McDowell County, West Virginia: fatal crash statistics

Counties of West Virginia by year (CSV)Cite this page

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

FARS records 44 deaths in 43 fatal crashes in the county from 2015 to 2024.

From 2015 to 2024 the rate is 24.0 deaths for each 100,000 residents in a year.

The rate of West Virginia in the same years is 15.2.

By deaths from 2015 to 2024, McDowell County was number 23 of 55 counties of West Virginia.

Deaths in McDowell County fell by 38.9% between the ten years 2005 to 2014 (72) and the ten years 2015 to 2024 (44).

In the counties of West Virginia the deaths fell by 23.1% between the same years.

From 2015 to 2024, 100.0% of the fatal crashes in McDowell County with a known setting were rural, against 64.4% in West Virginia.

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 McDowell 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.McDowell 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	1 or 2	1 or 2	0
2022	3	3	1 or 2
2021	4	4	1 or 2
2020	5	5	1 or 2
2019	6	6	1 or 2
2018	6	6	1 or 2
2017	5	5	1 or 2
2016	7	7	3
2015	4	4	1 or 2
2015 to 2024	44	43	17

Each year from 1975

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

Tallest column: 22 (1975)2024: 3

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

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

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.McDowell County beside West Virginia and the United States: deaths for each 100,000 residents
Period	McDowell County	West Virginia	United States
2024	17.5	14.5	11.5
2015 to 2024, in a year	24.0	15.2	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. McDowell County had 17,186 residents in 2024.

Factors that NHTSA records

Table 4.McDowell County: counts by recorded factor, 2015 to 2024
Factor	Count	Counted among	Share	Share in West Virginia
A driver recorded as drinkingof 43 fatal crashes	17	43 fatal crashes	39.5%	27.2%
A speeding-related driverof 43 fatal crashes	7	43 fatal crashes	16.3%	26.7%
No restraint usedof 32 occupant deaths with restraint use known	21	32 occupant deathswith restraint use known	65.6%	53.2%
Pedestriansof 44 deaths	1 or 2	44 deaths	4.5%	8.7%
Bicyclistsof 44 deaths	0	44 deaths	0.0%	1.0%
Motorcyclistsof 44 deaths	6	44 deaths	13.6%	12.4%
On a rural roadof 43 fatal crashes with the condition reported	43	43 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	100.0%	64.4%
In the darkof 42 fatal crashes with the condition reported	15	42 fatal crasheswith the condition reported	35.7%	38.3%

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.McDowell 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	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	3
Monday	0	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	4
Tuesday	1 or 2	1 or 2	1 or 2	5	8
Wednesday	0	0	7	1 or 2	8
Thursday	1 or 2	0	3	1 or 2	5
Friday	1 or 2	1 or 2	3	1 or 2	8
Saturday	1 or 2	0	4	1 or 2	6
All days	4	5	21	12	42

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.McDowell County: fatal crashes by road function class, 2015 to 2024
Road function class	Fatal crashes	Share	Share in West Virginia
Interstate	0	0.0%	11.9%
Other freeways and expressways	0	0.0%	0.4%
Other principal arterial	13	30.2%	25.0%
Minor arterial	7	16.3%	22.3%
Major collector	10	23.3%	22.8%
Minor collector	1 or 2	4.7%	6.1%
Local	11	25.6%	11.5%
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.McDowell County: fatal crashes by light condition, 2015 to 2024
Light condition	Fatal crashes
Daylight	27
Dark, not lighted	13
Dark, lighted	1 or 2
Dawn	0
Dusk	0
Dark, lighting unknown	0
Other or unknown	1 or 2

Table 8.McDowell County: fatal crashes by weather, 2015 to 2024
Weather	Fatal crashes
Clear	34
Cloudy	1 or 2
Rain	7
Snow, sleet or freezing rain	0
Fog, smog or smoke	0
Crosswinds or blowing sand/snow	0
Other or not reported	0

Routes in the county

Table 9.Signed routes in McDowell County that have a page: fatal crashes, 2015 to 2024
Route	Type	In McDowell	In all of West Virginia
State Route 16	State highway	7	57
US Route 52	US highway	9	46

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 West Virginia

Adjacent counties

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

Figure 3.McDowell County on the county map of West Virginia

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

Fewer than 105 counties
10 to 14.918 counties
15 to 19.915 counties
20 to 29.916 counties
30 or more1 county
McDowell County: 24.0

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 West Virginia

Table 10.Counties that share a boundary line with McDowell County
County	State	Deaths, 2024	Deaths, 2015 to 2024	For each 100,000 residents in a year
Buchanan County	Virginia	4	47	22.8
Tazewell County	Virginia	4	59	14.5
Mercer County	West Virginia	6	101	17.0
Mingo County	West Virginia	4	39	16.7
Wyoming County	West Virginia	3	29	13.8

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

Counties of similar population

These counties of West Virginia have a population nearest to that of McDowell 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. McDowell County, West Virginia: fatal crash statistics. https://fatalroads.com/county/wv/mcdowell/. 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 McDowell in the ten years before 2015?

FARS records 72 deaths in McDowell County from 2005 to 2014. It records 44 deaths from 2015 to 2024.

What was the rate of McDowell in 2024?

The rate of McDowell County in 2024 was 17.5 deaths for each 100,000 residents. The rate of West Virginia was 14.5. The rate of the United States was 11.5.

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

FARS records a driver as drinking in 17 of 43 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 McDowell?

FARS records 7 fatal crashes on State Route 16 in the county from 2015 to 2024. FARS records 9 fatal crashes on US Route 52 in the county from 2015 to 2024.