Jefferson County, Montana: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Montana by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 7 deaths in 7 fatal crashes in Jefferson County in 2024.

FARS records 52 deaths in 48 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 42.2 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Montana in the same years is 18.9.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Jefferson County was number 10 of 56 counties of Montana.

Deaths in Jefferson County fell by 17.5% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (63) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (52).

In the counties of Montana the deaths fell by 9.7% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 100.0% of the fatal crashes in Jefferson County with a known setting were rural, against 83.5% in Montana.

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 Jefferson 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.Jefferson County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	7	7	4
2023	3	3	1 or 2
2022	7	7	3
2021	13	10	3
2020	8	8	3
2019	3	3	1 or 2
2018	3	3	1 or 2
2017	3	3	0
2016	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2
2015	4	3	1 or 2
2015 to 2024	52	48	19

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 13 (2021)2024: 7

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

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

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.Jefferson County beside Montana and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Jefferson County	Montana	United States
2024	52.9	18.1	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	42.2	18.9	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. Jefferson County had 13,231 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Jefferson County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Montana
A driver recorded as drinkingof 48 fatal crashes	19	48 fatal crashes	39.6%	43.9%
A speeding-related driverof 48 fatal crashes	14	48 fatal crashes	29.2%	35.8%
No restraint usedof 47 occupant deaths with restraint use known	30	47 occupant deathswith restraint use known	63.8%	63.3%
Pedestriansof 52 deaths	0	52 deaths	0.0%	7.5%
Bicyclistsof 52 deaths	1 or 2	52 deaths	1.9%	1.0%
Motorcyclistsof 52 deaths	4	52 deaths	7.7%	13.0%
On a rural roadof 48 fatal crashes with the condition reported	48	48 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	100.0%	83.5%
In the darkof 48 fatal crashes with the condition reported	17	48 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	35.4%	41.8%

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.Jefferson 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	6	3	13
Monday	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	6
Tuesday	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	6
Wednesday	1 or 2	3	3	1 or 2	8
Thursday	0	0	0	1 or 2	1 or 2
Friday	0	1 or 2	3	0	5
Saturday	4	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	9
All days	11	11	17	9	48

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.Jefferson County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Montana
Interstate	26	54.2%	16.6%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	0.2%
Other principal arterial	1 or 2	4.2%	32.9%
Minor arterial	8	16.7%	15.2%
Major collector	6	12.5%	15.2%
Minor collector	0	0.0%	4.1%
Local	6	12.5%	15.8%
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.Jefferson County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	30
Dark, not lighted	16
Dark, lighted	0
Dawn	1 or 2
Dusk	0
Dark, lighting unknown	1 or 2
Other or unknown	0

Table 8.Jefferson County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	27
Cloudy	18
Rain	3
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	0
Fog, smog or smoke	0
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	0
Other or not reported	0

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Jefferson County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Jefferson	In all of Montana
Interstate 15	Interstate	9	62
Interstate 90	Interstate	17	203

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 Montana

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Jefferson County on the county map of Montana

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

Fewer than 102 counties
10 to 14.911 counties
15 to 19.96 counties
20 to 29.97 counties
30 or more27 counties
Count of 1 or 2, no rate shown3 counties
Jefferson County: 42.2

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 Montana

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Jefferson County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Broadwater County	Montana	4	21	30.9
Deer Lodge County	Montana	5	21	22.4
Gallatin County	Montana	21	108	9.3
Lewis and Clark County	Montana	6	77	10.9
Madison County	Montana	1 or 2	29	33.0
Powell County	Montana	0	31	44.6
Silver Bow County	Montana	3	36	10.2

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of Montana have a population nearest to that of Jefferson 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. Jefferson County, Montana: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/mt/jefferson/. 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 Jefferson in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 63 deaths in Jefferson County from 2005 to 2014. It records 52 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Jefferson in 2024?

The rate of Jefferson County in 2024 was 52.9 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Montana was 18.1. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 19 of 48 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 Jefferson?

FARS records 9 fatal crashes on Interstate 15 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 17 fatal crashes on Interstate 90 in the county from 2015 to 2024.