Cortland County, New York: fatal crash statistics

Counties of New York by year (CSV)Cite this page

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

FARS records 43 deaths in 41 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 9.1 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of New York in the same years is 5.4.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Cortland County was number 54 of 62 counties of New York.

Deaths in Cortland County fell by 18.9% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (53) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (43).

In the counties of New York the deaths fell by 13.9% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 68.3% of the fatal crashes in Cortland County with a known setting were rural, against 30.4% in New York.

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 Cortland 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.Cortland 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	6	6	3
2022	7	7	3
2021	5	5	1 or 2
2020	3	3	1 or 2
2019	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2
2018	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2017	5	4	1 or 2
2016	4	4	0
2015	6	5	1 or 2
2015 to 2024	43	41	15

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 14 (1977)2024: 4

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

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

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.Cortland County beside New York and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Cortland County	New York	United States
2024	8.7	5.5	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	9.1	5.4	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. Cortland County had 46,062 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Cortland County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in New York
A driver recorded as drinkingof 41 fatal crashes	15	41 fatal crashes	36.6%	20.2%
A speeding-related driverof 41 fatal crashes	19	41 fatal crashes	46.3%	30.9%
No restraint usedof 30 occupant deaths with restraint use known	18	30 occupant deathswith restraint use known	60.0%	38.5%
Pedestriansof 43 deaths	1 or 2	43 deaths	2.3%	26.3%
Bicyclistsof 43 deaths	1 or 2	43 deaths	2.3%	4.0%
Motorcyclistsof 43 deaths	10	43 deaths	23.3%	16.4%
On a rural roadof 41 fatal crashes with the condition reported	28	41 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	68.3%	30.4%
In the darkof 41 fatal crashes with the condition reported	19	41 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	46.3%	46.9%

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.Cortland 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	1 or 2	0	1 or 2	7
Monday	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	4
Tuesday	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	4
Wednesday	1 or 2	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	5
Thursday	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	0	5
Friday	1 or 2	0	3	1 or 2	6
Saturday	1 or 2	1 or 2	3	4	10
All days	8	9	11	13	41

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.Cortland County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in New York
Interstate	14	34.1%	7.6%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	6.9%
Other principal arterial	9	22.0%	29.1%
Minor arterial	3	7.3%	19.6%
Major collector	5	12.2%	9.5%
Minor collector	1 or 2	4.9%	2.9%
Local	8	19.5%	24.6%
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.Cortland County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	18
Dark, not lighted	15
Dark, lighted	4
Dawn	3
Dusk	1 or 2
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	0

Table 8.Cortland County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	23
Cloudy	16
Rain	1 or 2
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 Cortland County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Cortland	In all of New York
Interstate 81	Interstate	14	61
State Route 13	State highway	4	29
State Route 26	State highway	1 or 2	22
US Route 11	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 New York

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Cortland County on the county map of New York

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

Fewer than 1040 counties
10 to 14.917 counties
15 to 19.95 counties
20 to 29.90 counties
30 or more0 counties
Cortland County: 9.1

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 New York

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Cortland County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Broome County	New York	10	126	6.5
Cayuga County	New York	9	68	8.9
Chenango County	New York	7	62	13.2
Madison County	New York	10	73	10.5
Onondaga County	New York	34	288	6.2
Tioga County	New York	10	63	13.0
Tompkins County	New York	4	74	7.2

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of New York have a population nearest to that of Cortland 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.
New York Governor's Traffic Safety CommitteeThe highway safety office of New York.

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Cortland County, New York: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/ny/cortland/. 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 Cortland in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 53 deaths in Cortland County from 2005 to 2014. It records 43 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Cortland in 2024?

The rate of Cortland County in 2024 was 8.7 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of New York was 5.5. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 15 of 41 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 Cortland?

4 signed routes in the county have a page. FARS records 23 fatal crashes on them in the county from 2015 to 2024. The table of routes on this page gives the count for each route.