How to Check Natural Disaster Risk Before You Move
A move is a decades-long bet on a place. Hurricanes, floods, wildfire and extreme heat affect not only safety but also home insurance, property values and, increasingly, whether you can get coverage at all.
Start with FEMA's National Risk Index
FEMA's National Risk Index compares counties and Census tracts across 18 natural hazards, using expected annual loss, social vulnerability and community resilience. County scores are national percentile ranks from 0 to 100 relative to other counties; they aren't a home's probability of damage.
Our population-weighted means of those county scores are lowest in Vermont, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Virginia, and highest in California, Arizona, Washington, DC, Hawaii, Nevada. These are RelocateMath summaries, not official FEMA state ratings or state national percentiles, and they don't establish which state is safest for a particular home. Our natural disaster risk pages show the state summaries and official county ratings; city pages show metro county-score means.
Look at the specific hazards
An overall score hides what you'd actually face. A coastal county may be high for hurricanes and flooding; a mountain county for wildfire and winter storms; a plains county for tornadoes and hail. Think about which risks you can prepare for (a safe room, a generator) and which can make a home uninsurable or unsellable (repeated flooding, severe wildfire).
Check the flood map for the exact address
A county's comparative score doesn't identify the flood risk at a specific address. Look up the home on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center to see whether it's in a special flood hazard area. Flood insurance is required for homes in those areas with mortgages from federally regulated, supervised or insured lenders; other lenders may also require it. Most homeowners policies don't cover flood damage. Ask the seller or landlord about past flooding and insurance claims.
Expect risk in your insurance bill
Insurers price risk. In 2024, homeowners with a mortgage paid a median $2,492 a year for insurance in Florida, versus $1,126 in Oregon (Census American Community Survey), and premiums in many high-risk areas have kept rising since. Before you commit, get real quotes for the address, including wind or hurricane deductibles, which are often a percentage of the home's value.
A quick checklist
- Compare the county's overall risk and top hazards.
- Check the address on FEMA's flood map.
- Get homeowners (and flood) insurance quotes before you make an offer.
- Ask about the home's roof age, elevation, wildfire clearance and past claims.
- Factor heat and cooling costs into your budget in hot climates.