What the Data Shows

Van Buren County, Iowa recorded 9 total road fatalities across 9 reported crashes during the 2016-2022 reporting window, according to NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System. The most recent year covered by the data logged 0 deaths on county roads, and the annual average works out to approximately 1.0 fatalities per year. Per-capita rates are not reported for every county in the FARS dataset; by raw count, Van Buren County is among the lowest raw death tolls of any U.S. county.

With a small recorded crash count (9), FARS does not publish an individual cause-code breakdown for Van Buren County, so readers looking for contributing-factor data should use the Iowa 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 Van Buren 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 Van Buren County's 9-death total is proportionate to its exposure. All numbers are for research and informational use only.