Lowest flood risk counties in the US
Ranked by FEMA NFIP risk classification and historical claim volume. Lower claim counts indicate fewer documented flood losses.
Flood is the most common and most expensive natural disaster in the United States, and it is also the easiest to misjudge. A property can sit just outside a designated flood zone and still flood; a property can sit inside one and never flood. The most useful comparable signal at the county level is the historical claims experience under the National Flood Insurance Program. FEMA publishes every paid claim back to 1978. Counties with very low historical claim counts have, on the whole, fewer documented flood losses, though they are not flood-proof. This ranking sorts counties by their FEMA risk classification and historical claim volume, restricted to counties of at least 25,000 people. Use it to narrow a search, then check the FEMA Flood Map Service Center for a parcel-level read on any home you actually consider.
Top 20: fewest historical NFIP claims
Bars show total historical NFIP claims paid in the county. Shorter bars indicate fewer documented losses.
Top 50 sortable table
Click a column to sort. Click a county for FEMA flood detail.
| # | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jennings County, IN | low | 0 | $133,200 | 27,610 |
| 2 | Nez Perce County, ID | low | 0 | $259,600 | 42,200 |
| 3 | Haralson County, GA | low | 0 | $187,700 | 30,178 |
| 4 | Campbell County, WY | low | 0 | $247,800 | 46,857 |
| 5 | Fluvanna County, VA | low | 0 | $270,900 | 27,442 |
| 6 | Dinwiddie County, VA | low | 0 | $223,800 | 28,057 |
| 7 | Effingham County, IL | low | 0 | $166,500 | 34,594 |
| 8 | Franklin County, WA | low | 0 | $308,700 | 96,692 |
| 9 | Wayne County, GA | low | 0 | $142,200 | 30,277 |
| 10 | Grady County, GA | low | 0 | $147,000 | 26,075 |
| 11 | Pontotoc County, MS | low | 0 | $136,700 | 31,202 |
| 12 | Montrose County, CO | low | 0 | $314,100 | 42,823 |
| 13 | Pike County, AL | low | 0 | $144,500 | 32,997 |
| 14 | Hart County, GA | low | 0 | $180,500 | 26,110 |
| 15 | Ford County, KS | low | 0 | $121,500 | 34,212 |
| 16 | Powhatan County, VA | low | 0 | $356,500 | 30,503 |
| 17 | Douglas County, WA | low | 0 | $366,800 | 43,189 |
| 18 | Madison County, ID | low | 0 | $324,300 | 52,487 |
| 19 | Dickinson County, MI | low | 0 | $122,600 | 25,937 |
| 20 | Dawson County, GA | low | 0 | $312,600 | 27,355 |
| 21 | Sanilac County, MI | low | 0 | $149,300 | 40,759 |
| 22 | Siskiyou County, CA | low | 0 | $260,200 | 44,049 |
| 23 | Luna County, NM | low | 0 | $100,900 | 25,393 |
| 24 | Grant County, KY | low | 0 | $173,600 | 25,085 |
| 25 | Highland County, OH | low | 0 | $146,300 | 43,285 |
| 26 | Wasco County, OR | low | 1 | $298,200 | 26,639 |
| 27 | Tallapoosa County, AL | low | 1 | $127,100 | 41,251 |
| 28 | Wexford County, MI | low | 1 | $146,100 | 33,766 |
| 29 | Lake County, MT | low | 1 | $337,700 | 31,509 |
| 30 | Carson City, NV | low | 1 | $390,800 | 58,249 |
| 31 | Daviess County, IN | low | 1 | $174,000 | 33,337 |
| 32 | Carroll County, OH | low | 1 | $157,500 | 26,761 |
| 33 | Lincoln County, WI | low | 1 | $163,700 | 28,402 |
| 34 | Oneida County, WI | low | 1 | $214,700 | 37,799 |
| 35 | Stephens County, GA | low | 1 | $154,200 | 26,732 |
| 36 | Williams County, ND | low | 1 | $255,000 | 39,076 |
| 37 | Gillespie County, TX | low | 1 | $399,400 | 26,953 |
| 38 | Box Elder County, UT | low | 1 | $308,900 | 58,291 |
| 39 | Cass County, MN | low | 1 | $241,000 | 30,288 |
| 40 | Cheboygan County, MI | low | 1 | $167,400 | 25,709 |
| 41 | Macoupin County, IL | low | 1 | $121,300 | 44,907 |
| 42 | Benton County, MN | low | 1 | $229,300 | 41,300 |
| 43 | Lapeer County, MI | low | 1 | $219,300 | 88,687 |
| 44 | Emmet County, MI | low | 1 | $246,300 | 34,072 |
| 45 | Baldwin County, GA | low | 1 | $154,400 | 43,778 |
| 46 | Klamath County, OR | low | 1 | $234,200 | 69,506 |
| 47 | Houghton County, MI | low | 1 | $129,200 | 37,414 |
| 48 | Madison County, GA | low | 1 | $170,600 | 30,378 |
| 49 | Polk County, MO | low | 1 | $171,700 | 31,877 |
| 50 | Cherokee County, SC | low | 1 | $124,500 | 56,200 |
Methodology
- Source: FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP claims (paid claims since 1978) and active policy counts by county.
- Risk class is derived from total historical claim count: low (under 10), moderate (10 to 49), high (50 to 199), very high (200 or more).
- Counties are first filtered to low and moderate classes, then sorted ascending by claim count.
- Counties below 25,000 residents are excluded so the list reflects places where most readers might actually live.
- Historical claim count is a backward-looking signal. Climate, levees, and zoning all change. For parcel-level flood determination, use the FEMA Flood Map Service Center.