Rice County, Minnesota: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Minnesota by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 4 deaths in 4 fatal crashes in Rice County in 2024.

FARS records 52 deaths in 49 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 7.7 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, Rice County was number 26 of 87 counties of Minnesota.

Deaths in Rice County fell by 24.6% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (69) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (52).

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

From 2015 to 2024, 25.0% of the fatal crashes in Rice County with known light were in the dark, against 38.5% 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 Rice 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.Rice County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	4	4	1 or 2
2023	12	10	1 or 2
2022	4	4	1 or 2
2021	5	5	1 or 2
2020	8	8	3
2019	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2018	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2017	4	4	1 or 2
2016	6	6	3
2015	5	4	0
2015 to 2024	52	49	13

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 20 (1978)2024: 4

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

Table 2.Rice County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	4	4
2023	12	10
2022	4	4
2021	5	5
2020	8	8
2019	1 or 2	1 or 2
2018	1 or 2	1 or 2
2017	4	4
2016	6	6
2015	5	4
2014	6	5
2013	5	5
2012	4	4
2011	1 or 2	1 or 2
2010	4	4
2009	4	4
2008	12	11
2007	4	4
2006	13	11
2005	15	12
2004	9	8
2003	11	11
2002	14	14
2001	13	11
2000	20	18
1999	11	10
1998	10	9
1997	7	5
1996	3	3
1995	8	7
1994	8	5
1993	13	10
1992	10	9
1991	11	9
1990	9	7
1989	5	5
1988	11	9
1987	7	7
1986	5	4
1985	3	3
1984	12	8
1983	6	6
1982	5	5
1981	9	7
1980	12	10
1979	10	9
1978	20	17
1977	18	16
1976	13	11
1975	12	9

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.Rice County beside Minnesota and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Rice County	Minnesota	United States
2024	5.8	8.2	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	7.7	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. Rice County had 69,545 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Rice County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Minnesota
A driver recorded as drinkingof 49 fatal crashes	13	49 fatal crashes	26.5%	30.3%
A speeding-related driverof 49 fatal crashes	9	49 fatal crashes	18.4%	27.1%
No restraint usedof 44 occupant deaths with restraint use known	14	44 occupant deathswith restraint use known	31.8%	39.8%
Pedestriansof 52 deaths	3	52 deaths	5.8%	11.1%
Bicyclistsof 52 deaths	1 or 2	52 deaths	1.9%	1.9%
Motorcyclistsof 52 deaths	4	52 deaths	7.7%	15.5%
On a rural roadof 49 fatal crashes with the condition reported	33	49 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	67.3%	57.8%
In the darkof 48 fatal crashes with the condition reported	12	48 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	25.0%	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.Rice 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	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	3
Tuesday	1 or 2	1 or 2	6	1 or 2	10
Wednesday	1 or 2	1 or 2	0	0	3
Thursday	1 or 2	1 or 2	3	3	8
Friday	0	4	7	0	11
Saturday	3	3	1 or 2	1 or 2	9
All days	9	13	21	6	49

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.Rice County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Minnesota
Interstate	8	16.3%	8.5%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	2.6%
Other principal arterial	4	8.2%	22.0%
Minor arterial	21	42.9%	32.2%
Major collector	10	20.4%	18.9%
Minor collector	3	6.1%	5.1%
Local	3	6.1%	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.Rice County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	33
Dark, not lighted	11
Dark, lighted	1 or 2
Dawn	0
Dusk	3
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	1 or 2

Table 8.Rice County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	31
Cloudy	8
Rain	5
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	1 or 2
Fog, smog or smoke	1 or 2
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	1 or 2
Other or not reported	1 or 2

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Rice County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Rice	In all of Minnesota
Interstate 35	Interstate	8	84
State Route 19	State highway	6	22
State Route 60	State highway	8	28

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.Rice 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
Rice County: 7.7

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 Rice County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Dakota County	Minnesota	23	185	4.3
Dodge County	Minnesota	1 or 2	25	12.0
Goodhue County	Minnesota	4	53	11.2
Le Sueur County	Minnesota	7	39	13.6
Scott County	Minnesota	8	79	5.3
Steele County	Minnesota	6	28	7.6
Waseca County	Minnesota	1 or 2	12	6.4

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 Rice 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. Rice County, Minnesota: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/mn/rice/. 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 Rice in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 69 deaths in Rice County from 2005 to 2014. It records 52 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Rice in 2024?

The rate of Rice County in 2024 was 5.8 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 Rice had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 13 of 49 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 Rice?

FARS records 8 fatal crashes on Interstate 35 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 6 fatal crashes on State Route 19 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 8 fatal crashes on State Route 60 in the county from 2015 to 2024.