Clay County, Minnesota: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Minnesota by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 7 deaths in 5 fatal crashes in Clay County in 2024.

FARS records 45 deaths in 38 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 6.9 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Minnesota in the same years is 7.3.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Clay County was number 29 of 87 counties of Minnesota.

Deaths in Clay County fell by 11.8% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (51) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (45).

In the counties of Minnesota the deaths fell by 5.7% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, pedestrians were 0.0% of the deaths in Clay County and 11.1% in Minnesota.

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	7	5	1 or 2
2023	6	6	1 or 2
2022	8	6	0
2021	3	3	1 or 2
2020	7	6	1 or 2
2019	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2018	4	4	1 or 2
2017	4	3	0
2016	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2015	3	1 or 2	1 or 2
2015 to 2024	45	38	8

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 20 (1980)2024: 7

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	7	5
2023	6	6
2022	8	6
2021	3	3
2020	7	6
2019	1 or 2	1 or 2
2018	4	4
2017	4	3
2016	1 or 2	1 or 2
2015	3	1 or 2
2014	4	4
2013	6	5
2012	4	4
2011	1 or 2	1 or 2
2010	8	5
2009	3	3
2008	4	4
2007	6	5
2006	9	7
2005	5	5
2004	7	6
2003	8	8
2002	13	12
2001	9	9
2000	8	6
1999	10	9
1998	10	8
1997	7	6
1996	4	4
1995	12	7
1994	6	6
1993	3	3
1992	5	5
1991	8	6
1990	8	7
1989	11	9
1988	9	7
1987	1 or 2	1 or 2
1986	4	4
1985	1 or 2	1 or 2
1984	7	7
1983	7	7
1982	6	5
1981	6	6
1980	20	15
1979	10	9
1978	11	9
1977	17	14
1976	18	12
1975	16	12

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 Minnesota and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Clay County	Minnesota	United States
2024	10.4	8.2	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	6.9	7.3	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 67,339 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 Minnesota
A driver recorded as drinkingof 38 fatal crashes	8	38 fatal crashes	21.1%	30.3%
A speeding-related driverof 38 fatal crashes	9	38 fatal crashes	23.7%	27.1%
No restraint usedof 39 occupant deaths with restraint use known	14	39 occupant deathswith restraint use known	35.9%	39.8%
Pedestriansof 45 deaths	0	45 deaths	0.0%	11.1%
Bicyclistsof 45 deaths	0	45 deaths	0.0%	1.9%
Motorcyclistsof 45 deaths	3	45 deaths	6.7%	15.5%
On a rural roadof 38 fatal crashes with the condition reported	24	38 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	63.2%	57.8%
In the darkof 38 fatal crashes with the condition reported	12	38 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	31.6%	38.5%

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	1 or 2	0	5
Monday	0	0	1 or 2	3	5
Tuesday	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	4
Wednesday	0	1 or 2	3	1 or 2	6
Thursday	0	1 or 2	0	0	1 or 2
Friday	0	1 or 2	5	0	7
Saturday	1 or 2	4	3	1 or 2	10
All days	4	11	15	8	38

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 Minnesota
Interstate	8	21.1%	8.5%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	2.6%
Other principal arterial	5	13.2%	22.0%
Minor arterial	12	31.6%	32.2%
Major collector	6	15.8%	18.9%
Minor collector	3	7.9%	5.1%
Local	4	10.5%	10.7%
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	25
Dark, not lighted	8
Dark, lighted	3
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	26
Cloudy	8
Rain	1 or 2
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	1 or 2
Fog, smog or smoke	0
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	0
Other or not reported	1 or 2

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 Minnesota
Interstate 94	Interstate	8	97
US Route 10	US highway	4	71

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 Minnesota

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Clay County on the county map of Minnesota

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

Fewer than 1028 counties
10 to 14.934 counties
15 to 19.916 counties
20 to 29.99 counties
30 or more0 counties
Clay County: 6.9

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 Minnesota

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
Becker County	Minnesota	9	53	15.3
Norman County	Minnesota	1 or 2	12	18.6
Otter Tail County	Minnesota	10	64	10.8
Wilkin County	Minnesota	1 or 2	9	14.2
Cass County	North Dakota	7	88	4.8
Richland County	North Dakota	1 or 2	31	18.9

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of Minnesota 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.
Governors Highway Safety Association: State Highway Safety OfficesThe list of the highway safety offices of the states.

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Clay County, Minnesota: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/mn/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 51 deaths in Clay County from 2005 to 2014. It records 45 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Clay in 2024?

The rate of Clay County in 2024 was 10.4 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Minnesota was 8.2. 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 8 of 38 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 8 fatal crashes on Interstate 94 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 4 fatal crashes on US Route 10 in the county from 2015 to 2024.