Chelan County, Washington: fatal crash statistics

Counties of Washington by year (CSV)Cite this page

FARS records 7 deaths in 7 fatal crashes in Chelan County in 2024.

FARS records 71 deaths in 63 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 9.1 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of Washington in the same years is 8.2.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, Chelan County was number 21 of 39 counties of Washington.

Deaths in Chelan County fell by 6.6% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (76) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (71).

In the counties of Washington the deaths rose by 22.3% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 77.0% of the fatal crashes in Chelan County with a known setting were rural, against 41.9% in Washington.

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 Chelan 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.Chelan County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 2015 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes	Crashes with a driver recorded as drinking
2024	7	7	3
2023	9	7	1 or 2
2022	11	9	3
2021	7	5	1 or 2
2020	8	6	1 or 2
2019	5	5	3
2018	10	10	3
2017	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2016	6	6	1 or 2
2015	6	6	1 or 2
2015 to 2024	71	63	20

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 23 (1985)2024: 7

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

Table 2.Chelan County: deaths and fatal crashes by year, 1975 to 2024
Year	Deaths	Fatal crashes
2024	7	7
2023	9	7
2022	11	9
2021	7	5
2020	8	6
2019	5	5
2018	10	10
2017	1 or 2	1 or 2
2016	6	6
2015	6	6
2014	8	7
2013	7	7
2012	14	10
2011	8	7
2010	3	3
2009	12	9
2008	10	10
2007	5	5
2006	5	5
2005	4	4
2004	14	13
2003	13	12
2002	8	6
2001	9	7
2000	13	10
1999	12	10
1998	13	8
1997	9	9
1996	10	8
1995	14	13
1994	16	6
1993	14	13
1992	12	10
1991	17	14
1990	12	12
1989	15	12
1988	7	7
1987	22	19
1986	12	7
1985	23	17
1984	22	21
1983	13	11
1982	18	15
1981	12	11
1980	14	14
1979	14	14
1978	20	16
1977	17	14
1976	17	12
1975	14	14

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.Chelan County beside Washington and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	Chelan County	Washington	United States
2024	8.6	9.2	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	9.1	8.2	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. Chelan County had 81,382 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.Chelan County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in Washington
A driver recorded as drinkingof 63 fatal crashes	20	63 fatal crashes	31.7%	31.1%
A speeding-related driverof 63 fatal crashes	16	63 fatal crashes	25.4%	31.1%
No restraint usedof 38 occupant deaths with restraint use known	11	38 occupant deathswith restraint use known	28.9%	40.8%
Pedestriansof 71 deaths	1 or 2	71 deaths	2.8%	18.4%
Bicyclistsof 71 deaths	3	71 deaths	4.2%	2.2%
Motorcyclistsof 71 deaths	20	71 deaths	28.2%	15.7%
On a rural roadof 61 fatal crashes with the condition reported	47	61 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	77.0%	41.9%
In the darkof 58 fatal crashes with the condition reported	21	58 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	36.2%	47.7%

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.Chelan 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	3	1 or 2	3	1 or 2	9
Monday	1 or 2	1 or 2	0	1 or 2	5
Tuesday	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	4
Wednesday	1 or 2	3	4	1 or 2	11
Thursday	3	1 or 2	4	1 or 2	10
Friday	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	4	7
Saturday	3	3	6	4	16
All days	12	13	20	17	62

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.Chelan County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in Washington
Interstate	0	0.0%	12.4%
Other freeways and expressways	6	10.0%	6.1%
Other principal arterial	20	33.3%	30.8%
Minor arterial	15	25.0%	19.2%
Major collector	13	21.7%	18.2%
Minor collector	1 or 2	1.7%	3.8%
Local	5	8.3%	9.5%
Not reported	3	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.Chelan County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	33
Dark, not lighted	19
Dark, lighted	1 or 2
Dawn	3
Dusk	1 or 2
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	5

Table 8.Chelan County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	47
Cloudy	10
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	3

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in Chelan County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In Chelan	In all of Washington
State Route 20	State highway	4	84
US Route 2	US highway	12	117
US Route 97	US highway	11	79

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 Washington

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.Chelan County on the county map of Washington

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

Fewer than 1018 counties
10 to 14.98 counties
15 to 19.94 counties
20 to 29.94 counties
30 or more5 counties
Chelan County: 9.1

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 Washington

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with Chelan County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Douglas County	Washington	4	41	9.5
King County	Washington	152	1,260	5.6
Kittitas County	Washington	9	106	22.8
Okanogan County	Washington	11	86	20.2
Skagit County	Washington	17	150	11.7
Snohomish County	Washington	64	474	5.8

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of Washington have a population nearest to that of Chelan 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.
Washington Traffic Safety CommissionThe highway safety office of Washington.

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

Cite this page

Fatal Roads. Chelan County, Washington: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/wa/chelan/. 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 Chelan in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 76 deaths in Chelan County from 2005 to 2014. It records 71 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of Chelan in 2024?

The rate of Chelan County in 2024 was 8.6 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of Washington was 9.2. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 20 of 63 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 Chelan?

FARS records 4 fatal crashes on State Route 20 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 12 fatal crashes on US Route 2 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 11 fatal crashes on US Route 97 in the county from 2015 to 2024.