Cherokee County, Oklahoma: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Oklahoma by year (CSV)Cite this page

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

FARS records 86 deaths in 76 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 17.8 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Oklahoma in the same years is 17.0.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Cherokee County was number 25 of 77 counties of Oklahoma.

Deaths in Cherokee County fell by 16.5% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (103) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (86).

In the counties of Oklahoma the deaths fell by 6.6% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 84.2% of the fatal crashes in Cherokee County with a known setting were rural, against 59.5% in Oklahoma.

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	6	6	1 or 2
2023	9	9	1 or 2
2022	7	7	1 or 2
2021	9	9	1 or 2
2020	7	6	0
2019	9	8	1 or 2
2018	11	10	1 or 2
2017	11	7	1 or 2
2016	10	8	1 or 2
2015	7	6	1 or 2
2015 to 2024	86	76	13

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 17 (2001)2024: 6

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	6	6
2023	9	9
2022	7	7
2021	9	9
2020	7	6
2019	9	8
2018	11	10
2017	11	7
2016	10	8
2015	7	6
2014	9	9
2013	6	5
2012	7	7
2011	8	6
2010	8	8
2009	9	8
2008	16	12
2007	13	11
2006	14	13
2005	13	12
2004	9	7
2003	6	5
2002	16	11
2001	17	13
2000	8	8
1999	11	11
1998	8	8
1997	14	14
1996	7	4
1995	14	10
1994	9	8
1993	12	8
1992	14	10
1991	4	4
1990	12	8
1989	10	9
1988	11	9
1987	7	7
1986	9	9
1985	8	5
1984	12	9
1983	11	10
1982	7	7
1981	11	11
1980	7	6
1979	7	7
1978	8	6
1977	10	9
1976	16	11
1975	5	5

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 Oklahoma and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Cherokee County	Oklahoma	United States
2024	12.3	15.7	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	17.8	17.0	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 48,765 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 Oklahoma
A driver recorded as drinkingof 76 fatal crashes	13	76 fatal crashes	17.1%	26.5%
A speeding-related driverof 76 fatal crashes	24	76 fatal crashes	31.6%	26.0%
No restraint usedof 56 occupant deaths with restraint use known	30	56 occupant deathswith restraint use known	53.6%	53.7%
Pedestriansof 86 deaths	6	86 deaths	7.0%	12.3%
Bicyclistsof 86 deaths	1 or 2	86 deaths	1.2%	1.6%
Motorcyclistsof 86 deaths	15	86 deaths	17.4%	12.9%
On a rural roadof 76 fatal crashes with the condition reported	64	76 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	84.2%	59.5%
In the darkof 74 fatal crashes with the condition reported	20	74 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	27.0%	45.2%

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	1 or 2	4	9
Monday	3	5	4	0	12
Tuesday	0	1 or 2	7	1 or 2	9
Wednesday	1 or 2	4	3	3	11
Thursday	0	1 or 2	3	4	9
Friday	0	1 or 2	6	3	10
Saturday	1 or 2	0	10	1 or 2	13
All days	6	15	35	17	73

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 Oklahoma
Interstate	0	0.0%	13.5%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	1.9%
Other principal arterial	11	14.5%	26.1%
Minor arterial	13	17.1%	20.1%
Major collector	37	48.7%	24.0%
Minor collector	3	3.9%	0.6%
Local	12	15.8%	13.8%
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.Cherokee County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	51
Dark, not lighted	19
Dark, lighted	1 or 2
Dawn	1 or 2
Dusk	1 or 2
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	1 or 2

Table 8.Cherokee County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	49
Cloudy	19
Rain	4
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	1 or 2
Fog, smog or smoke	3
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 Oklahoma
State Route 10	State highway	6	32
State Route 51	State highway	6	92
State Route 82	State highway	14	40
US Route 62	US highway	14	127

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 Oklahoma

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Cherokee County on the county map of Oklahoma

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

Fewer than 102 counties
10 to 14.99 counties
15 to 19.915 counties
20 to 29.922 counties
30 or more29 counties
Cherokee County: 17.8

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 Oklahoma

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
Adair County	Oklahoma	7	57	27.3
Delaware County	Oklahoma	9	82	19.6
Mayes County	Oklahoma	15	125	31.0
Muskogee County	Oklahoma	9	116	17.2
Sequoyah County	Oklahoma	8	77	18.9
Wagoner County	Oklahoma	13	106	12.8

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of Oklahoma 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.
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. Cherokee County, Oklahoma: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/ok/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 103 deaths in Cherokee County from 2005 to 2014. It records 86 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Cherokee in 2024?

The rate of Cherokee County in 2024 was 12.3 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Oklahoma was 15.7. 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 13 of 76 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?

4 signed routes in the county have a page. FARS records 40 fatal crashes on them in the county from 2015 to 2024. The table of routes on this page gives the count for each route.