FEMA Records
26
High volume
Arizona · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Maricopa County, AZ
26 FEMA disaster declarations (1966-2024), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Very High. Most common hazard: Fire.
- 26
- FEMA declarations
- 13
- Major disasters
- 100
- NRI risk · Very High
- Fire
- Top hazard
The verdict
Two federal records point in the busier direction for Maricopa County. Its 26 FEMA declarations are 56% above the Arizona county mean and exceed the count for 75% of the 3,266 counties in this registry. Separately, FEMA's National Risk Index places it in the riskiest 1%, based on modeled expected annual loss, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
- Riskiest 1%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Very High
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 26
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 2,632
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Fire Management Assistance (FM) records, which are not presidential disaster declarations, alongside Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 04013 · Maricopa County 26 declarations · rank 779/3,266
DECL-HEAVY · MAJOR-MID · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-HIGH · ACT-HIGH · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-HIGH
- DECL-HEAVY 26
- MAJOR-MID 50%
- RANK-MID #779
- PHOTO-FINISH Hunterdon
- NRI-HIGH Very High
- ACT-HIGH High
- TYPE-LEAD Fire
- VS-ST-HIGH +56%
Nearest declaration peer: Hunterdon, NJ (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Arizona state profile
Maricopa County among high-volume declaration counties
FEMA declaration records among Maricopa County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Hunterdon · near 26
Hunterdon · near
26 declarations
- Maricopa · this county 26
Maricopa · this county
26 declarations
- Pierce · near 26
Pierce · near
26 declarations
- San Sebastián · near 26
San Sebastián · near
26 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Maricopa County carries 26 FEMA declaration records, ranked 779 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Where Maricopa County ranks in the national declaration registry
Maricopa County vs. high-volume counties in this registry
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Maricopa County
26 Top 25% higher than 75% of 3,266 counties
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more counties. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 · 2026-08-25
Maricopa County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Maricopa County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $1.1B Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Heat Wave carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High). EAL and risk score use different inputs; they need not agree.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025 release) - Expected Annual Loss vs composite risk rating by hazard.
What does Maricopa County's hazard record show?
Reading the federal records together
FEMA's NFIP table contains a substantial paid-claim history for this county: 2,632 claims and $26.1M in payments. PlainHazard labels 500 or more claims a heavy registry record; that is a reporting bucket, not an official FEMA risk grade. The average paid claim was $9.9K. NFIP totals exclude uninsured flood losses and do not measure how many properties currently carry a policy.
The declaration register points in the busier direction. Maricopa County's 26 federal records stand 56% above the Arizona county mean of 16.7. That comparison describes how often federal action was recorded, including any Major Disaster, Emergency, and Fire Management entries shown on this page; it does not convert the count into future probability.
FEMA National Risk Index
This county sits among the highest-risk counties nationally on FEMA's National Risk Index, a composite score of 99.9/100 (Very High). Expected Annual Loss is rated Very High (roughly $2.2B in annualized losses). Social vulnerability reads Relatively Low and community resilience Very Low, both critical modifiers of realized harm here. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Heat Wave stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Very High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at 20 modeled event-days per year here, based on 154 historical events on record.
64 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Maricopa County, AZ · PlainHazard-derived composite from federal records
This 0–100 index is an explicit PlainHazard composite from FEMA declaration history only on the county surface (this DB has no county-level NOAA damage row) . It is not FEMA's National Risk Index, not a forecast, and not a safety, insurance, or preparedness rating. Open the calculator · Methodology
FEMA Declarations (1953–present) High
19/30
26 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (1.3x national county average)
County Disaster Density Very High
19/25
26 declarations (1.6x state county average of 17)
Major Disaster Share High
13/25
13 of 26 declarations are major disasters (50%)
Hazard Diversity High
13/20
5 different disaster types declared in Maricopa County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Maricopa County
How to read this radar
Each axis: NRI risk rating (Very Low-Very High) on a 0-100 scale. Rounder = broad exposure; spiky = one or two hazards dominate.
Major Disaster share
50%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
100
Very High
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Maricopa County?
FEMA's National Risk Index models a historical event count and an annualized frequency for each hazard type. Most hazards are expressed as modeled occurrences per year; FEMA expresses drought and heat-wave frequency as event-days per year. These modeled frequencies are not forecasts.
| Hazard | NRI Risk Rating | Recurrence |
|---|---|---|
| Heat Wave | Very High | 20 modeled event-days per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Very High | an average of 8.5 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively High | roughly once every 534 years |
| Hail | Very High | roughly once every 4 years |
| Strong Wind | Very High | an average of 1.4 times per year |
| Drought | Relatively High | 63 modeled event-days per year |
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 93 years |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 32 times per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Moderate | roughly once every 2 years |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | an average of 2.1 times per year |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Low | roughly once every 2 years |
| Avalanche | Very Low | roughly once every 100 years |
| Hurricane | Very Low | roughly once every 87 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Fire 11
Flood 9
Severe Storm 3
Biological 2
Hurricane 1
What Fire declarations mean here
Fire is the most frequent declaration type on Maricopa County's record, 42% of its declarations. Wildfire is the one hazard here with its own dedicated federal instrument: the Fire Management Assistance Grant, which appears in this data as an FM record. An FMAG can be authorised while a fire is still burning, on a timescale of hours, because its purpose is to reimburse the cost of fighting a fire that threatens to become a major disaster.
That distinction matters when comparing counties. An FM declaration is not a presidential major disaster declaration and does not carry the same assistance programmes, so a fire-heavy county's total is not directly comparable with a hurricane-heavy county's total unless the declaration types are separated, which is why they are listed separately on this page.
Declaration counts describe past federal action. They are a record of what was declared, not a forecast of future hazard probability.
Declaration Types
What DR / EM / FM mean
FEMA categorizes declarations as Major Disasters (DR), Emergencies (EM), or Fire Management Assistance (FM).
Major Disaster - 13 50.0%
of all 26 declarations
Fire Management - 11 42.3%
of all 26 declarations
Emergency - 2 7.7%
of all 26 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2 | |
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 7 | |
| 2015 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 5 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 2000 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | |
| 1991 | 1 | |
| 1980 | 1 | |
| 1979 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 1 | |
| 1972 | 1 | |
| 1970 | 1 | |
| 1966 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 26 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 26 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5501 | BOULDER VIEW FIRE | FM | Fire | 2024-06-28 |
| 5496 | ROSE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2024-06-12 |
| 5466 | DIAMOND FIRE | FM | Fire | 2023-06-28 |
| 5315 | AVONDALE FIRE | FM | Fire | 2020-06-27 |
| 5314 | AQUILA FIRE | FM | Fire | 2020-06-23 |
| 5313 | BUSH FIRE | FM | Fire | 2020-06-20 |
| 5311 | OCOTILLO FIRE | FM | Fire | 2020-05-30 |
| 5310 | EAST DESERT FIRE | FM | Fire | 2020-05-18 |
| 4524 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-04-04 |
| 3442 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 4203 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Flood | 2014-11-05 |
| 3241 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Hurricane | 2005-09-12 |
| 2570 | AZ-WILDFIRE (EDGE COMPLEX) 07-22-2005 | FM | Fire | 2005-07-22 |
| 2561 | CAVE CREEK FIRE COMPLEX | FM | Fire | 2005-06-22 |
| 2559 | AZ-BOBBY FIRE-06-08-2005 | FM | Fire | 2005-06-08 |
| 1586 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2005-04-14 |
| 1347 | SEVERE STORMS AND FLOODING | DR | Severe Storm | 2000-10-27 |
| 1304 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, HIGH WINDS | DR | Severe Storm | 1999-10-15 |
| 977 | SEVERE STORMS, TORNADOES & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1993-01-19 |
| 884 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1990-12-06 |
Show 6 earlier declaration records
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 614 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1980-02-19 |
| 570 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1978-12-21 |
| 551 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1978-03-04 |
| 343 | SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1972-07-03 |
| 294 | HEAVY RAINS & FLASH | DR | Flood | 1970-09-22 |
| 217 | FLOODING | DR | Flood | 1966-04-30 |
Storm Events in Arizona
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Maricopa County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | 2,094 | 45 | 18 | $149.9M |
| Excessive Heat | 1,812 | 1,497 | 120 | $0 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 1,680 | 3 | 19 | $75.9M |
| Heat | 727 | 1,206 | 39 | $0 |
| High Wind | 446 | 0 | 0 | $734.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
2,632
Total Paid
$26.1M
Avg Per Claim
$9.9K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Very High
Score: 99.9/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very High
$2.2B/year
Social Vulnerability
Relatively Low
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Heat Wave Very High
Riverine Flooding Very High
Wildfire Relatively High
Hail Very High
Strong Wind Very High
Drought Relatively High
Earthquake Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively High
Tornado Relatively Moderate
Landslide Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Low
Avalanche Very Low
Hurricane Very Low
Cold Wave No Rating
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) Ratings reflect relative scores among all US counties. Data: hazards.fema.gov/nri
The model's sharpest exposure here: Heat Wave
Heat Wave is measured in event-days per year rather than discrete events, and it is the hazard whose harm is most consistently undercounted: its toll is health and mortality, concentrated among people without cooling, rather than visible damage to property.
Worth noting for Maricopa County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Heat Wave carries the highest modeled rating (Very High), while the county's declaration history is led by Fire. That is not a contradiction, the two measure genuinely different things. Declarations record federal ACTION, which requires damage costly enough to exceed state and local capacity; the Risk Index models EXPECTED annual loss across all 18 hazards whether or not any declaration ever followed. A hazard can be the county's largest modeled exposure and never once have driven a declaration.
National Risk Index ratings are modeled estimates of expected annual loss, not predictions of what will happen in any given year.
Data-matched county comparisons
Maricopa County's closest FEMA peer: Wake County, NC
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Maricopa County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Maricopa County shows 26 FEMA declarations, led by Fire.
Similar Major-disaster share
Maricopa County: 13 of 26 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Maricopa County: NRI composite 99.9 (Very High).
How these peers are chosen
Cohort: Published U.S. county equivalents outside the source state or territory. Each metric keeps six ETL candidates; three unique destinations are shown after de-duplicating across axes. Declaration-volume ranking combines count and Major-disaster share and prefers a different leading incident type; Major-share ranks the Major fraction adjusted for volume; NRI ranks the modeled composite score only.
Retained FEMA snapshot feed for Maricopa County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Maricopa County: nearest out-of-state National Risk Index composite and nearest FEMA declaration count (floor ≥5 records). Record similarity only, not a forecast of the next hazard.
Similar NRI composite
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA NRI score. This county: 99.9 (Very High).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 26. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
Maricopa County's NFIP claims file (2,632 claims) and FEMA declaration history measure different federal records - this guide separates them from modeled NRI risk.
More PlainHazard guides
- Most disaster-prone counties - U.S. counties ranked by FEMA declaration totals.
- Understanding disaster data - declarations vs storm events vs NRI scores.
- Preparing for natural disasters - household checklist (not county-specific advice).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Maricopa County?
The most common disaster type in Maricopa County is Fire, with 11 declarations. Other disaster types include Flood (9), Severe Storm (3), Biological (2).
How does Maricopa County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Arizona average?
FEMA lists 26 declaration records for Maricopa County. That is 56% above the Arizona county mean of 16.7. Its count is also 25% above the national county mean of 20.7. A larger declaration history records more federal actions; it is not a forecast of the county's next hazard.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Maricopa County received?
Maricopa County has received 13 major disaster declarations, representing 50% of all 26 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Maricopa County filed?
Maricopa County has 2,632 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $26.1M in payments, with an average of $9.9K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Maricopa County?
No. In Maricopa County, Heat Wave has the highest National Risk Index rating (Very High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $1.1B. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Maricopa County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Maricopa County was 2020, with 7 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1966 to 2024.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Maricopa County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Maricopa County, Arizona has an overall risk score of 99.9 out of 100 (Very High). The county's social vulnerability rating is Relatively Low and community resilience is Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very High, representing $2.2B in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Maricopa County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Maricopa County as of the latest release is Heat Wave (risk rating: Very High). Other significant hazards include Riverine Flooding (Very High) and Wildfire (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts heat wave here at 20 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 154 historical events on record. FEMA derives these ratings from historical event frequency, the assets exposed, and the community's vulnerability profile.
Data Sources & Methodology
Disaster declaration data comes from the FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 API, which includes all federally declared disasters, emergencies, and fire management assistance grants.
Storm event data is sourced from the NOAA Storm Events Database (2015-2025), which tracks significant weather events including thunderstorms, tornadoes, floods, and winter storms.
Flood insurance data comes from the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA claims dataset.
This data is provided for informational purposes only. FEMA disaster declarations represent federal response actions and may not capture all local emergencies or weather events.
FEMA OpenFEMA declarations + NRI for Maricopa County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Arizona profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events