Cherokee County, North Carolina: fatal crash statistics

Counties of North Carolina by year (CSV)Cite this page

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

FARS records 58 deaths in 53 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 20.1 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of North Carolina in the same years is 14.5.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Cherokee County was number 72 of 100 counties of North Carolina.

Deaths in Cherokee County rose by 13.7% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (51) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (58).

In the counties of North Carolina the deaths rose by 9.0% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 92.5% of the fatal crashes in Cherokee County with a known setting were rural, against 57.2% in North Carolina.

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 Cherokee 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.Cherokee 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	5	5	1 or 2
2022	6	6	1 or 2
2021	3	3	0
2020	5	4	3
2019	7	7	0
2018	6	6	1 or 2
2017	11	8	1 or 2
2016	6	6	1 or 2
2015	5	4	1 or 2
2015 to 2024	58	53	14

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 11 (2017)2024: 4

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

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

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.Cherokee County beside North Carolina and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Cherokee County	North Carolina	United States
2024	13.2	14.6	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	20.1	14.5	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. Cherokee County had 30,415 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Cherokee County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in North Carolina
A driver recorded as drinkingof 53 fatal crashes	14	53 fatal crashes	26.4%	25.3%
A speeding-related driverof 53 fatal crashes	13	53 fatal crashes	24.5%	31.8%
No restraint usedof 45 occupant deaths with restraint use known	23	45 occupant deathswith restraint use known	51.1%	46.8%
Pedestriansof 58 deaths	7	58 deaths	12.1%	14.9%
Bicyclistsof 58 deaths	0	58 deaths	0.0%	1.7%
Motorcyclistsof 58 deaths	5	58 deaths	8.6%	13.5%
On a rural roadof 53 fatal crashes with the condition reported	49	53 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	92.5%	57.2%
In the darkof 53 fatal crashes with the condition reported	15	53 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	28.3%	46.3%

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.Cherokee 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	0	4	7
Monday	1 or 2	1 or 2	4	0	7
Tuesday	0	0	3	4	7
Wednesday	1 or 2	3	5	1 or 2	11
Thursday	0	1 or 2	4	1 or 2	7
Friday	0	3	1 or 2	3	8
Saturday	0	1 or 2	3	1 or 2	6
All days	3	13	21	16	53

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.Cherokee County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in North Carolina
Interstate	0	0.0%	9.7%
Other freeways and expressways	1 or 2	3.8%	4.1%
Other principal arterial	22	41.5%	27.0%
Minor arterial	1 or 2	1.9%	16.1%
Major collector	11	20.8%	15.1%
Minor collector	3	5.7%	5.7%
Local	14	26.4%	22.3%
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.Cherokee County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	35
Dark, not lighted	15
Dark, lighted	0
Dawn	1 or 2
Dusk	1 or 2
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	0

Table 8.Cherokee County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	33
Cloudy	13
Rain	5
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	0
Fog, smog or smoke	1 or 2
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	0
Other or not reported	0

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Cherokee County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Cherokee	In all of North Carolina
US Route 19	US highway	12	83
US Route 64	US highway	9	293

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 North Carolina

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Cherokee County on the county map of North Carolina

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

Fewer than 106 counties
10 to 14.925 counties
15 to 19.934 counties
20 to 29.922 counties
30 or more13 counties
Cherokee County: 20.1

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 North Carolina

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Cherokee County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Fannin County	Georgia	5	46	18.0
Union County	Georgia	6	44	17.7
Clay County	North Carolina	5	21	18.6
Graham County	North Carolina	1 or 2	36	43.4
Macon County	North Carolina	8	54	14.8
Monroe County	Tennessee	5	122	26.0
Polk County	Tennessee	7	49	28.2

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of North Carolina have a population nearest to that of Cherokee 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.
North Carolina Governor's Highway Safety ProgramThe highway safety office of North Carolina.

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Cherokee County, North Carolina: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/nc/cherokee/. 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 Cherokee in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 51 deaths in Cherokee County from 2005 to 2014. It records 58 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Cherokee in 2024?

The rate of Cherokee County in 2024 was 13.2 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of North Carolina was 14.6. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 14 of 53 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 Cherokee?

FARS records 12 fatal crashes on US Route 19 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 9 fatal crashes on US Route 64 in the county from 2015 to 2024.