Kankakee County, Illinois: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Illinois by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 23 deaths in 19 fatal crashes in Kankakee County in 2024.

FARS records 166 deaths in 156 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 15.3 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, Kankakee County was number 13 of 102 counties of Illinois.

Deaths in Kankakee County rose by 16.1% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (143) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (166).

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

From 2015 to 2024, 66.0% of the fatal crashes in Kankakee 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 Kankakee 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.Kankakee County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	23	19	7
2023	14	13	4
2022	15	14	4
2021	19	18	3
2020	15	15	5
2019	18	18	6
2018	12	12	5
2017	18	17	10
2016	23	21	7
2015	9	9	3
2015 to 2024	166	156	54

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 32 (1979)2024: 23

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

Table 2.Kankakee County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	23	19
2023	14	13
2022	15	14
2021	19	18
2020	15	15
2019	18	18
2018	12	12
2017	18	17
2016	23	21
2015	9	9
2014	14	13
2013	14	12
2012	19	19
2011	16	16
2010	7	7
2009	10	10
2008	16	14
2007	17	16
2006	8	7
2005	22	21
2004	25	22
2003	16	16
2002	20	17
2001	25	20
2000	11	11
1999	25	15
1998	22	20
1997	18	18
1996	31	28
1995	30	24
1994	29	25
1993	20	16
1992	22	19
1991	13	12
1990	31	26
1989	19	17
1988	23	19
1987	27	24
1986	16	16
1985	20	18
1984	11	10
1983	23	21
1982	15	15
1981	15	15
1980	21	19
1979	32	25
1978	18	18
1977	20	20
1976	30	27
1975	31	25

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.Kankakee County beside Illinois and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Kankakee County	Illinois	United States
2024	21.7	9.3	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	15.3	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. Kankakee County had 105,814 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Kankakee County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Illinois
A driver recorded as drinkingof 156 fatal crashes	54	156 fatal crashes	34.6%	27.2%
A speeding-related driverof 156 fatal crashes	46	156 fatal crashes	29.5%	36.5%
No restraint usedof 113 occupant deaths with restraint use known	41	113 occupant deathswith restraint use known	36.3%	46.8%
Pedestriansof 166 deaths	15	166 deaths	9.0%	15.5%
Bicyclistsof 166 deaths	1 or 2	166 deaths	1.2%	2.5%
Motorcyclistsof 166 deaths	22	166 deaths	13.3%	13.3%
On a rural roadof 156 fatal crashes with the condition reported	103	156 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	66.0%	33.6%
In the darkof 155 fatal crashes with the condition reported	71	155 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	45.8%	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.Kankakee 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	9	6	10	10	35
Monday	4	3	8	6	21
Tuesday	5	5	7	5	22
Wednesday	4	1 or 2	5	1 or 2	13
Thursday	1 or 2	3	11	6	22
Friday	1 or 2	6	1 or 2	8	17
Saturday	4	5	6	10	25
All days	29	30	49	47	155

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.Kankakee County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Illinois
Interstate	14	9.0%	14.2%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	0.7%
Other principal arterial	46	29.5%	29.1%
Minor arterial	27	17.3%	24.5%
Major collector	38	24.4%	17.0%
Minor collector	9	5.8%	2.0%
Local	22	14.1%	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.Kankakee County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	78
Dark, not lighted	59
Dark, lighted	11
Dawn	5
Dusk	1 or 2
Dark, lighting unknown	1 or 2
Other or unknown	1 or 2

Table 8.Kankakee County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	130
Cloudy	4
Rain	8
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	9
Fog, smog or smoke	4
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	1 or 2
Other or not reported	0

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Kankakee County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Kankakee	In all of Illinois
Interstate 57	Interstate	13	223
State Route 1	State highway	14	111
State Route 17	State highway	23	38
State Route 50	State highway	10	106
US Route 45	US highway	18	130
US Route 52	US highway	1 or 2	42

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.Kankakee 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
Kankakee County: 15.3

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 Kankakee County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Ford County	Illinois	5	36	27.0
Grundy County	Illinois	9	88	16.9
Iroquois County	Illinois	6	95	35.0
Livingston County	Illinois	8	81	22.7
Will County	Illinois	58	563	8.1
Lake County	Indiana	36	539	10.9
Newton County	Indiana	6	53	38.0

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 Kankakee 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. Kankakee County, Illinois: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/il/kankakee/. 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.

Embed this card on your site

Copy this code into your page. The card shows the figures above with their source. A line under the card links to this page.

<iframe src="https://fatalroads.com/embed/county/il/kankakee/" title="Fatal crashes in Kankakee County, Illinois" width="100%" height="300" style="border:0;max-width:640px" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p style="margin:4px 0 0;font-size:13px"><a href="https://fatalroads.com/county/il/kankakee/">Fatal crashes in Kankakee County, Illinois</a>, from fatalroads.com</p>

How embedding works. It is free. Keep the link in the card and the link line under it.

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 Kankakee in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 143 deaths in Kankakee County from 2005 to 2014. It records 166 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Kankakee in 2024?

The rate of Kankakee County in 2024 was 21.7 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 Kankakee had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 54 of 156 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 Kankakee?

6 signed routes in the county have a page. FARS records 79 fatal crashes on them in the county from 2015 to 2024. The table of routes on this page gives the count for each route.