arterial	966	31.5%	29.1%
Minor arterial	760	24.8%	24.5%
Major collector	480	15.6%	17.0%
Minor collector	30	1.0%	2.0%
Local	291	9.5%	12.5%
Not reported	19	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.Cook County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	1,158
Dark, not lighted	366
Dark, lighted	1,389
Dawn	49
Dusk	76
Dark, lighting unknown	30
Other or unknown	19

Table 8.Cook County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	2,594
Cloudy	109
Rain	254
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	64
Fog, smog or smoke	17
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	1 or 2
Other or not reported	47

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Cook County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Cook	In all of Illinois
Interstate 55	Interstate	48	263
Interstate 57	Interstate	72	223
Interstate 80	Interstate	31	133
Interstate 88	Interstate	1 or 2	51
Interstate 90	Interstate	81	110
Interstate 94	Interstate	141	165
Interstate 290	Interstate	73	91
Interstate 294	Interstate	69	69
State Route 1	State highway	48	111
State Route 19	State highway	29	38
State Route 38	State highway	1 or 2	39
State Route 43	State highway	65	71
State Route 50	State highway	88	106
State Route 53	State highway	7	46
State Route 58	State highway	23	24
State Route 59	State highway	13	48
State Route 64	State highway	33	72
State Route 72	State highway	22	40
State Route 83	State highway	77	119
State Route 171	State highway	34	47
State Route 394	State highway	16	24
US Route 6	US highway	32	75
US Route 12	US highway	66	91
US Route 14	US highway	23	42
US Route 20	US highway	26	107
US Route 30	US highway	43	101
US Route 34	US highway	5	67
US Route 40	US highway	1 or 2	34
US Route 41	US highway	64	96
US Route 45	US highway	12	130
US Route 150	US highway	1 or 2	66

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.Cook 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
Cook County: 6.4

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 Cook County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
DuPage County	Illinois	56	424	4.6
Kane County	Illinois	30	344	6.6
Lake County	Illinois	50	472	6.7
McHenry County	Illinois	27	228	7.4
Will County	Illinois	58	563	8.1
Lake County	Indiana	36	539	10.9
Porter County	Indiana	23	194	11.3
Berrien County	Michigan	17	191	12.4

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 Cook 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. Cook County, Illinois: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/il/cook/. 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 Cook in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 2,850 deaths in Cook County from 2005 to 2014. It records 3,325 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Cook in 2024?

The rate of Cook County in 2024 was 7.0 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 Cook had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 549 of 3,087 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 Cook?

31 signed routes in the county have a page. FARS records 1,245 fatal crashes on them in the county from 2015 to 2024. The table of routes on this page gives the count for each route.