Mercer County, Pennsylvania: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Pennsylvania by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 15 deaths in 14 fatal crashes in Mercer County in 2024.

FARS records 135 deaths in 126 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 12.2 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Pennsylvania in the same years is 9.0.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Mercer County was number 27 of 67 counties of Pennsylvania.

Deaths in Mercer County fell by 36.0% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (211) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (135).

In the counties of Pennsylvania the deaths fell by 14.8% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 82.5% of the fatal crashes in Mercer County with a known setting were rural, against 45.3% in Pennsylvania.

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 Mercer 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.Mercer County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	15	14	6
2023	21	18	5
2022	10	10	4
2021	11	11	5
2020	13	12	4
2019	15	14	3
2018	12	11	5
2017	10	9	3
2016	15	15	3
2015	13	12	1 or 2
2015 to 2024	135	126	40

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 40 (2000)2024: 15

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

Table 2.Mercer County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	15	14
2023	21	18
2022	10	10
2021	11	11
2020	13	12
2019	15	14
2018	12	11
2017	10	9
2016	15	15
2015	13	12
2014	14	14
2013	28	23
2012	17	15
2011	21	19
2010	13	13
2009	18	15
2008	25	24
2007	22	21
2006	26	26
2005	27	27
2004	26	22
2003	21	19
2002	26	23
2001	18	18
2000	40	29
1999	12	11
1998	19	18
1997	24	20
1996	23	22
1995	32	27
1994	18	16
1993	22	19
1992	28	23
1991	16	12
1990	27	23
1989	24	21
1988	24	21
1987	29	24
1986	12	12
1985	22	19
1984	17	12
1983	26	19
1982	27	23
1981	26	23
1980	35	29
1979	34	33
1978	25	23
1977	18	17
1976	25	22
1975	26	23

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.Mercer County beside Pennsylvania and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Mercer County	Pennsylvania	United States
2024	13.9	8.6	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	12.2	9.0	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. Mercer County had 108,238 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Mercer County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Pennsylvania
A driver recorded as drinkingof 126 fatal crashes	40	126 fatal crashes	31.7%	25.4%
A speeding-related driverof 126 fatal crashes	44	126 fatal crashes	34.9%	40.2%
No restraint usedof 89 occupant deaths with restraint use known	48	89 occupant deathswith restraint use known	53.9%	57.8%
Pedestriansof 135 deaths	10	135 deaths	7.4%	14.3%
Bicyclistsof 135 deaths	0	135 deaths	0.0%	1.7%
Motorcyclistsof 135 deaths	21	135 deaths	15.6%	17.3%
On a rural roadof 126 fatal crashes with the condition reported	104	126 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	82.5%	45.3%
In the darkof 125 fatal crashes with the condition reported	53	125 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	42.4%	43.6%

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.Mercer 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	8	0	7	6	21
Monday	4	4	8	8	24
Tuesday	1 or 2	4	5	7	17
Wednesday	1 or 2	3	4	1 or 2	10
Thursday	1 or 2	8	3	1 or 2	14
Friday	4	6	4	8	22
Saturday	4	3	6	5	18
All days	24	28	37	37	126

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.Mercer County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Pennsylvania
Interstate	22	17.5%	9.9%
Other freeways and expressways	1 or 2	1.6%	3.2%
Other principal arterial	24	19.0%	28.1%
Minor arterial	23	18.3%	22.4%
Major collector	31	24.6%	13.1%
Minor collector	1 or 2	0.8%	4.2%
Local	23	18.3%	19.1%
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.Mercer County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	63
Dark, not lighted	43
Dark, lighted	10
Dawn	4
Dusk	5
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	1 or 2

Table 8.Mercer County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	66
Cloudy	4
Rain	16
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	8
Fog, smog or smoke	1 or 2
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	0
Other or not reported	30

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Mercer County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Mercer	In all of Pennsylvania
Interstate 79	Interstate	9	73
Interstate 80	Interstate	11	151
State Route 18	State highway	9	46
State Route 1010	State highway	1 or 2	20
State Route 2002	State highway	1 or 2	25
State Route 3007	State highway	1 or 2	43
State Route 4001	State highway	1 or 2	28
US Route 19	US highway	10	66

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 Pennsylvania

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Mercer County on the county map of Pennsylvania

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

Fewer than 1019 counties
10 to 14.928 counties
15 to 19.917 counties
20 to 29.92 counties
30 or more1 county
Mercer County: 12.2

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 Pennsylvania

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Mercer County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Mahoning County	Ohio	18	210	9.2
Trumbull County	Ohio	18	182	9.1
Butler County	Pennsylvania	15	182	9.5
Crawford County	Pennsylvania	14	121	14.4
Lawrence County	Pennsylvania	6	97	11.3
Venango County	Pennsylvania	4	71	14.0

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of Pennsylvania have a population nearest to that of Mercer 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.
Pennsylvania Department of TransportationThe highway safety office of Pennsylvania.

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Mercer County, Pennsylvania: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/pa/mercer/. 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.

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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 Mercer in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 211 deaths in Mercer County from 2005 to 2014. It records 135 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Mercer in 2024?

The rate of Mercer County in 2024 was 13.9 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Pennsylvania was 8.6. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 40 of 126 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 Mercer?

8 signed routes in the county have a page. FARS records 43 fatal crashes on them in the county from 2015 to 2024. The table of routes on this page gives the count for each route.