By the numbers
While the number of traffic fatalities has fallen in Wisconsin on the whole, the number of people killed in traffic accidents in Milwaukee County has increased over the past two decades.
The number of traffic fatalities in Milwaukee County was 77 percent higher in 2024 than it was in 2002, increasing from 52 in 2002 to 92 in 2024, data obtained from the Wisconsin Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory, along with previous analysis by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, demonstrate.
Over the same period, fatalities in all other Wisconsin counties decreased by 36 percent, from 757 to 482, or 275 fewer deaths per year.
Milwaukee County fatalities trended downward from 2004 to 2013, reaching a low of 46 in 2009. Beginning with a spike in 2014, however, the county has seen fatalities trend upward, reaching a recent peak of 111 in 2022. The numbers of Milwaukee County fatalities in 2023 and 2024 were 91 and 94, respectively.
Meanwhile, for five out of the past six years, there have been fewer than 500 fatalities per year in Wisconsin’s other 71 counties combined. The safest year on record is 2014 at just 437 fatalities.
The TOPS lab maintains an interactive map of all traffic collisions and fatalities reported to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation by law enforcement agencies.
The underlying numbers
| Year | Milwaukee County | Other counties |
| 2002 | 52 | 757 |
| 2003 | 57 | 784 |
| 2004 | 72 | 712 |
| 2005 | 58 | 749 |
| 2006 | 63 | 659 |
| 2007 | 58 | 689 |
| 2008 | 48 | 552 |
| 2009 | 46 | 503 |
| 2010 | 67 | 498 |
| 2011 | 48 | 526 |
| 2012 | 61 | 549 |
| 2013 | 47 | 489 |
| 2014 | 69 | 437 |
| 2015 | 84 | 478 |
| 2016 | 75 | 520 |
| 2017 | 86 | 508 |
| 2018 | 68 | 507 |
| 2019 | 74 | 477 |
| 2020 | 101 | 491 |
| 2021 | 87 | 508 |
| 2022 | 111 | 484 |
| 2023 | 91 | 472 |
| 2024 | 94 | 482 |
Note: counts from 2002-2014 inferred from WPF report; counts from 2015-2024 obtained from TOPS lab.
