What the Data Shows

Carter County, Missouri recorded 18 total road fatalities across 18 reported crashes during the 2016-2023 reporting window, according to NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System. The most recent year covered by the data logged 1 deaths on county roads, and the annual average works out to approximately 2.0 fatalities per year. Per-capita rates are not reported for every county in the FARS dataset; by raw count, Carter County sits below the national midpoint for raw county death tolls.

Cause-code breakdowns are not individually published for Carter County in the current FARS release, so readers looking for contributing-factor data should use the Missouri state page, which aggregates county-level case files into statewide totals. Either way, the underlying records are drawn from a census of fatal crashes, not a statistical sample, so the counts are actual deaths rather than estimates.

The directional trend for Carter County is stable, meaning annual counts have stayed within a narrow band relative to the average. Residents, insurers, and policy analysts can use this baseline alongside population density, highway mile data, and rural-versus-urban road mix to judge whether Carter County's 18-death total is proportionate to its exposure. All numbers are for research and informational use only.