Alishahi InsuranceIndependent Insurance Broker
Modern two-story house with a pool
Data report · OpenFEMA NFIP penetration rates · Updated October 7, 2026

Flood insurance coverage by county

How many homes in FEMA’s high-risk flood zones carry a National Flood Insurance Program policy, for every state and county, from FEMA’s own counts as of August 3, 2026. Searchable, downloadable and free to cite.

Only about 4 in 10 homes in FEMA’s high-risk flood zones have National Flood Insurance Program coverage: 39.8% nationwide, 1,493,434 NFIP policies for 3,752,915 homes in the 2,271 counties FEMA’s August 3, 2026 data can measure. Among states where FEMA’s home counts are close to complete, coverage is lowest in West Virginia (10.3%), Oklahoma (12.3%) and Iowa (12.7%) and highest in New Jersey (62.4%), Delaware (58.1%) and Florida (56.8%); among counties with at least 10,000 high-risk homes, Kanawha County, West Virginia, is lowest at 9.8%.

Look up your county Download the data (CSV)

By Sam Alishahi, independent insurance broker · FEMA data as of 2026-08-03, fetched 2026-10-07

As of August 3, 2026

NFIP coverage in high-risk flood zones, nationwide

39.8%of homes in high-risk flood zones (A and V zones) have an NFIP policy, in the 2,271 counties with usable counts
2.26 millionhomes in those high-risk zones have no NFIP policy (2,259,481); some may have private flood insurance
2.9%of all homes in the country, in any flood zone, have an NFIP policy (3,160,864 of 108,789,647)
10.3%in West Virginia, the lowest state; New Jersey is highest at 62.4%
County lookup

Your county, by the numbers

Pick a state, then type a county name. “Coverage” is NFIP policies in high-risk zones divided by homes in high-risk zones. Counties marked “not rated” are explained in the method.

California: 30.3% of homes in high-risk flood zones have an NFIP policy (90,678 of 299,579 homes in the 54 of 58 counties with a usable count).

CountyHigh-risk homesNFIP policies, high-risk zonesCoverageAll homesCoverage, all homes
Alameda County6,8412,46136.0%405,4800.8%
Alpine County09Not rated: FEMA lists no high-risk homes9391.4%
Amador County3157824.8%15,9960.6%
Butte County4,02689822.3%71,7781.9%
Calaveras County1726336.6%24,7050.4%
Colusa County49135472.1%6,9076.9%
Contra Costa County7,1281,99728.0%310,9430.9%
Del Norte County3295215.8%9,9770.9%
El Dorado County44510724.0%81,8420.3%
Fresno County2,95457919.6%267,3940.3%
Glenn County1,17827223.1%9,5693.3%
Humboldt County2,5422499.8%50,4150.7%
Imperial County601254.2%42,9180.1%
Inyo County831214.5%8,4940.5%
Kern County12,8512,52719.7%259,6351.1%
Kings County1,36415911.7%40,5860.5%
Lake County5,31980515.1%36,2342.4%
Lassen County544519.4%12,1890.5%
Los Angeles County11,9893,92532.7%2,284,7830.5%
Madera County2,68341315.4%45,5451.0%
Marin County9,8233,73438.0%84,6095.4%
Mariposa County49—Not rated: no policy count8,388—
Mendocino County1,57727417.4%33,0281.0%
Merced County15,2103,69924.3%74,3825.2%
Modoc County4135613.6%5,7341.0%
Mono County4107718.8%9,4621.1%
Monterey County3,06369922.8%110,6831.1%
Napa County1,83366436.2%45,7381.9%
Nevada County2926622.6%49,6630.2%
Orange County22,3894,17518.6%791,9161.0%
Placer County90538943.0%149,5600.6%
Plumas County5175711.0%14,9090.5%
Riverside County14,0722,18815.5%728,2460.5%
Sacramento County35,66628,93781.1%443,2409.6%
San Benito County4077117.4%16,1000.6%
San Bernardino County9,2771,37314.8%624,1580.3%
San Diego County12,9533,13724.2%890,5660.7%
San Francisco County01Not rated: FEMA lists no high-risk homes195,1870.1%
San Joaquin County7,7201,90624.7%210,7181.8%
San Luis Obispo County2,86164222.4%105,8511.1%
San Mateo County7,0522,17830.9%182,4151.8%
Santa Barbara County4,4221,21327.4%123,0221.9%
Santa Clara County32,3716,98621.6%486,3561.7%
Santa Cruz County5,3651,76933.0%83,7492.5%
Shasta County2,05639319.1%68,7620.8%
Sierra County2013215.9%2,0111.8%
Siskiyou County1,8211568.6%22,8830.8%
Solano County5,2111,31925.3%133,1711.3%
Sonoma County3,9711,24431.3%167,0611.1%
Stanislaus County2,33452922.7%162,2930.4%
Sutter County0704Not rated: FEMA lists no high-risk homes27,62411.5%
Tehama County2,78846116.5%25,2112.1%
Trinity County2694014.9%7,6470.7%
Tulare County18,5853,63819.6%132,0562.9%
Tuolumne County541324.1%26,6090.1%
Ventura County7,3332,26430.9%230,1231.6%
Yolo County3,03685428.1%52,4485.0%
Yuba County1,46741828.5%25,8884.9%
By state

Every state’s high-risk-zone coverage

Share of homes in FEMA’s high-risk flood zones with an NFIP policy, summed over the counties with usable counts. The dashed line is the national figure. Pale bars with an asterisk: FEMA’s home counts cover less than 75% of that state’s high-risk-zone policies, so the state figure describes only part of the state.

Share of homes in high-risk flood zones with an NFIP policy, by state, as of August 3, 2026South Carolina*68.7%New Jersey62.4%Delaware58.1%Florida56.8%New York*54.9%Hawaii*54.0%North Carolina53.3%Connecticut50.4%Massachusetts49.4%Rhode Island49.0%Maryland*43.7%Georgia42.8%Louisiana*41.3%Texas40.0%Alaska*33.3%Mississippi32.7%California30.3%Nevada29.6%Alabama29.4%Washington*28.7%Vermont*27.1%North Dakota26.8%Virginia*25.4%New Hampshire25.2%Tennessee24.5%Oregon22.5%Pennsylvania22.0%Illinois22.0%Arizona21.3%Maine*21.2%Colorado21.1%Kentucky18.9%Wisconsin18.4%Indiana16.5%Michigan16.2%Ohio15.7%Utah15.2%Missouri15.1%Idaho15.0%New Mexico14.9%Nebraska14.7%Montana14.3%Kansas14.0%Arkansas14.0%South Dakota13.2%Iowa12.7%Oklahoma12.3%Minnesota*11.6%Wyoming*10.5%West Virginia10.3%Nationwide 39.8%

What the data shows

Most homes in high-risk flood zones have no federal flood policy. In the 2,271 counties FEMA’s data can measure, 1,493,434 of 3,752,915 homes in Special Flood Hazard Areas have an NFIP policy, 39.8%. That leaves 2,259,481 homes in mapped high-risk zones without one. Some of them carry private flood insurance, which FEMA does not count.

Coverage is lowest inland. Among states where the rated counties hold at least 75% of the state’s high-risk-zone policies, the lowest are West Virginia (10.3%), Oklahoma (12.3%), Iowa (12.7%), South Dakota (13.2%) and Arkansas (14.0%). The highest are New Jersey (62.4%), Delaware (58.1%), Florida (56.8%), North Carolina (53.3%) and Connecticut (50.4%), all coastal states.

Some large counties trail far behind. Of the 57 counties with at least 10,000 high-risk homes, the lowest coverage is in Kanawha County, West Virginia (9.8%), Valencia County, New Mexico (14.3%), Riverside County, California (15.5%), Marion County, Indiana (16.0%), Hudson County, New Jersey (18.0%).

California: 30.3%. 90,678 NFIP policies for 299,579 homes in high-risk zones. Los Angeles County is at 32.7% (3,925 of 11,989), Orange County at 18.6% and Riverside County at 15.5%. Sacramento County, at 81.1%, ranks third-highest of the 57 counties nationwide with at least 10,000 high-risk homes.

Only some owners are required to buy it. Under federal law, flood insurance is mandatory for homes in high-risk flood areas with mortgages from government-backed lenders (FEMA). Homes without such a mortgage, including homes owned outright, are not required by federal law to carry it, and standard homeowners policies exclude flood. The program itself needs Congress to renew it: FEMA says the NFIP’s current authorization runs to December 11, 2026; if it lapsed, existing policies would keep paying valid claims but FEMA would stop selling and renewing policies.

The 25 counties with the most homes in high-risk zones

#CountyStateHigh-risk homesNFIP policiesCoverage
1Miami-Dade CountyFlorida199,250148,38974.5%
2Lee CountyFlorida145,19568,93147.5%
3Broward CountyFlorida123,41493,95576.1%
4Harris CountyTexas113,21554,76448.4%
5Hillsborough CountyFlorida56,82834,86761.4%
6Charlotte CountyFlorida49,03828,40857.9%
7Ocean CountyNew Jersey47,06733,32970.8%
8Charleston CountySouth Carolina44,95235,18978.3%
9Galveston CountyTexas43,98229,02566.0%
10Palm Beach CountyFlorida43,57718,93343.4%
11Sarasota CountyFlorida41,80317,63942.2%
12Manatee CountyFlorida37,74916,35343.3%
13Sacramento CountyCalifornia35,66628,93781.1%
14Nassau CountyNew York35,64327,16476.2%
15Pasco CountyFlorida35,60416,70946.9%
16Monroe CountyFlorida34,03320,85561.3%
17Cape May CountyNew Jersey32,39124,09874.4%
18Santa Clara CountyCalifornia32,3716,98621.6%
19East Baton Rouge ParishLouisiana28,63316,33657.1%
20Brazoria CountyTexas26,52811,34742.8%
21Livingston ParishLouisiana25,4389,81338.6%
22Orange CountyCalifornia22,3894,17518.6%
23Suffolk CountyNew York21,11913,88365.7%
24Maricopa CountyArizona20,9016,08629.1%
25Volusia CountyFlorida19,09110,95857.4%

The 20 lowest-coverage counties

Counties with at least 1,000 homes in high-risk zones (610 counties).

#CountyStateHigh-risk homesNFIP policiesCoverage
1Keokuk CountyIowa1,29530.2%
2Lee CountyIowa1,370130.9%
3Putnam CountyGeorgia1,297151.2%
4Chippewa CountyMichigan2,376572.4%
5Frederick CountyVirginia1,052292.8%
6Iron CountyMissouri1,087322.9%
7Lincoln CountyWest Virginia1,946583.0%
8Hall CountyNebraska1,197363.0%
9Greene CountyMississippi1,003313.1%
10Walsh CountyNorth Dakota1,202393.2%
11Merrick CountyNebraska1,418493.5%
12Menominee CountyMichigan1,075393.6%
13Starr CountyTexas2,363903.8%
14Garvin CountyOklahoma1,623654.0%
15Boone CountyWest Virginia2,9041384.8%
16Brooks CountyTexas1,516734.8%
17Arkansas CountyArkansas1,639814.9%
18Le Flore CountyOklahoma1,123565.0%
19Mason CountyWest Virginia1,396705.0%
20Quitman CountyMississippi1,412745.2%

The 20 highest-coverage counties

Same 1,000-home floor. Very high rates can partly reflect FEMA’s structure counts running low in a county; see the method.

#CountyStateHigh-risk homesNFIP policiesCoverage
1Atlantic CountyNew Jersey12,13911,47194.5%
2Bryan CountyGeorgia1,4411,33992.9%
3Glynn CountyGeorgia5,6765,13790.5%
4Mecklenburg CountyNorth Carolina1,1821,01786.0%
5Cobb CountyGeorgia1,3481,14685.0%
6Dare CountyNorth Carolina8,5717,19784.0%
7Berkeley CountySouth Carolina3,8743,16381.6%
8Chatham CountyGeorgia12,95710,55681.5%
9Sacramento CountyCalifornia35,66628,93781.1%
10St. John the Baptist ParishLouisiana3,7472,98979.8%
11Charleston CountySouth Carolina44,95235,18978.3%
12Brunswick CountyNorth Carolina12,96210,10878.0%
13Martin CountyFlorida3,9053,03777.8%
14Nassau CountyNew York35,64327,16476.2%
15Broward CountyFlorida123,41493,95576.1%
16Camden CountyGeorgia1,7241,29475.1%
17New Hanover CountyNorth Carolina9,4847,09374.8%
18Miami-Dade CountyFlorida199,250148,38974.5%
19Cape May CountyNew Jersey32,39124,09874.4%
20Okaloosa CountyFlorida5,0783,75473.9%

What the data means

  • High-risk flood zone means FEMA’s Special Flood Hazard Area: the A and V zones on the flood maps, land with at least a 1% chance of flooding in any year (the “100-year flood”; FEMA). Flooding also happens outside these zones; they are where mandatory purchase rules apply.
  • Homes are FEMA’s count of residential structures, from the National Structure Inventory (2022). A building is one home here even if it holds several units.
  • NFIP policies are residential contracts in force, which FEMA uses as a stand-in for insured buildings: a condominium building’s association policy counts once, not once per unit.
  • Coverage is NFIP policies in high-risk zones divided by homes in high-risk zones. We call it “NFIP coverage” because private flood policies are not in FEMA’s counts, so true flood-insurance coverage is somewhat higher.
  • Coverage, all homes is NFIP policies anywhere in the county divided by all homes in the county.

Use this chart

Free to use with a link back. Paste this into your page or article:

All states

Every state, sortable

Click a column to sort. “Share of state’s high-risk policies” is how much of the state’s NFIP business in high-risk zones sits in the counties the rate is built from; an asterisk marks states under 75%, which are left out of the state rankings above.

RankStateCoverage, high-risk zonesHigh-risk homes countedNFIP policiesHomes without an NFIP policyCounties ratedShare of state’s high-risk policiesCoverage, all homes
1South Carolina*68.7%67,55946,39721,16242 of 4670%6.1%
2New Jersey62.4%161,481100,79660,68520 of 2199%5.0%
3Delaware58.1%20,85312,1088,7453 of 3100%4.8%
4Florida56.8%997,127566,635430,49263 of 6784%13.7%
5New York*54.9%95,02252,17342,84927 of 6273%2.5%
6Hawaii*54.0%8,3174,4903,8271 of 561%3.9%
7North Carolina53.3%113,60660,52753,079100 of 100100%2.6%
8Connecticut50.4%31,23415,72715,5077 of 998%2.1%
9Massachusetts49.4%53,79426,56327,23111 of 1498%2.0%
10Rhode Island49.0%11,1945,4865,7085 of 5100%2.7%
11Maryland*43.7%15,3076,6928,61518 of 2440%1.7%
12Georgia42.8%72,03630,85341,183150 of 15998%1.6%
13Louisiana*41.3%195,61980,704114,91545 of 6444%22.0%
14Texas40.0%358,865143,426215,439126 of 25484%5.8%
15Alaska*33.3%2,8409461,8945 of 3068%1.2%
16Mississippi32.7%88,28328,90459,37982 of 82100%3.5%
17California30.3%299,57990,678208,90154 of 5899%1.3%
18Nevada29.6%20,2355,98214,25315 of 1798%0.8%
19Alabama29.4%62,25318,30543,94866 of 67100%1.3%
20Washington*28.7%39,78111,40828,37319 of 3971%0.9%
21Vermont*27.1%4,6171,2503,3676 of 1473%1.1%
22North Dakota26.8%8,6192,3076,31223 of 5394%1.9%
23Virginia*25.4%39,78410,09829,68691 of 13325%2.7%
24New Hampshire25.2%11,5542,9168,6389 of 1097%1.1%
25Tennessee24.5%41,90510,28631,61995 of 95100%0.7%
26Oregon22.5%41,4669,34232,12421 of 3690%1.1%
27Pennsylvania22.0%92,24620,33971,90766 of 6796%0.7%
28Illinois22.0%57,54012,64844,89277 of 10288%0.5%
29Arizona21.3%57,81912,29845,52115 of 15100%0.7%
30Maine*21.2%5,1471,0904,0579 of 1627%1.2%
31Colorado21.1%22,6694,79017,87932 of 6488%0.6%
32Kentucky18.9%60,21811,36448,854116 of 12098%0.8%
33Wisconsin18.4%27,1924,99622,19661 of 7295%0.5%
34Indiana16.5%58,1919,60548,58688 of 9299%0.5%
35Michigan16.2%63,81210,32153,49155 of 8388%0.4%
36Ohio15.7%73,98111,62462,35778 of 8895%0.4%
37Utah15.2%8,1491,2366,91316 of 2993%0.3%
38Missouri15.1%40,1516,06234,08985 of 11579%0.4%
39Idaho15.0%13,8012,07611,72512 of 4479%0.6%
40New Mexico14.9%46,3006,91339,38723 of 3394%1.4%
41Nebraska14.7%28,6054,19224,41355 of 9394%0.7%
42Montana14.3%13,7431,96911,77423 of 5691%0.6%
43Kansas14.0%23,4723,28820,18445 of 10592%0.5%
44Arkansas14.0%40,4105,65134,75948 of 7583%0.8%
45South Dakota13.2%9,2001,2167,98430 of 6692%0.5%
46Iowa12.7%30,2143,83226,38272 of 9989%0.5%
47Oklahoma12.3%33,9674,16129,80650 of 7798%0.5%
48Minnesota*11.6%16,7041,93114,77343 of 8770%0.2%
49Wyoming*10.5%4,8485094,33913 of 2370%0.5%
50West Virginia10.3%61,6066,32455,28255 of 55100%1.0%
—District of Columbia—0000 of 10%1.1%

If you own in a flood zone

Your homeowners policy does not cover flood. If your lender requires flood insurance, it will usually ask for proof before closing; if it doesn’t, the choice is yours. NFIP policies generally take effect 30 days after purchase, with exceptions such as a loan closing, and private flood insurers are an alternative with their own limits and terms. I compare both. Read more on flood insurance, see where flood claims are paid, or look up your county’s storm history.

Method and notes

All figures come from FEMA’s OpenFEMA NFIP Residential Penetration Rates (v1), downloaded through the public API on 2026-10-07: 3,159 rows, policies in force as of August 3, 2026. FEMA refreshes the dataset about every three months, and we keep each snapshot. We use FEMA’s counts, not its published rates, and apply these rules:

  • Rates over 100% are dropped. More policies than homes is impossible; FEMA notes that incomplete structure counts can push rates over 100%. 27 counties are left out of every rate, ranking and total, including Pinellas County, Florida (56,785 policies for 4,807 homes), Jefferson Parish, Louisiana (41,511 policies for 36,689 homes) and Collier County, Florida (38,559 policies for 152 homes).
  • Counties with no high-risk home count are not rated. FEMA lists zero homes in high-risk zones for 805 counties, and 593 of them have NFIP policies in high-risk zones, so the zero means the homes weren’t counted, not that there are none. 37 of Virginia’s 38 independent cities are in this group, among them Hampton, Virginia Beach and Norfolk, as are Baltimore city, Maryland and St. Louis city, Missouri. The counties in this group with the most high-risk-zone policies are St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana (17,097), Nueces County, Texas (10,928), Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana (7,223) and St. Charles Parish, Louisiana (7,134). 41 more counties have no policy count, and 15 “unknown county” rows hold policies FEMA could not place in a county.
  • State and national rates are summed, not averaged. Policies and homes are added up over the 2,271 counties that pass, then divided. Those counties hold 81% of all NFIP policies in high-risk zones nationwide; the state table shows the share for each state. 12 states fall under 75% and are marked with an asterisk; District of Columbia has no rate at all.
  • County rankings need at least 1,000 high-risk homes (10,000 for the large-county comparisons), so a handful of buildings can’t top a list.
  • Remaining limits. A structure count that runs low but not below the policy count still inflates a rate, and policies (from FEMA’s policy records) and homes (from the National Structure Inventory) come from different systems, so the two can disagree at the edge of a flood zone. Treat county figures as estimates.

Sources: FEMA, NFIP Residential Penetration Rates; FEMA, Flood Insurance (mandatory purchase); FEMA, Flood Zones; FEMA, Congressional Reauthorization. Data from OpenFEMA is used under FEMA’s terms; FEMA does not endorse this analysis.

Free to use. Please cite “Alishahi Insurance analysis of FEMA NFIP data” and link to this page. Download every county: CSV. Questions about the data: sam@alishahiinsurance.com.

Related coverage: Flood insurance Do you need excess flood insurance on an expensive home? What is flood zone X, and do I need flood insurance?

No flood policy?

Your homeowners policy doesn’t cover flood. I’ll shop it.

NFIP and private flood quotes, in high-risk zones and outside them. Outside California, requests are handled together with a partner agency in your state.

Get a Quote Call (424) 552-4545
Get a quote

Tell me how to reach you. I’ll take it from there.

Takes about 30 seconds. I review every request personally and call you back, usually the same day.

(424) 552-4545

Answered 24/7 · CA License #4348151

Only your name, phone and email are required; every question here is optional. Sending this form doesn’t bind coverage; coverage starts only when I confirm it in writing.

Not shopping yet?

Get a reminder before your renewal.

Tell me when your policy renews and I’ll email you about six weeks before, when it’s worth comparing. One email, no calls.