Brown County, South Dakota: fatal crash statistics

Counties of South Dakota by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 3 deaths in 1 or 2 fatal crashes in Brown County in 2024.

FARS records 26 deaths in 24 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 6.8 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of South Dakota in the same years is 14.9.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Brown County was number 13 of 66 counties of South Dakota.

Deaths in Brown County rose by 4.0% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (25) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (26).

In the counties of South Dakota the deaths fell by 7.5% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, a driver was recorded as drinking in 25.0% of fatal crashes in Brown County and 34.9% in South Dakota.

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 Brown 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.Brown County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	3	1 or 2	1 or 2
2023	3	3	1 or 2
2022	3	3	0
2021	3	3	0
2020	4	3	0
2019	3	3	1 or 2
2018	4	4	1 or 2
2017	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2016	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2015	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2
2015 to 2024	26	24	6

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 9 (1994)2024: 3

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

Table 2.Brown County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	3	1 or 2
2023	3	3
2022	3	3
2021	3	3
2020	4	3
2019	3	3
2018	4	4
2017	1 or 2	1 or 2
2016	1 or 2	1 or 2
2015	1 or 2	1 or 2
2014	4	4
2013	1 or 2	1 or 2
2012	3	3
2011	1 or 2	1 or 2
2010	1 or 2	1 or 2
2009	1 or 2	1 or 2
2008	1 or 2	1 or 2
2007	0	0
2006	5	4
2005	5	5
2004	3	3
2003	4	3
2002	3	3
2001	3	3
2000	5	4
1999	4	4
1998	4	4
1997	5	5
1996	5	1 or 2
1995	5	4
1994	9	7
1993	1 or 2	1 or 2
1992	4	3
1991	5	4
1990	5	5
1989	4	3
1988	0	0
1987	5	4
1986	1 or 2	1 or 2
1985	8	7
1984	5	5
1983	4	3
1982	5	4
1981	3	3
1980	7	5
1979	8	7
1978	6	6
1977	5	4
1976	7	7
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.Brown County beside South Dakota and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Brown County	South Dakota	United States
2024	8.0	15.7	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	6.8	14.9	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. Brown County had 37,621 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Brown County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in South Dakota
A driver recorded as drinkingof 24 fatal crashes	6	24 fatal crashes	25.0%	34.9%
A speeding-related driverof 24 fatal crashes	4	24 fatal crashes	16.7%	26.6%
No restraint usedof 21 occupant deaths with restraint use known	12	21 occupant deathswith restraint use known	57.1%	65.8%
Pedestriansof 26 deaths	1 or 2	26 deaths	3.8%	7.7%
Bicyclistsof 26 deaths	1 or 2	26 deaths	3.8%	0.7%
Motorcyclistsof 26 deaths	1 or 2	26 deaths	7.7%	16.9%
On a rural roadof 24 fatal crashes with the condition reported	18	24 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	75.0%	81.7%
In the darkof 24 fatal crashes with the condition reported	10	24 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	41.7%	36.4%

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.Brown 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	0	1 or 2	4
Monday	1 or 2	0	0	1 or 2	3
Tuesday	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	5
Wednesday	1 or 2	0	0	0	1 or 2
Thursday	0	0	0	1 or 2	1 or 2
Friday	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	6
Saturday	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	0	3
All days	4	6	5	9	24

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.Brown County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in South Dakota
Interstate	0	0.0%	14.7%
Other freeways and expressways	1 or 2	4.2%	3.2%
Other principal arterial	6	25.0%	25.5%
Minor arterial	6	25.0%	19.3%
Major collector	4	16.7%	21.8%
Minor collector	0	0.0%	2.4%
Local	7	29.2%	13.0%
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.Brown County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	14
Dark, not lighted	8
Dark, lighted	1 or 2
Dawn	0
Dusk	0
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	0

Table 8.Brown County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	17
Cloudy	4
Rain	1 or 2
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	0
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 Brown County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Brown	In all of South Dakota
State Route 37	State highway	3	20
US Route 12	US highway	5	26

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 South Dakota

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Brown County on the county map of South Dakota

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

Fewer than 109 counties
10 to 14.912 counties
15 to 19.910 counties
20 to 29.916 counties
30 or more17 counties
Count of 1 or 2, no rate shown2 counties
Brown County: 6.8

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 South Dakota

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Brown County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Dickey County	North Dakota	1 or 2	9	18.3
Sargent County	North Dakota	0	9	23.4
Day County	South Dakota	0	6	11.0
Edmunds County	South Dakota	0	12	30.2
Faulk County	South Dakota	0	6	26.9
Marshall County	South Dakota	0	8	17.3
McPherson County	South Dakota	0	3	12.6
Spink County	South Dakota	1 or 2	8	12.6

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of South Dakota have a population nearest to that of Brown 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. Brown County, South Dakota: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/sd/brown/. 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 Brown in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 25 deaths in Brown County from 2005 to 2014. It records 26 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Brown in 2024?

The rate of Brown County in 2024 was 8.0 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of South Dakota was 15.7. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 6 of 24 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 Brown?

FARS records 3 fatal crashes on State Route 37 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 5 fatal crashes on US Route 12 in the county from 2015 to 2024.