Essex County, New York: fatal crash statistics

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

FARS records 6 deaths in 6 fatal crashes in Essex County in 2024.

FARS records 39 deaths in 37 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 10.5 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, Essex County was number 56 of 62 counties of New York.

Deaths in Essex County fell by 47.3% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (74) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (39).

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

From 2015 to 2024, 91.9% of the fatal crashes in Essex 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 Essex 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.Essex County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	6	6	0
2023	7	6	0
2022	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2
2021	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2020	5	5	0
2019	6	5	1 or 2
2018	3	3	1 or 2
2017	3	3	0
2016	3	3	1 or 2
2015	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2015 to 2024	39	37	7

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 20 (1979)2024: 6

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

Table 2.Essex County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	6	6
2023	7	6
2022	1 or 2	1 or 2
2021	1 or 2	1 or 2
2020	5	5
2019	6	5
2018	3	3
2017	3	3
2016	3	3
2015	1 or 2	1 or 2
2014	8	7
2013	1 or 2	1 or 2
2012	8	8
2011	9	6
2010	4	4
2009	4	4
2008	3	1 or 2
2007	10	7
2006	19	14
2005	8	8
2004	11	8
2003	9	8
2002	7	7
2001	13	9
2000	9	8
1999	3	3
1998	7	6
1997	8	6
1996	12	12
1995	10	10
1994	9	8
1993	5	5
1992	9	8
1991	19	14
1990	10	10
1989	11	10
1988	8	7
1987	12	10
1986	11	11
1985	10	10
1984	8	7
1983	14	14
1982	7	6
1981	12	11
1980	10	9
1979	20	14
1978	8	6
1977	15	13
1976	8	8
1975	11	10

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.Essex County beside New York and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Essex County	New York	United States
2024	16.4	5.5	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	10.5	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. Essex County had 36,539 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Essex County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in New York
A driver recorded as drinkingof 37 fatal crashes	7	37 fatal crashes	18.9%	20.2%
A speeding-related driverof 37 fatal crashes	13	37 fatal crashes	35.1%	30.9%
No restraint usedof 23 occupant deaths with restraint use known	4	23 occupant deathswith restraint use known	17.4%	38.5%
Pedestriansof 39 deaths	1 or 2	39 deaths	5.1%	26.3%
Bicyclistsof 39 deaths	0	39 deaths	0.0%	4.0%
Motorcyclistsof 39 deaths	10	39 deaths	25.6%	16.4%
On a rural roadof 37 fatal crashes with the condition reported	34	37 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	91.9%	30.4%
In the darkof 37 fatal crashes with the condition reported	11	37 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	29.7%	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.Essex 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	5	0	7
Monday	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	4
Tuesday	0	1 or 2	3	3	7
Wednesday	0	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	3
Thursday	0	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	3
Friday	1 or 2	1 or 2	5	1 or 2	10
Saturday	0	1 or 2	0	1 or 2	3
All days	4	7	18	8	37

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.Essex County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in New York
Interstate	1 or 2	5.4%	7.6%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	6.9%
Other principal arterial	8	21.6%	29.1%
Minor arterial	9	24.3%	19.6%
Major collector	9	24.3%	9.5%
Minor collector	5	13.5%	2.9%
Local	4	10.8%	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.Essex County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	24
Dark, not lighted	11
Dark, lighted	0
Dawn	1 or 2
Dusk	1 or 2
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	0

Table 8.Essex County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	24
Cloudy	9
Rain	1 or 2
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	1 or 2
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 Essex County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Essex	In all of New York
Interstate 87	Interstate	1 or 2	142
State Route 3	State highway	1 or 2	43
State Route 22	State highway	1 or 2	53
US Route 9	US highway	4	118

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.Essex 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
Essex County: 10.5

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 Essex County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Clinton County	New York	5	56	7.0
Franklin County	New York	3	46	9.5
Hamilton County	New York	1 or 2	9	18.7
Warren County	New York	9	67	10.3
Washington County	New York	8	75	12.3
Addison County	Vermont	5	46	12.3
Chittenden County	Vermont	9	82	4.9

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 Essex 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. Essex County, New York: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/ny/essex/. 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 Essex in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 74 deaths in Essex County from 2005 to 2014. It records 39 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Essex in 2024?

The rate of Essex County in 2024 was 16.4 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 Essex had a driver recorded as drinking?

FARS records a driver as drinking in 7 of 37 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 Essex?

4 signed routes in the county have a page. FARS records 9 fatal crashes on them in the county from 2015 to 2024. The table of routes on this page gives the count for each route.