Buffalo County, Nebraska: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Nebraska by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 9 deaths in 9 fatal crashes in Buffalo County in 2024.

FARS records 60 deaths in 54 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 12.0 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Nebraska in the same years is 12.1.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Buffalo County was number 8 of 93 counties of Nebraska.

Deaths in Buffalo County fell by 23.1% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (78) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (60).

In the counties of Nebraska the deaths rose by 4.2% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 83.3% of the fatal crashes in Buffalo County with a known setting were rural, against 68.5% in Nebraska.

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 Buffalo 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.Buffalo County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	9	9	3
2023	8	8	3
2022	4	4	1 or 2
2021	4	4	0
2020	3	3	0
2019	5	3	1 or 2
2018	7	6	1 or 2
2017	6	5	1 or 2
2016	9	7	1 or 2
2015	5	5	0
2015 to 2024	60	54	13

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 19 (1981)2024: 9

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

Table 2.Buffalo County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	9	9
2023	8	8
2022	4	4
2021	4	4
2020	3	3
2019	5	3
2018	7	6
2017	6	5
2016	9	7
2015	5	5
2014	6	5
2013	6	6
2012	6	5
2011	8	8
2010	1 or 2	1 or 2
2009	11	9
2008	9	7
2007	11	9
2006	13	9
2005	6	5
2004	10	10
2003	13	10
2002	10	10
2001	3	3
2000	13	11
1999	7	5
1998	16	11
1997	12	10
1996	4	4
1995	15	12
1994	6	5
1993	11	11
1992	7	5
1991	11	6
1990	4	4
1989	11	10
1988	3	3
1987	7	7
1986	10	10
1985	8	8
1984	8	7
1983	3	3
1982	11	10
1981	19	15
1980	5	5
1979	1 or 2	1 or 2
1978	7	7
1977	11	10
1976	8	6
1975	10	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.Buffalo County beside Nebraska and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Buffalo County	Nebraska	United States
2024	17.6	12.5	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	12.0	12.1	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. Buffalo County had 51,126 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Buffalo County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Nebraska
A driver recorded as drinkingof 54 fatal crashes	13	54 fatal crashes	24.1%	32.6%
A speeding-related driverof 54 fatal crashes	5	54 fatal crashes	9.3%	17.5%
No restraint usedof 41 occupant deaths with restraint use known	25	41 occupant deathswith restraint use known	61.0%	63.2%
Pedestriansof 60 deaths	6	60 deaths	10.0%	7.8%
Bicyclistsof 60 deaths	1 or 2	60 deaths	1.7%	0.9%
Motorcyclistsof 60 deaths	1 or 2	60 deaths	1.7%	11.0%
On a rural roadof 54 fatal crashes with the condition reported	45	54 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	83.3%	68.5%
In the darkof 53 fatal crashes with the condition reported	24	53 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	45.3%	41.4%

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.Buffalo 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	3	0	4	1 or 2	9
Monday	1 or 2	0	1 or 2	0	1 or 2
Tuesday	1 or 2	3	3	5	12
Wednesday	0	0	3	1 or 2	5
Thursday	1 or 2	1 or 2	3	1 or 2	6
Friday	3	0	4	1 or 2	8
Saturday	3	1 or 2	1 or 2	0	5
All days	12	5	19	11	47

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.Buffalo County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Nebraska
Interstate	15	27.8%	11.1%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	4.3%
Other principal arterial	1 or 2	3.7%	30.4%
Minor arterial	22	40.7%	25.5%
Major collector	3	5.6%	10.1%
Minor collector	1 or 2	3.7%	1.9%
Local	10	18.5%	16.7%
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.Buffalo County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	26
Dark, not lighted	22
Dark, lighted	1 or 2
Dawn	0
Dusk	3
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	1 or 2

Table 8.Buffalo County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	41
Cloudy	4
Rain	1 or 2
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	1 or 2
Fog, smog or smoke	1 or 2
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	3
Other or not reported	1 or 2

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Buffalo County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Buffalo	In all of Nebraska
Interstate 80	Interstate	15	205
State Route 2	State highway	1 or 2	39
US Route 30	US highway	8	88

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 Nebraska

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Buffalo County on the county map of Nebraska

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

Fewer than 1010 counties
10 to 14.917 counties
15 to 19.912 counties
20 to 29.926 counties
30 or more21 counties
Count of 1 or 2, no rate shown7 counties
Buffalo County: 12.0

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 Nebraska

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Buffalo County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Adams County	Nebraska	3	34	10.9
Custer County	Nebraska	1 or 2	22	20.6
Dawson County	Nebraska	3	51	21.3
Hall County	Nebraska	6	71	11.4
Howard County	Nebraska	0	9	13.9
Kearney County	Nebraska	3	16	24.1
Phelps County	Nebraska	1 or 2	20	22.1
Sherman County	Nebraska	0	7	23.3

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of Nebraska have a population nearest to that of Buffalo 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. Buffalo County, Nebraska: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/ne/buffalo/. 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 Buffalo in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 78 deaths in Buffalo County from 2005 to 2014. It records 60 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Buffalo in 2024?

The rate of Buffalo County in 2024 was 17.6 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Nebraska was 12.5. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 13 of 54 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 Buffalo?

FARS records 15 fatal crashes on Interstate 80 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 1 or 2 fatal crashes on State Route 2 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 8 fatal crashes on US Route 30 in the county from 2015 to 2024.