Most Dangerous Counties in Texas for Auto Fatalities
Out of the 254 counties in Texas, those that had the highest number of car crash fatalities might surprise you. For reference purposes, the top ten counties in Texas by population are listed below.
| Rank | County | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harris County | 4,698,619 |
| 2 | Dallas County | 2,637,772 |
| 3 | Tarrant County | 2,084,931 |
| 4 | Bexar County | 1,986,049 |
| 5 | Travis County | 1,248,743 |
| 6 | Collin County | 1,005,146 |
| 7 | Hidalgo County | 865,939 |
| 8 | Denton County | 859,064 |
| 9 | El Paso County | 840,758 |
| 10 | Fort Bend County | 787,858 |
Texas Counties with the Most Car Crash Fatalities in 2018
The first two counties on the car crash fatality list line up directly with the county population chart. However, this is not surprising given that Harris County (number 1) has 4.6 million people and Dallas County (number 2), has over 1.3 million less people.
Bexar County routinely eclipses Tarrant county in automobile crash fatalities year over year. In fact, despite having a population difference of less than 100,000 people, Bexar County had more fatality accidents than Tarrant County in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018.
Travis County had the fifth highest number of automobile fatalities in 2018. This is expected given that this placement matches its placement in the population chart.
Smith County, which is the 22nd most populated county in Texas, has a remarkably high place on the fatality chart. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Smith County, it is located just east of Dallas and its county seat is Tyler, you can learn more about it HERE.
Another high-placing county for car crash fatalities is Ector, which has a population of only 162,124. Ector County landed in 8th place for traffic fatalities on the 5 year chart below.
Denton County, with a population of 859,064, was the ninth highest county in automobile fatalities in Texas. This, however, is no surprising as Denton County is also the 8th highest populated county in Texas. What is surprising, however, is that Denton County had more traffic fatalities in 2018 than Hidalgo County. Hidalgo County has had a significantly higher number of fatalities than Denton County in each of 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.
2018 Most Dangerous Counties in Texas for Car Crash Fatalities
| # | County | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
| 1 | Harris County | 417 | 391 | 447 | 458 | 389 |
| 2 | Dallas County | 238 | 259 | 315 | 282 | 295 |
| 3 | Bexar County | 184 | 189 | 226 | 164 | 181 |
| 4 | Tarrant County | 145 | 157 | 167 | 183 | 169 |
| 5 | Travis County | 95 | 145 | 120 | 120 | 118 |
| 6 | El Paso County | 66 | 62 | 81 | 58 | 87 |
| 7 | Smith County | 43 | 61 | 57 | 47 | 58 |
| 8 | Ector County | 48 | 54 | 34 | 48 | 56 |
| 9 | Denton County | 37 | 38 | 49 | 49 | 52 |
| 10 | Hidalgo County | 65 | 67 | 75 | 60 | 51 |