Rhea County, Tennessee: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Tennessee by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 3 deaths in 3 fatal crashes in Rhea County in 2024.

FARS records 52 deaths in 51 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 15.6 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Tennessee in the same years is 16.8.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Rhea County was number 59 of 95 counties of Tennessee.

Deaths in Rhea County rose by 2.0% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (51) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (52).

In the counties of Tennessee the deaths rose by 7.8% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 64.7% of the fatal crashes in Rhea County with a known setting were rural, against 42.8% in Tennessee.

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 Rhea 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.Rhea County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	3	3	0
2023	4	4	0
2022	9	9	1 or 2
2021	5	5	1 or 2
2020	3	3	1 or 2
2019	6	5	0
2018	5	5	1 or 2
2017	6	6	1 or 2
2016	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2015	9	9	4
2015 to 2024	52	51	10

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 14 (1978)2024: 3

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

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

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.Rhea County beside Tennessee and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Rhea County	Tennessee	United States
2024	8.6	16.5	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	15.6	16.8	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. Rhea County had 34,716 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Rhea County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Tennessee
A driver recorded as drinkingof 51 fatal crashes	10	51 fatal crashes	19.6%	24.5%
A speeding-related driverof 51 fatal crashes	10	51 fatal crashes	19.6%	16.5%
No restraint usedof 41 occupant deaths with restraint use known	23	41 occupant deathswith restraint use known	56.1%	48.7%
Pedestriansof 52 deaths	1 or 2	52 deaths	1.9%	13.0%
Bicyclistsof 52 deaths	0	52 deaths	0.0%	0.8%
Motorcyclistsof 52 deaths	9	52 deaths	17.3%	13.8%
On a rural roadof 51 fatal crashes with the condition reported	33	51 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	64.7%	42.8%
In the darkof 51 fatal crashes with the condition reported	17	51 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	33.3%	46.2%

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.Rhea 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	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	3	5
Monday	0	1 or 2	3	0	5
Tuesday	0	1 or 2	3	1 or 2	6
Wednesday	0	1 or 2	4	1 or 2	7
Thursday	1 or 2	1 or 2	5	1 or 2	9
Friday	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	7
Saturday	0	1 or 2	4	1 or 2	7
All days	3	10	22	11	46

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.Rhea County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Tennessee
Interstate	0	0.0%	14.4%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	1.5%
Other principal arterial	6	11.8%	29.3%
Minor arterial	24	47.1%	23.5%
Major collector	5	9.8%	11.9%
Minor collector	7	13.7%	7.7%
Local	9	17.6%	11.7%
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.Rhea County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	32
Dark, not lighted	16
Dark, lighted	1 or 2
Dawn	1 or 2
Dusk	1 or 2
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	0

Table 8.Rhea County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	43
Cloudy	4
Rain	3
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	0
Fog, smog or smoke	0
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	0
Other or not reported	1 or 2

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Rhea County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Rhea	In all of Tennessee
State Route 30	State highway	11	30
State Route 60	State highway	1 or 2	21
State Route 68	State highway	9	51
US Route 27	US highway	4	82

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 Tennessee

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Rhea County on the county map of Tennessee

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

Fewer than 102 counties
10 to 14.916 counties
15 to 19.927 counties
20 to 29.940 counties
30 or more10 counties
Rhea County: 15.6

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 Tennessee

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Rhea County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Bledsoe County	Tennessee	8	41	27.5
Cumberland County	Tennessee	14	143	23.3
Hamilton County	Tennessee	39	440	11.9
Meigs County	Tennessee	4	42	33.0
Roane County	Tennessee	4	108	19.9

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of Tennessee have a population nearest to that of Rhea 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.
Tennessee Highway Safety OfficeThe highway safety office of Tennessee.

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Rhea County, Tennessee: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/tn/rhea/. 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 Rhea in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 51 deaths in Rhea County from 2005 to 2014. It records 52 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Rhea in 2024?

The rate of Rhea County in 2024 was 8.6 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Tennessee was 16.5. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 10 of 51 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 Rhea?

4 signed routes in the county have a page. FARS records 26 fatal crashes on them in the county from 2015 to 2024. The table of routes on this page gives the count for each route.